making generators quiet...

[stevem50]

does anyone have any ideas on how to silence the clatter of a "quiet camping generator"? I got a steal of a deal on a husky camping generator, but its still too loud... i'm planning to weld up an exhaust extention with resonator and 2nd muffler. my question is the mechanical clatter, can i keep an insulated box around it and duct in cool air, or will it overheat and self destruct?

[07rascal]

Pouring sugar in the gas tank always works for us at about 10pm for our neighbors generator!!

Sorry, could not help it! I have tried all sorts of insulation surrounds in the past with little to no help. A Honda is the only one I have seen that are semi quite, but still not welcomed in a CG while we are there, in our view!

[Sparksalot]

Most noise is probably radiated from the engine block itself not the exhaust.

[Lesbest]

Mounting rubber donuts on the feet will do alot to quiet down any generator, and the softer the better.

A Prevost bus that we serviced years ago had a noisy gen set and they had inflatable isolators on the feet, when low the racket was horrible, add a little air and almost silent.--Bought new ones that didn't leak and QUIET!

Les

[rladams39]

The best way to make a Gen quiet is to drop it in 30' of water.......
(had one fall off of a dock once, it got REAL quiet REAL fast)

honda does have some small Gens that are REALLY REALLY guiet, looked at one at a RV/Boat show once and you almost could not hear it running....

Air cooled engines are inherently noisy even with a good muffler, Tried quieting down a Homemade 12v gen using a LARGE auto muffler, Could not hear much exhaust noise but the noise from the crankcase was still really annoying, has to do with the thin wall design of the engine block,

Putting one in an enclosure would solve some of the noise but it would still be annoying.

[stevem50]

you guys are just a bit hostle, ehh?
....again, any experience with overheating if I put it in an enclosure?

[rladams39]

you guys are just a bit hostle, ehh?
....again, any experience with overheating if I put it in an enclosure?

HOSTILE? HOSTILE?? Nope LOL.....



Not sure if overheating would be an issue or not, i have seen Gens set in enclosures before but as far as how it degrades there durability or life span i could not say.. You could always put a vent in one end and a small fan in the other to move air across the Gen.

[Cliffmeister2000]

At IRG3.0, my brother brought a generator, which he ran from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, figuring this was lunch time not nap time. He had to charge his battery so he could run his C-PAP machine. We walked around and informed our neighbors, and everyone was quite pleasant about it.

I didn't like hearing it run, either, but under the circumstances, it was tolerable.

[07rascal]

At IRG3.0, my brother brought a generator, which he ran from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, figuring this was lunch time not nap time. He had to charge his battery so he could run his C-PAP machine. We walked around and informed our neighbors, and everyone was quite pleasant about it.

I didn't like hearing it run, either, but under the circumstances, it was tolerable.

Absolutely understandable in that case! You guys had a great reason to run it and the curtosy to tell your neighbors about it and why.

Its the boys that run it for 4 hrs to catch the NASCAR race or warm up the water for coffee in the microwave that crawl up under our skin.....and we are REALLY easygoing too!!! heh heh!

[BrwBier]

Cliff brought up a good example of a good use of a generator and a friendly way of handling it. That is a far cry from the guy making a pot of coffie at 6:30 in the morning or the kid making microwave popcorn at 10 at night.
Brwbier

[Blumie]

Harry & I could not help noticing the difference: at IRG, everyone who used a generator went around to their neighbors, explained when they would be running their generators -- during midday, as noted above -- and given the promise of a limited running, everyone seemed fine. On the way home, we camped at a USFS campground. Everyone was bedding down at dusk, when in rolled three 5th wheels. These parties parked together, then their kids got out and started playing, noisily. At 9:53 pm, 7 minutes before official quiet time, these folks fired up their generators, turned on their outside lights, and proceeded to act like it was 10 am and they were the only people around. It took a posse of other campers in pajamas to get these jerks to turn off & pipe down.

So thanks for asking about making those portable power plants quieter. I suspect that people who have to take absolutely all of it with them when they make their great escapes don't really escape anything. The least we can hope is that they won't camp near us!

[len19070]

I would make a cardboard surround (open top) and place over the gen making sure it was large enough to breath.

A section of a Refrigerator or Washing Machine box works fine. I made the top of the card board about 15" higher than the Gen.

Happy Trails

Len

[b.bodemer]

On my last trip all the neighboring campsites were using generators. They put them on the road edge of their campsites and ran long extension cords back to their campers. They even left them there when they were gone from their sites all day.

Never heard anything on my site!
Barb

[michaelwpayton]

I've heard a lot of people complain about the "noise" associated with generators, music, babies crying, children playing, dogs barking, adults yelling for/at the kids, adults yelling for/at each other, adults/drunks laughing... I could on, but you get the idea.

Maybe someone will develop a network of "private camp grounds," all on private property, where people/groups are only allowed to reserve the whole thing... and therefore they will only be annoyed by their own friends and family

[M B Hamilton]

Here's a link to a "noise" article we published a few years back. It was written by a mechanical engineer with more than thirty years in the field of acoustics and vibration and has been used as a (sole) resource by a number of towns dealing with noise complaints.

http://homepage.mac.com/puggiq/V8N2/V8N2Noise.html