Disaster

That would be just over 11 amps @ 12V. if there were no other losses. Starting wattage, however, would be much higher, if only briefly. Deep cycle batteries might enjoy being used that way---especially if only intermittently like Jim suggested

Harold

Bill Bright wrote: Ive been told that if you bury a 55 gallon drum in the ground and pipe your exaust into it, it will quiten down a bit (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Probably would, but I don't think I would bother. First off, as has been pointed out earlier, a large part of the noise comes from the outside of the engine, not from the exhaust. I have one of those less expensive Coleman generators, with an open pipe frame, and, yes it is noisy. But, the first time I used it in a power failure, my neighbors were all puzzled by the fact that I was the only one with the lights on. The inverse square law applies to sound, as well as all other energy radiation phenomena. Distance is your friend. My generator is loud when you stand next to it, but it is just barely audible from inside the house, and evidently inaudible in the neighbors houses.

Also, I have never had anyone express resentment at the fact that I was running it and had power when they didn't.

I wonder if they might have acted differently had they and their families had actually been in fear of their lives.

Strider

Or it was 5 days and the food in the freezer was turning to ooze.

Gunner

"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." --Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

Sort of. The muffler will knock down the exhaust noise, but engine still makes all sorts of mechanical sounds. The cooling fins tend to broadcast those sounds. Been there, done that.

-Carl

Big cheap car muffler

On the 40 acres that I share with my brother in a remote spot in Michigan's U.P., we came up with a simple way to quiet our generator in an otherwise very quiet surrounding - dig a hole in the ground about 4 feet deep & drop the whole thing in the hole. The noise mostly goes straight up & not so loud in a radial pattern. I suppose adding a better muffler would make it better yet...

BEAR wrote:

There wouldn't be any resentment in those cases, either, but your generator would mysteriously disappear.

I heard this argument and it does not quite make sense.

First off my neighbors would be happy to hear a genset running in my garage, if it were winter and there was an extensive power outage. Because that would mean that after I ran my boiler, we could run a line to each of their houses, and run theirs, each in turn.

If you are worried that the sound of the genset means they would be an attraction for looters, most of my neighbors are pretty well armed. I think they would be more worried about their house pipes freezing.

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

Not if you secured it properly. ;) I've thought for years that survivalists might be caught between a rock and a hard place if bad times ever do come. People do not always(?) behave rationally. It would't make much sense for them to resent you if you were surviving fairly comfortably and they weren't, even if you had tried to warn them before. Many times, when survivalists try to tell people they should prepare, people treat them like they(the survivalists) are the fools. Of course, they wouldn't want to be reminded later that they ignored what turned out to be good advice. People in that situation aren't usually very receptive to any "I told you so's", especially if they're hungry, cold, worried, etc. It's hard to reason with a hungry man.

It is easier to fight for our principles than to live up to them.-Alfred Adler

Look at how the thing is constructed. Can the mountings stand extra weight? You may have to go the flex tubing route. A friend of mine tried a bigger muffler and ripped the bolts out of the head and had all sorts of fun fixing it. 8o(

Absolutely true, an experience learned when I built the boat generator. I used an 8 horse Kohler electric start engine, which I converted to a water cooled engine by machining a new head and installing a stainless band around the cooling fins after major alteration on a rotary table. The engine ran much quieter once converted to water cooling.

Harold

Harold, do you have any pictures of your conversion? I've though about doing something similar but keeping the valve area cool looks to be a cast-iron bitch.

-Carl

Big old luxury car muffler. Anything designed for an older V8 Cadillac would be great. Low backpressure and plenty of sound dampening.

Gary

Hey!

This is a metalworking group, one can assume that you'd know to add some appropriate support, as required.

Many years ago I did a composite of the hole in ground trick, AND the pipe w/muffler trick to quiet the generators at an underground/impromptu rock concert out in a field.

I found a whole lot of 20 ft lengths of pipe under a bungalo, put bales of hay in a 4ft high ring around the generators (sufficiently wide placement - like

6ft plus clearances) - ran the pipe from the exhaust outlet through a hole cleared in the hay bales, then attached the stock mufflers at the end of the 20 ft pipe... quite much quieter, thank you...

From what I remember, the concert was fun... and the gens had no problem...

:- )

I don't want to admit how many years back that was... geez.

_-_-bear

Indeed I do! I was quite proud of how the engine turned out, it and the miniature water cooled muffler and exhaust system, too. I even made a small water pump. If you'd like to receive some photos, please contact me on the side and I'll do my best to copy them from the photo album and send them to you.

Harold

Pictures. Post pictures Harold. Please? I have also thought of doing a gen that I have here at the shop. That, and an auger.

michael

Way to go, Michael. Expose me for the idiot I am! I have absolutely no clue how to post pictures here. I'm not sure I'm even smart enough to do it with guidance, but I'm open to suggestion.

You and that damned auger! What is it, you never seen any 17-4 stainless machined?

H