Yes, those are very nice. Onan does a series of RV generators that only run at 1800rpm to keep the mechanical sound down but those are only air cooled. Honda portable EU series generators are the quietest right now at around 54db. They use sound deadening insulation to quite them. Thanks for commenting and watching.
There are two things to consider when trying to quiet down a small engine. #1 The amount of metal and thickness of the crank case and cylinder and cylinder head. Small, air cooled, engines have very little metal in the engine housing itself so a lot of the combustion noise is actually coming through the walls of the engine. This can be addresses by enclosing the engine in a sound dampening housing. however this is problematic with air cooled engines. #2 No matter how quiet a muffler claims to be, it is greatly influenced by the length of exhaust tubing. The longer the exhaust tubing the quieter the the sound. The exhaust noise is greatly reduced by the distance and turns and surfaces in which the exhaust, and pressure wave, has to transverse.
Thanks for watching. There is just so much sound that comes out of the engine block. But you can't hear is until you put the muffler on. It helps a little but nothing like you would expect.
Automotive mufflers are made for engines with 4 to 8 exhaust pulses per two revolution and the pulses are used to drown out other pulses. If you have only 1 pulse per two revolutions the muffler will not quieten it down too much! I purchased an aftermarket muffler on Ebay for my generator and it makes a big difference in the noise level. I can talk in my backyard with the generator running nearby! The muffler is about 6" in diameter and 12 inches long made for my particular motor. it was about $100 on Ebay was a bolt on installation! Get the model number of your motor and ask the seller if it will fit your motor before you buy! Well worth th money and really reduces the noise!
@Roy Futrell I have always been amazed by the quietness of some of the Honda Generators. I was talking to a guy and felt something on my pants leg that turned out to be the exhaust of a Honda generator! Of course it was a $2000 generator and the muffler was cast aluminum! Well engineered! I tried to quieten an old generator and built a muffler for it! The exhaust was quiet the the noise from the valves, piston slap and rod knocking was then the main source of the noise! Maybe that is why they put those noisy mufflers on their motors to hide the other noises!!!!!
@stevosredneckrepairs The muffler quieted the exhaust a ton. I tried several exhausts with the auto muffler being the best. Even with that 90% of the sound was coming straight out of the wall of the engine block.
Motorcycle engines , car engines ...etc have just simple muffler systems ...your pipe size going into the muffle has to be the same size or smaller on the exit side ....Best results for generators are when they are in a sound - proof room ..
@01va8i The muffler actually quieted the exhaust a ton. Off camera I did stick the original muffler in the tailpipe of the auto muffler and it made a different tone but not necessarily quieter. When I idled the engine down the muffler made a HUGE difference. The problem is the engine is always running at full throttle and all the sound is coming right out of the engine block.
wow.... just came across this old video and realised you've been on TH-cam for over 10 years. Good on ya and thanks for making the videos. I have learned many things from you 🙂👍
The aluminum foil was only used to temporarily seal the edges. The muffler quieted the exhaust and changed the tone. It allowed you to hear how much sound actually comes from the engine block. Virtually all the sound is coming from the block itself and you can hear the engine firing. To compare: pop the hood on your car and have someone rev and hold it at 3600 rpm. Then close the hood and you will hear a huge difference with the sound deadening they put on the inside of the hood.
I did automotive exhaust work for 27 years and on many generators. Generally most of the noise you are hearing is from the motor and rotating parts. Before you waste your time putting an extra muffler on it put on a thick leather glove and take an old rag and hold it over the muffler outlet on the gen set for a couple of seconds and see if it makes much of a difference in sound. Probably wont unless the muffler is just toast. Best to build an enclosure for the gen set, run the exhaust out of it through a flexible pipe extension, and be sure you have decent air flow so you dont overheat your gen set
Not necessarily true. Honda GX motors have thicker casing, the block, and most the noise comes from the exhaust. Briggs and Stratton is the wrong motor for a quiet test video like this lol. Briggs are the loudest clanking motor on earth
Thank You. Off camera I actually tried it without the dolly and it was the same. It is weird because you can hear the piston/ combustion process very clearly when the muffler sound is virtually eliminated. One of the biggest things is that it is running at full throttle. In comparison a quiet car will be significantly louder if you open the hood and floor the accelerator.
