Any Way to Make a Portable Generator Quiter?

98tdicolo said:

What kind and size of inverter did you use?

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Just a small one that clamps on to the battery terminals. It was enough to run the TV, PC, and the required bits for internet/television channels which she has via satellite, along with a few lights. Nothing major. Also kept about 30 cell phones charged, as the land lines in her area were also messed up.

Ski in NC said:

Modern fridges don't like power interruption. I like to run gen in morning and evening, and off midday and night. About 12on/12off. My fridge won't stay properly cold like that, especiallly if door gets opened

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If you live in an area where you get enough power interruptions that it's aggravating and expensive from spoiled food, consider a propane refrigerator:

https://www.thenaturalhome.com/gasappliances.htm

Servel makes fridges that are for RV use, but also small enough and affordable enough to be a spare fridge in the garage. You can also look on Ebay for propane fridges that are much cheaper used. The Servel models come with an AC plug for "backup only" and I haven't read much about whether this "backup only" is suitable to be used 24/7 and only have the propane burner lit when the power is out for extended durations. If you live in a location where your heat is from propane or natural gas you can do the calculations to see how much it would cost to run a fridge on gas verses electricity. If the cost is greater you have to decide whether that extra cost of running the fridge constantly on propane/NG is worth investing in a fridge that is there for you during a power blackout.

jimbote said:

you could use the same strategy that old air cooled 2 stroke dirt/street bikes used....wedge small 1/2 wide blocks of rubber (old tire/innertube) between the cooling fins near the corners...not enough to block air but enough to dampen the vibration and noise transmission of the fins....

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I owned a Yamaha XS-650 motorcycle that had something similar. The larger cooling fins at the top of the cylinders had thin connecting bits cast into the design stretching up and down the sides of the fins. I guess that helped a bit with noise reduction. I can't otherwise think of what they were for.

I ended up with a Chinese built Champion (via Tractor Supply), 4kw peak, 3.5 kw sustained, 110/220 for about 1/3 the price of a 110 volt only EU2000. It's louder than the inverter unit (we had borrowed my sister's following an ice storm and a 13 1/2 day power outage a few years back), but much quieter than the 5500 (my parents' unit that we had borrowed first). The Champ can be heard running when it's outside the kitchen, (I think the sound rating was 68 dB at half load and 21 feet), but put a door between you and the generator and the normal fridge sound is louder.
And I think that's the critical part of the selection: getting one that's designed and built to be quiet. Add-ons and enclosures start to raise the price to approach the cost of one that was designed that way.

oilhammer said:

My B4 ran for 3 days straight in my sister's driveway a few years ago with an invertor hooked to it. Just a small one that clamps on to the battery terminals. It was enough to run the TV, PC, and the required bits for internet/television channels which she has via satellite, along with a few lights.

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Before my folks' power was back on and we were able to borrow their 5500, we used VW solar panels in a south facing window to charge a car battery. We had 12vdc for a small B&W tv, and a 150 w inverter to run a few 7w CF lamps.
Fortunately my work had power after 2 days and I could shower there and charge battery devices. Mrs. went to her folks to wash-up, do laundry, and get drinking water. We flushed the toilets with buckets drawn from the fish pond. When the toilets began to freeze up we knew we had to get the furnace running....

That Champion unit is cheap. I'd really like a Honda EU2000i as well. I've borrowed a friends a couple times and love how light, quiet and economical it is. And we have town water, propane water heater (no power) and woodstoves so all I need to run is the refrigeratorb (and maybe the cable modem and laptop) and we are in great shape to ride out a long power outage. But they are so darn expensive for something that I might not use for over a year at a time that I just can't justify the cost. And when they pop up used they usually cost just about the same as new.

But for $330 I'm going to seriously consider the Champions. I probably need a UPS for the electronics if I'm going to use a non inverter unit. That should work, right?

KITEWAGON said:

That Champion unit is cheap. I'd really like a Honda EU2000i as well. I've borrowed a friends a couple times and love how light, quiet and economical it is. And we have town water, propane water heater (no power) and woodstoves so all I need to run is the refrigeratorb (and maybe the cable modem and laptop) and we are in great shape to ride out a long power outage. But they are so darn expensive for something that I might not use for over a year at a time that I just can't justify the cost. And when they pop up used they usually cost just about the same as new.

But for $330 I'm going to seriously consider the Champions. I probably need a UPS for the electronics if I'm going to use a non inverter unit. That should work, right?

