How to quiet my generator
 

I have a coleman cheapo generator. 5000watts I think. I want to be able to run it at a crowded campground on Labor Day to have A/C. At least I hope I need A/C! I don't want to hear it, and I know my neighbors aren't gonna wanna hear it either. I though about making a pipe and muffler to go up real high and have a support on the back of the camper. Any thoughts? What has anyone else done?

I think your idea of a muffler will help with the exhaust noise. I have read of people that put on small car mufflers and they are supposed to help. You will still have mechanical noise from what I understand but I am deaf enough that I am not sure what noise is what.

Try building a box that is open on the top and lining the walls with some type of sound absorbant material. You would still need to have it off the ground enough to allow for air ventilation as they do need air flow to keep from overheating.

Hopefully someone who has done this will chime in. Myself, I went the expensive way and bought an Onan 5500. It is already soundproofed and then has a box over it to help protect it from the weather and it helps to soundproof it even more.

I have seen race teams in the pits build a large insulated box with a high volume bilge fan to keep it cool and have plenty of fresh air around it and then run the exhaust up past the top of their race trailer and it works fairly well and simple to build....
I have a Honda air compressor in my service trailer and I run the exhaust under my trailer and through an automotive muffler and then a turndown pointed at a tire.... It sounds like a lawn mower about a block away... only problem I have had with that is condensation build up in the muffler... hole punch fixed that.

Good luck and have a Happy Independence Day!

I hope it's not a COLEMAN POWERMATE MAXA-ER PLUS with a 10hp TECUMSEH.
Bought one after hurricane RITA. LOUD AS H---. Tryed the muffler thing, didn't help any the engine is loud and would not use a full tank of fuel before oil level switch shut off engine due to low oil level. If I recall some one made an enclousure around it to dampen noise. I made one out of a large cardboard box it may have helped a little.
The good: Plenty of power and once the oil level is filled a little over the top mark it will run from dusk till dawn.
Hope I didn't ruin your day. Just my .02$
TOMMY

Thanks all. Kinda what I've been invisioning in my head, just figured why build a better mousetrap right? I was sure someone has been there and done taht before.

The other option is to leave the truck running to power a big inverter... Most of our trucks are pretty quiet at idle....

Don't say that!!! The 'your truck is going to blow up from "cylinder washdown" crowd' will jump all over you for that one![laugh]


I have a Honda EB 5000 watt generator that I would love to quiet down too. It would be right at home at a construction site. I don't really have any ideas other than to build an insulated box but I just don't think that is going to do the job.

To really do a good job you'll need a sound meter. radio shack has one sometimes. I don't remember $$.
First the muffler is ok but don't expect miracles. Bigger the better but it's not where all the noise comes from. The motor itself makes a racket. You need to start at the bottom to get rid of reflected noise. So a good absorption mat with sound foam for the base is required. You'll need a full enclosure with vents for the air in and out. These vents need to be lined with sound absorption material and must not be straight in or out. In other words the sound must have to turn a corner to get out and while doing this it gets trapped in sound material on the walls.

The trick is to make it so it doesn't take up too much space and still can be moved.

You can get most of this stuff at McMaster-Carr. It isn't cheap. I guess that's why an Onan Gold is so costly for its size.

I have a Wen 3500 that is supposed to be 65 at 10 meters. If it is in the back of the truck facing away and covered by the tonneau it's livable. It still is pretty noisy up close. On grass on the other side of the truck however you can hardly hear it.

[coffee]

I have some time until labor day to try different baffles in the box I will build. Gonna try to make the box a muffler, and have the extended pipe/muffler assy. We'll see if that will be tolerable. I don't think many will complain as long as I only run it in the heat of the day. We will have power at the area, but not enough that anyone can use a/c. It should cool down enough at night to just use fans. I'm thinking baffles in the box, and a cheap box fan to cool the unit.

If you make the air inlet so that it feeds the air indirectly to the interior of the box it will help a lot...Also...
Here is a BIG secret that I have found that cut the sound on mine in half!! Stainless Steel pad... like what you use to wash dishes... Stick a piece in the end of the exhaust so that it won't blow out.... HUGE difference!!
But that only quiets the exhaust noise... you still have to quiet the mechanical engine noise....
I bet you that if you built everything on a small pallet like base with a dolly like setup to move it around.... It would catch on.... Infact you could have the exhaust stack break down like a fishing pole and mount on the side of the box for storage and build in places for extension cords and powerstrips.... If you have the dead space available >> You might as well make it useful at the same time creating more sound deadening angles and spaces.....

Use egg crate material to insulate and Look at boat bilge blowers... they push lots of CFM's for very little money and they are very small... I think the one I got last year was less than $20....
If it works... post pictures... I am sure everyone reading this thread would be interested to see what you have come up with and how it works.

Oilguy

A few guys I camp with have LOUD gennys, and they tryed boxs and all the other BS. Best way to make it quiet..........."Sell it" and get a Honda eu2000.

This is how I am going to quiet my generator. http://www.partsamerica.com/productd...goryCode=3483C

Just got done ordering it. I read a post on hear about this unit and went looking for as much info as I could. And the only thing that I found that came up often on the negative side was ( it's a little louder than the Honda EU's ).

I do love the EU 3000 that my buddy has but if this unit is a little louder that really isnt that bad of a negative. He turned everything in his camper on and I had a chat with the wife on the phone leaning over the generator.

I can buy six of these for the price of the EU3000

I have a camping trip planned in two weeks at a state park. I'll try to give a review after.

Rich

totally agree... if you have tecumseh engine? it's bad news. putting a larger muffler will not help much. problems is entire motor makes noise.

had the same model with same noise issues. even spoke with tecumseh engineers on noise issue. muffler will not fix.

folks swear by dual Honda 2,000 gensets. quiet, but extremely pricey.

I'm running Honda 5,500watt and Honda 2,500 watt gensets.

Last year when I browsed through the large weekend gathering of RV's and trailers at the tailgate area of a large ham radio swapmeet(Belton Tx.), I was astounded at the difference in noise from various gensets. There were the usual grand motor coaches with integral diesel gensets, motor homes with Onan, Kohler etc gas RV gensets and the various brands of portable gensets powering trailers etc. Some noisier, some quiet... Some mounted on the trailer tongue, some sitting on the ground.
The brand of genset that most impressed me was one of the Honda gensets that, as I strolled by, I truly could not tell it was even running. This was because of one of those Chinese tecumseh clone 3600rpm Screemin' Meemie's down the way was much louder than the Honda up-close.
I doubled back to take a closer look at the Honda sitting on the ground. I marveled at how stunningly quiet it was as I stood right over it, even while it was powering the A/C unit in the travel trailer.
Keeping my eyes out for them, I found about 2 more Honda portable units in-use there and every one of them was soooo quiet... (~3Kw)
I am a believer in 1800rpm gensets for longevity and quietness(Onan&Kubota), but if I ever have to buy a portable gasoline generator again it'll be a Honda without a doubt!

K.

I have a honda 3K that screams... I hate it... It is a 6.5hp honda and I love the motors... I keep it around the house for when the power goes out and I just hate listening to it run when I have to use it.... Maybe I just got a bad one...