@Landotter1 Yes, I tried playing around with the air intake as well with only very little effect. When you muffle the exhaust with your hand you can tell that 90 of all the noise is coming straight out of the block.
Good Video. Many people think that all the noise of a generator comes from the exhaust and make huge work to try and quiet that way alone. The quietest generators I have ever worked on are the liquid cooled enclosed ones from Honda. They don't even make them anymore because of cost and cheaper competition. When they're running at full rpm (3700), you can have a normal tone conversation right next to it. Thanks for the video.
Yeah, the inverter generators are all I'll use. Most people dont want to pay 4x as much though so I thought I would make a video as I always wondered what a muffler would do. Thanks for commenting and watching.
Great advice! But I was interested in the hour meter you showed at the end, but the ending popup ad videos blocked it entirely so could not see what it looked like.
I wondered how that would work. I think the best way to quiet a loud generator is to put it behind your neighbor's house and run an extension cord over the fence to your house. :)
I know of a few people out here where it rains a lot and power goes out a lot. The seal the generator in a shed the stick the air and exhaust out of the shed. Actually super quiet.
The best candidate I've seen is an Onan out of an r.v. They're ducted, or the older ones were, to be fully enclosed with the cooling air being exhausted through the floor and fresh air being vented in through the door of the generator box. The older ones didn't run but 1800 r.p.m. and a reasonable muffler helped but the enclosure did the most work. Got to have cool air or they'll melt and lock down.
This is also a problem in dairy barns with the noisy milking vacuum pump. Some guys build a small 6'x6' "vacuum pump room" with plywood sheathing & vent fan. Then they use oversized exaust steel pipe up into the attic and back down below grade out to a outside pit (burried 5 gallon pail) to vent the noise. Works great. Yankeeprepper used pvc pipe from his basement generator and went below ground. I would think the condensation within would turn to ice. ?
I see some 90,000 views means i'm not the only one tired of loud lawn mowers, edges, etc. I've been doing tests as well--a no go on all my ideas. Taking the muffler off actually doesn't make my edger that much louder. As people say below, it's probably sound emitting from the engine block. Automotive manufactures figured this out, why not Briggs and Stratton ?!? C'mon guys I know you are reading posts like this--figure it out.
Kris Kasprzak I showed this experiment fully knowing what the outcome would be. Yes, the sound is coming from the engine block. You can hold the db meter right at the exhaust and then right next to the block and the block will be a few db higher. It has been figured out but it's not practical. First auto engines are water cooled which deadens some sound(this would triple the cost of the motor and double the weight), secondly they are shielded and sound insulated( this would double the cost of the motor and add weight). All these small motors run at approx 3600 rpm. Pop the hood of your car and have someone rev it up to 3600 and it is loud, in fact virtually the same decibel on small cars and louder on larger vehicles than a mower. People already complain about the pricing of power equipment I can't imagine people taking a $500 mower and paying $2500 just because it is quiet. A lot of engine manufactures have reduced noise by decreasing the performance of their engines. Honda for example, take their engines and slow them down to 2900rpm. They do less work but are a few db quieter. Standard generators enable to keep costs down can't run this slow, they need to run at 3600rpm to hold the 60hz frequency rating in the US. Honda who makes the quietest generators, but also chargers 4-5 times the price of loud models uses reduced rpms to run inverter type generators coupled with sound deadening to reduce decibels.
