silencing generators

[malan_h]

Hi

My name is Hannes and I'm new to the forum. I am not sailing but thought someone in the sailing community would have experience regarding my query.

I want to silence an EM6000 Honda generator to vent fumes away and muffle the noise! If anyone can advise I will greatly appreciate it. The generator is installed in an outside garage.

Thanks

[seafox]

Put it in your neighbors garage

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by malan_h

Hi

My name is Hannes and I'm new to the forum. I am not sailing but thought someone in the sailing community would have experience regarding my query.

I want to silence an EM6000 Honda generator to vent fumes away and muffle the noise! If anyone can advise I will greatly appreciate it. The generator is installed in an outside garage.

Thanks

Building a sound enclosure is not that hard. The real problem is getting rid of the heat. I assume that this is a gasoline engine in which case you also have the problem of a volatile fuel. Sorry I can't be of more help. Be careful.

[mohave_steve]

Originally Posted by seafox

Put it in your neighbors garage

I tried that and it created a whole new issue... How to silence the Neighbor??

I have built an enclosure to house my generator that is lined with sound deadening material. As to the heat & fumes I have a "snorkle" for lack of a better term at each end. Both are lined with sound deadening material and one of the is preassurized with a squirel cage fan. The fan moves enough air to take care of heat & fumes.

I think the "snorkles" are a key component. While testing I ran the genset with one of them removed and I would guess that the noise level nearly doubled when standing about 6' from the genset.

I don't recal where we found the design info. I do recall that there were specific calculations for the area of the vent holes and the dimensions of the "hood" . I wish I could draw you a picture to better illustrate...

[Morgan Paul]

Take a look at this:
Soundproofing a Generator

[Alan Wheeler]

I am sure they are a good company, but the first few lines I read had a very misleading statment.

It is based on the fact that air will go around corners well, whereas sound doesn't like to.

That ain't correct at all. Maybe it is a simple way of trying to describe a very complex situation. But then they use this argument to down play other materials as poor sound isolaters in their "Myths" section. They are certainly correct that those other materials are poor sound isolators by the way. But.......arr what the heck. I am probably just tooo nerdy when it comes to Acoustics :-)

[Greg Schoenberg]

I have a EU2000 generator. To silence it, I put it in a marine cooler with 1 inch venting holes all around. The exhaust has a 3 inch hole. I was careful to monitor the heat at first and found that if I had sufficient holes in the cooler, then heat was disappated sufficiently. Also it help to put the cooler/gen. on a throwaway cushion in order to alleviate vibration. We put it on the back off the swim platform and it worked great.

[Ex-Calif]

A freind of mine built a dyno for model race boat engines and installed it in his garage.

1/ Build a floor mount with rubber isolators to avoid vibration transmission.
2/ Insulate the floor
3/ Bulid a box - better if one outside wall of the garage is used.
4/ Insulate the box
5/ Provide a snorkel intake that runs through the garage wall, has a fan and is insulated as well. It is best if the mouth of the snorkel is above head high
6/ Provide an exhaust snorkel that runs through the garage wall, is insulated and runs up the outside of the garage to roof height. Note this would be pipe in pipe. There would be a snorkel duct to exhaust the cooling air and the engine exhaust pipe also runs in this duct. There may be some argument and complexity in running the exhaust this far but it will result in the quietest install.

FWIW - These race boat engines put out about 8+ hp and scream at 28,000+ rpm. They are noisy little beasts. He imbeded a plexi viewing screen in his box but it was nice and quiet both inside and outside the garage.

These little beauties will do over 95mph on the water.

[malan_h]

Hi folks

Thanks for the huge response !

I will have to take a closer look at the solution- I like the car silencer and snorkel solutions.

Happy sailing

HAnnes

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by Greg Schoenberg

I have a EU2000 generator. To silence it, I put it in a marine cooler with 1 inch venting holes all around. The exhaust has a 3 inch hole. I was careful to monitor the heat at first and found that if I had sufficient holes in the cooler, then heat was disappated sufficiently. Also it help to put the cooler/gen. on a throwaway cushion in order to alleviate vibration. We put it on the back off the swim platform and it worked great.

Greg, How many one inch holes did you drill? I might try this for our 1000.

[Pura Vida]

Chuck, how long have you been using the 1000. I really love mine.
pv

[AnchorageGuy]

Been using it for a couple of years now and we like it too:>

[Greg Schoenberg]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

Greg, How many one inch holes did you drill? I might try this for our 1000.

I recall about a dozen per long side. Short side was vented due to exhaust on one end and holes for cords on the other. Also, I cracked the top open when running, for more ventilation.

-Greg

[AnchorageGuy]

Thanks Greg but with all of those openings did it really cut down much noise?

[Greg Schoenberg]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

Thanks Greg but with all of those openings did it really cut down much noise?

Substantially.

Here is a link to a gallery which shows the early stage of development. I didn't purchase a muffin fan because the dozen or so holes did the trick.

Kodakgallery.com*Album Not Found&

I don't own this boat anymore and so the whole thing is sitting in my storage shed. The two subsequent boats have inverters. Nonetheless, should I need this for marine or RV usage (while boondocking), I'm confident it will work fine.

-Greg