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Author Topic: Priming Kohler Generator  (Read 202 times)
danv13
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« on: July 28, 2010, 10:16:46 AM »
Pulled my 270 out of the lake with the generator seacock open. Put the boat back in the river, closed the seacocks and left it for a couple of days. Next time I went out, I opened the seacock and fired up the generator and got no water flow out of exhaust port. Seems like the pump will not prime and start the water take up. I opened the strainer and have water to that point. Anything else I can do to prime the pump.
Also after reading some posts I will check the impeller next time out, I guess that could be the problem.
Thx
Dan
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Capt Ron
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« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2010, 10:31:00 AM »
Usually the generator is mounted at or below the water line so priming shouldn't be required. If you don't know the last time the impeller was changed, I would start there.
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mflauer
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« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2010, 08:42:12 AM »
Ditto with Capt Ron especially since you might have run it dry to start. Impellers don't like that at all.
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raybo3
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« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2010, 09:08:09 AM »
Just a thought, why not put a water hose in the exhaust and fill the pump that way??????
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frodo13056
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« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2010, 01:57:10 PM »
Not a good idea to fill your generator cooling system backwards via the exhaust. That would be an excellent way to hydro-lock your generator if the exhaust valves are in the open position. The exhaust and cooling water mix and exit the boat via the muffler so if you backfilled the muffler / exhaust, you could inadvertantly fill a cylinder with water.

Just start the thing up - first making sure that your seacock is open. it's not going to kill the impellor as there is no easy way to prime the generator cooling pump. The impellors are rubber for a reason and can run dry for a short period of time before they heat up and fail.  The suction of the impellor is more than enough to draw water up to the pump on startup.
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raybo3
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« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2010, 05:05:32 PM »
Hey frodo thanks for that info, I sometimes  prime my swimming pool pump by putting the hose on the discharge side of the pump. Forgot about the hydro-lock thing.....LOL but it does make sense...
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danv13
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« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2010, 04:16:59 PM »
Replaced the impeller over the weekend. Works great!
The old impeller was completely destroyed when I opened the pump access. Thanks for the  help.
Dan
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