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Cheaper generators may confuse a UPS causing it to cycle on and off.

One of these days I'm going to look into the power quality issue. Most electronics these days run on 50-60Hz, 90-240Vac. Noise spikes on the AC might cause issues; but voltage fluctuations and Hz fluctuations? Most stuff shouldn't care.

I too have problems coughing up the dough for something that only needs usage every few years.

White Crow said:

Cheaper generators may confuse a UPS causing it to cycle on and off.

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I don't see why this would be a big deal. A UPS charges when it has sufficient input power and continuously conditions the power out to the load. If the cheaper generator had poor voltage regulation then I suppose this means the UPS might go onto battery briefly, but I highly doubt this will measurably shorten the life of the UPS battery.

tditom said:

I don't see why this would be a big deal. A UPS charges when it has sufficient input power and continuously conditions the power out to the load. If the cheaper generator had poor voltage regulation then I suppose this means the UPS might go onto battery briefly, but I highly doubt this will measurably shorten the life of the UPS battery.

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Probably won't I'm not sure how good it is for the relays and it sure is annoying when it cycles and they will a lot with poor power input. Cheap UPS units do not run on battery until the power drops good ones do.

Our Generator is a 10Kw Generac.. 19hp Briggs V-Twin. it's freaking LOUD... It's loud enough to be annoying even across the other side of the back yard with the house closed up..

I've used it once just to make sure it would run the house..

supton said:

Well, yes, you do need to ventilate around the genset; I thought that was obvious...

I read a thread or two about some people who bought two generators. One big enough to run a whole house, and capable of making the 240Vac needed to kick on a well pump, a/c, etc. And a smaller one that didn't drink the gas too bad. I suppose in the summer there's no choice but to run the big generator for the a/c though. I've read lots of good things about the Honda 2kW invertor, enough to make me really want to get one--but I know it won't power my 240Vac well pump (everything else in my house is on 120 though).

That's one of the problems: need at least 4kW to get well pumps and furnaces to start up, which means cost. Every year I think about getting a generator, and wished they made a cheap enough 5kW invertor that I could use on the car. But a 5kW load on the car is like 375A load, give or take. It might be a momentary load spike, but that's still a hefty load.

Friend of mine used his Prius as a genset a few years ago during an ice storm. Obviously not a huge invertor. Just left it in "run" and it would start the engine every so often. Now that's an application I'd love to see built into a hybrid system--an invertor to run the house!

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I have an 11.5KW North Star Gen set with a 22HP honda engine, and it was supposed to be the quietest unit available at that time I got it. It's noisy enough, but nowhere near the portable ones that start running when we lose power in the neighborhood. It's for the whole house. I think the most important thing to think about when getting a standby generator is the transfer switch. Mine is a GE Electronic unit and I got it because it not only kicks in when the power goes out, but also on low voltage (brown outs) and utility company frequency imbalances. Both of which, in todays deregulated environment, are very prevalant and present real problems for home owners.

Sound pressure decibel scale is logarithmic, so 10 dB increase means 10 times the sound pressure level. Even one or two dB difference between brands is obvious.
It's too late for those of us that have units already, but those still shopping, or considering a replacement, should look up the sound levels of the ones you are considering.

Mine's 68 dB as measured at the industry standard of 23 feet distance.

It's an old thread....but might be getting active with hurricane season....
My fix with an open frame Genny....get a couple sheets if HEAVY PLYWOOD...and use it to reflect the sound away...so.e folks use a V shape, or even a lean-to style tent with the ends open with two sheets...just allow lots of airflow....
Big plus...done right, the plywood keeps the Genny dry, and slightly hidden...yes..even an honest person is tempted to steal a generator during a long outage....so PLEASE use a chain. Or cable lock.....

I've found golf cart batteries to be an incredibly cost effective solution. You can get 20kWh of storage for <$2k. A 4kW AC coupled inverter costs another ~$2k and you can parallel it with your existing grid-tie PV system to charge up the batteries during the day. So for ~$4k you get a pretty limitless supply of energy delivered everyday so you don't end up like these poor souls hunting for some fools fuel a few days after the grid goes down...



