Onan 5 KW 120/240 Volt Generator

Picked this generator up tonight, a neighbor from down the street, stopped by my shop last week, Asked you want some more "Junk

I was already busy working on a clothes dryer that night, so told him it would be a couple of days before I would have time to pick it up. He told me he would be going out of town in the morning and be gone for a week. He gave me his back gate key, told me "I have a big pile just inside the gate". I asked will it fit in my pickup? With two trips it will, I cleaned out a lot of stuff from my shop so there's a big pile! I waited until it was almost dark today (big mistake), he's only five house away from me. I took my pickup at first, opened the gate, took a double take, more like four pickup loads. First thing I spot was this generator, tried to move it, no way was I going to get it in the pickup (4 or 5 hundred pounds easy). So I filled my pickup with as much as I could, took the pickup back to my house. Had my GF take me to my companies yard get a 14' stake bed with a lift, big steel cart and blocking material, completely dark now! Took me another three hours loading the stake bed, about half of that loading generator.

I'm sure this generator is a "better than scrap" item.

I know nothing about this generator, hoping some of you can give me some input to make the most of my newest found in a pile of "Junk". This is what little info I have so far. A Onan "Vac-Flow Cooling" gasoline powered generator. Model CCK-3RV/1044 J, S/N 45C823707. Power info: 5 KW, 120/240 Volt, 20.7 Amps, 60 cycles, 1 Phase motor. Don't have much info on the gasoline engine, 2 cylinder 1800 RPM's. There is a tank for the gas and one for the oil, can be manually started or electric start (battery has been removed). Everything is mounter to a skid platform and has a hinged steel enclosure. Measurements are: Length 39" x wide 25" x high 24" and I'm guess 400 to 500 pounds. The generator was made by Onan, a division of Baker Industries, located at Minneapolis, Minnesota. I think in March of 1970 (45 years old), if i have the date code figured out. The company is still in business, as Cummings - Onan of Elkhart, Indiana.

Anyone know anything about these generators? There is a lot of copper here if I was to scrap it, but I think that would be a mistake. What would you do?

Burt,

Does it run? Does it generate power?

The Onan engines were pretty decent power plants but I understand that parts are not easy to find, at least for the older equipment. Something about when the company changed hands. But if it runs, who cares?

A heavy-duty generator is always saleable. It may not be as light and portable as the newer stuff but should be running long after the modern stuff has already been worn out and tossed out.

You've already got a couple of hours into it just getting it home...see if you can get it running and blow it out the door on CL!

My experiences with Onan come from a 200A welder driven with a 2 cylinder horizontally opposed engine. The welding generator can be converted to a power generator by flipping a big knife switch under the hood. Its a lot older than 1970, without any electric start--just an old-style rope start--but has been reliable as a rock, until the overhead muffler rusted out and let water run down into the cylinders. And just as heavy as a rock.

Photos?

Jon.

Jon - Don't know, missing battery and the pull-rope looks like it's dry rot, right now just trying to find-out, it's value. My neighbor won't be back until Wednesday night, hopefully he can give some history about it, "like when was it last running". Because it has a metal enclosing everything on the inside is in fairly good shape. The gas tank still has about a 1/4 tank of fuel, I'm sure that's not usable. I'll pull the plugs latter today. I wouldn't mind having this as a backup electrical supply. I already have two small Honda's, that basically can give me lights and run a TV, but not big enough to run the refrigerator. This Onan, could easily keep the beer cold and lights too! Just not into any extra projects right now.

Found a really interesting web forum called "Smokstak" - A antique engine forum, covers a lot of territory! Steam, gasoline and diesel engines. Also cars, trucks, motorcycles, tractors, generators, pumps and industrial machines. One of the other things I found in this pile of "junk", was a old John Bean two piston pump. I think this will have some value to the right collector of old machines. These pumps were used in everything from "orchard sprayers" to firetrucks. The John Bean Company, became the FMC Corporation, all from his invention of this pump.

Anyway looking for information about this pump, I found "Smokstack", it told everything about the pump. Then started checking out other sections of this forum, found the generator section. A great resource for all things "old" related to machines. Was able to download the operating and maintenance manuals for the generator.

Highly recommend this forum to all SMF members wanting info on old machines.

Like everything else check ebay for active/completed and sold. Be certain you look for parts selling. I would consider using a socket to turn it over before hooking up a battery. If it turns over I tend to thing someone will be interested in it.

One day when I can afford it I will buy a stand by generator for my home. My wife the dogs and I really like air con and cold drinks. Mike

they made generators for rvs too just random info and a possible direction for research

Bert:

The best source of info on Onans that i know of is Bruce Perrault of Precise Engine Repair. He had something like 40 yrs of experience with them before he retired a few years ago. He used to sponsor a small engine repair forum where you could ask questions but i don't know if it's still up. The closest link i could find to get you in contact with him was this:

Wildflowers Home - Central Washington Wildflowers

Gawd .... those old ONAN's were wonderful machines. Real honest to gosh American quality built for continuous duty use. Not at all like the emergency service crap that they're building these days.