AND... you can keep inverters indoors so no worries about them walking away

Back to noise.
Two tThese put out more power, run good, but are a little louder. The extra noise comes from the intake and carburetor and not the exhaust.
I fabricated a silencer out of some tubing and rubber blocks to give the intake ari a longer path.
Modified the 'Phone dB meter shows little difference between the Honda 2000 and the HF 2800.
As an aside HF now has a closer Honda clone for sale this Labor day for $399 but I have no experience with it.
As an aside several of the guys from work have bought the HF 2800 for back up at home.
That also being said one of our generators was stolen, not the HF.
The secret is run the generator in and then change the oil using a good syntheticc and keep Sat-bil in the fuel to prevent gumming.
We run these generators for an hour each month to make sure they will run when we need them. This also helps since more dye due to disuse than any other reason.

More of an ironic story than on topic: Decided to be nice to the neighborhood and bite the bullet on a Honda 6500w inverter genset for outages. It's really quiet. I converted it to Tri-fuel, repiped my NG to the back of the house and put a quick-disconnect on both ends of the 1" hose.

I can pull out the genset, hook it up in 3 minutes and run the whole house on NG indefinitely (save for oil changes). It's an awesome setup.

The ironic part is that shortly after doing so, the neighborhood went to hell with new residents who turned a perfectly nice and quiet neighborhood into a blue tarp, loud car, barking dogs on chains sort of environment.

After all I put into the genset arrangement, I'm now moving to get away from these A$#holes. So much for being considerate -- no good deed goes unpunished!

OlyTDI said:

More of an ironic story than on topic: Decided to be nice to the neighborhood and bite the bullet on a Honda 6500w inverter genset for outages. It's really quiet. I converted it to Tri-fuel, repiped my NG to the back of the house and put a quick-disconnect on both ends of the 1" hose.

I can pull out the genset, hook it up in 3 minutes and run the whole house on NG indefinitely (save for oil changes). It's an awesome setup.

The ironic part is that shortly after doing so, the neighborhood went to hell with new residents who turned a perfectly nice and quiet neighborhood into a blue tarp, loud car, barking dogs on chains sort of environment.

After all I put into the genset arrangement, I'm now moving to get away from these A$#holes. So much for being considerate -- no good deed goes unpunished!

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Ouch....sounds like a decent setup...
My way of "keeping the peace" was to both use a shield to reflect sound from out general houses and into the woods, and to run a couple extension cords so the neighbors could keep a fridge running....had to alternate, and just do a few hours at a time, I only had a 3500 watt Chinese Genny, but have used it a few times, a couple weeks at a pop....and it burns about 4 gallons every 8 hrs...so not too bad...
One of my neighbors liked the idea of power so much he bought a 8500 watt contractor Genny...thing could wake the dead, and made dirty power that could not run a microwave....and drank fuel....they could help moved out after maybe two "power" events after having a generator....
Your setup sounds great....are you using a transfer switch? Or just running cords....for my wattage, cords seem ok, buy if I ever went bigger, would have gotten a switch installed.

I dont know if they have fixed it, but older EU2000i's have a problem with the carb emulsion tube (thats what google calls it...) getting plugged up while sitting. Using regular pump gas (10% ethanol), I have to clean out the carb every winter when I need to use it (power goes out here at least half a dozen times a year, usually less than a day each time). I've gotten pretty proficient at taking the carb off and cleaning it.

Its about as loud as our dishwasher when running right outside our kitchen window. I have it set up so that it runs our refrigerator, pellet stove (loose power while its got a fire and it smokes up the house), some Christmas lights, and TV/DVD player.

I had the same issue with an air compressor. I built a wooden enclosure with a small fan to bring cool air into the box. It has worked fine for over twenty years! But for your problem: Find a cardboard box that will fit comfortably, upside down, over the generator. If that is not enough, glue some fiberglass insulation inside the cardboard box. That will decrease the decibels sufficiently. Otherwise, you will need to build a wooden enclosure with fiberglass insulation inside.

That was a bump to an old thread.

And on a side note, I now have a Yamaha EF2000i inverter generator for camping/racetrack use with the possibility of emergency power-outage use, which I bought three or four years ago. The dealer that I bought it from carries both Honda and Yamaha, and basically it was "do you want a red one, or a blue one; mind you, the blue ones are on sale right now" ... so that's what I bought. It has done well.

In a power outage, I would be operating essentials only - fridge and basic lighting. I can do without A/C in a power-outage emergency. I can cook on the coleman stove. Keep in mind that the house isn't wired to handle an emergency generator. The generator would have to be outside in the yard, with an extension cord run inside to whatever absolutely has to work.