Sadly .... they're something from a bygone era. They have huge sentimental value but they're obsolete in this day & age. There are four problems:

1: Even though they were of incredible quality & built to last forever there's no money in selling obsolete parts. When Cummings bought out ONAN for the name they quickly distanced themselves selling parts & shifted manufacturing to China. From what i've heard it's difficult to get repair parts through them.

2: As wonderful as they are they just don't meet the clean air -or- noise standards of today. That would be particularly so where you are because Cali is known for extremism on environmental quality standards.

3: The ONANs were built in a day and age when oil was cheap. Gasoline was only 25 cents a gallon and nobody gave a second thought to energy efficiency. Engine designs have come a long way since then.

Cost to operate is a major consideration. You're talking serious bucks to run a little 5kw twentyfour/seven for a week or more during an outage. Your local city ordinances might not allow you to store enough fuel to keep it running for more than half a day. Best guess is that it would suck through 1 GPH at 75% load. At 3.00 $/gallon it would probably cost somewhere around 60.00$ a day for electricity.

4: Check your 220 outlet on the machine. There's probably two hots and a ground ? ( 3 prongs total)

Electrical codes changed sometime back around y2k. Today's standard is four wire. ( 4 prongs total) I think they added a requirement for a safety neutral ? You might run into some hassles with the building inspector if you tried to hook it up to your house. Depends on how stringent they are where you live.

All around .... a lot of things to deal with when putting it back into service ?

Edited to add:

Memory was vague because it's been awhile but you want to check the voltage output on each of the 110 volt legs if you can get the generator running. I think they need to be within 5 % of one another ? It's been so long that i've mostly forgotten but there was a procedure for adjusting the output of each leg on some of the ONANs. It would help if you could locate a service manual for that particular model.

Also ... verify that it's running at 60 hertz and not 50 hertz. Should say somewhere on the metal tag that lists the model # & specs of the generator.

Scrapah - Thank You! I didn't think about fuel efficiency, AQMD regulations (Air Quality Management Board), and parts availability. When this generator was made, most of us had never heard of OPEC and $5 could buy more than a half a tank of fuel. Muscle cars, with big block engines, 4 barrel carbs, and speedometer's that went pass 120 mph.

Where I live the AQMD regulates all sources of air pollution and this generator, I doubt would pass their scrutiny. Here they regulate lawn mowers. fireplaces, dust from construction sites and just about everything concerning air quality.

Parts from Cumin's - Onan would not be obtainable, as I have already checked. They only sell the air and oil filters for this machine. There are companies that sell used, refurbished, and after market parts though.

The good news is this generator is all there with the only thing missing is the battery. There is a lot of people that still like these old machines. The old Onan generators almost have a "cult" type of enthusiast from my internet researches.

I don't have a eBay account and have had very little success with selling on craigslist. I'm going to try to sell it on craigslist, maybe with this being one of their largest markets, I'll get lucky this time!

I hope it all works out. There's definitely a cult following. I made a once in a lifetime find at a yard sale a few years ago. It was at an older summer home where the garage hadn't been opened up in years. It turned out that there was all of this power equipment from the early 1960's in nearly pristine condition. When i talked with the woman ( in her 60's ) she explained that it was her father's place and that he was an engineer.

The thing that caught my eye was an ONAN 2200 watt / 110 volt generator head that was intended to be mounted on the PTO of a tractor. She initially wanted 325.00 $ but i got her down to 75.00 $ at the end of the day when the yard sale was closing out.

To give you a basis of comparison: The ONAN 2200 watt weighed close to 110 lbs. When i pulled the generator head on my modern 5 KW 220 volt generator it weighed about seven lbs. What a difference !

Long story short ... i eventually gave the ONAN head to a local guy that's still running a 110 volt machine on the condition that it never be scrapped out. I can't imagine how much copper might be in the windings of that thing.

One thing i've run into with most older small engines: They were built before the blended fuels were ever thought of. The fuel line that runs from the tank to the carb will sometimes crack and suck air when exposed to gasahol. If you start up the machine and it's running ragged that's the first thing to check for. They have special fuel line for the gasahol at the parts store.

The one thing i don't have an easy answer for is the rubber plenums & seals in the carb. They seem to suffer a similar fate when exposed to this new fuel for any amount of time. You would have to ask around, but there are generic aftermarket carbs that go more by bolt pattern & engine horsepower than anything else. All things being equal they would work as well on an ONAN as a Honda.

A running unit as close to original condition would have more value to a collector than one where the condition is unknown.

Tried to PM you. How much do you want for it as is? In interested. My dads in Victorville and can pick it up.

I was thinking $300