Theres more too it than slapping an oversized muffler on something. You have to also attack noise reduction with a well designed intake tract, just like in a modern vehicle. Ive messed around alot with these type of projects, one of the best easiest things seems to be using some threaded pipe adapters lengthen your exhaust tube, wrap it with exhaust wrap, and point the outlet to the ground. Most effective over a yard than driveway. Also be aware with any change to a generator that effects the RPM at all, this changes your HZ not to mention other shit. In the US our devices are made for 60hz. They set the RPMs with this in mind. Ive used Permatex ultra black high temp silcone with some success insulating my air filter box on some engines.
Build a simple wooden box to put over the generator. Insulate the inside of the box with fiberglass wall insulation for noise absorption. Include a fan for cooling. The fan directs airflow into the box. Use your muffler and about ten to twenty feet of metal flex tube to vent the exhaust out of the box... Attach the metal hose to the exhaust port and the muffler to the far end of the metal hose and put it out away from the generator. You will drop the the noise level by about 40dB... This is cheap and effective!
REAL RESULTS Here I easily obtain 10db drop, that's 4x quieter th-cam.com/video/5zwc5mdEbDI/w-d-xo.html Get a decibel meter for yourself with a link in the description.
I know it sounds reasonable but once you put any car muffler on you realize 95% of all the sound is coming directly from the block. It is mechanical noise not exhaust noise like you would think. If you pop the hood on you caravan, stand in front of it and have someone floor the gas pedal you are going to be running a car engine under the same situation as generator. It will be nearly as loud.
The car muffler may have actually been louder or equal in db as it was facing the opposite direction whereas the stock muffler was to the side, essential dispersing the sound in a 50/50 direction. So if the car muffler was facing to the side, it may have registered the same or higher than the stock muffler. Even tho it doesn't make a difference, just something to think about.
As far as decibels they are pretty close (withing 2-4 decibels). I do think that the mufflers are a little more high tech on the newer motors, they also seam to have more plastic to shroud the engine and deaden the sound "a little".
I think this was an aluminum foil fail more than anything. Another thing to consider is the fact that the auto muffler has a much larger outlet, which tends to be louder. One thing to try might be to weld a plate over the outlet of the muffler with about the same size or even smaller outlet. Some gas golf carts do this to help reduce noise and it has a negligible effect on power.
dig a ramped hole in the ground ...it is cooler down there and will be quiet...the ramp will allow u to pull it out to service it.....need drainpipe leading away at the bottom too prob.
Hummm I wonder if the same material & build use on gun silencer work??🤔Maybe my guess was just as good as a lot others who was unable to pull this off!
Automotive engines are heavy thick material pressurized high volume oil systems and are liquid cooled small equipment engines are light weight thinner material splash oiled and air cooled. Sound is absorbed by the thicker material coolant and oil. Sure the small engine companies can build a quieter engine bit do you want an 800 pound push mower or chainsaw?
with generators, most of the noise you hear is mechanical. generator unit spinning, engine spinning, the entire unit vibrating on the ground, etc. the exhaust itself is actually very quiet
You really need a surrounding of four panels and perhaps a lid too. The panels can be 2 inches thick, filled with fibre glass or rock wool. The metal panels need lots of small holes. Basically the same as an air conditioning unit, where the noise from the motor drops 100 dB. We have used this method for years.
I did the same thing. I installed a auto muffler on a 4000watt powermate, looks identical to the one you tried it on. Made no difference at all. I dont know what would be worse, the power outage or the noise lol .
Interesting test. My Coleman is real loud as well. It has a Briggs motor. I think an enclosure is going to be more the way to go if it's for power outages. For other uses maybe a protable enclosure. But good attempt...
I get tired of all you folks preaching on back pressure and harm from it. Back pressure has almost NO effect on small engines. I've worked on small engines and modified exhausts for years, and the only type that's relies on specific back pressure is two-stroke. You can literally do anything you want with a small engine four stroke exhaust except blocking it entirely without negative effects guys, seriously.
Jeff Sims I laugh at that term. Who wants any pressure built up in their engine? The pressure is never built up for more than the exhaust stroke. It's not a smelly anus that builds up various pressure until a fart is released.
I worked during school in an old machine shop that made parts for those old flathead Briggs type motors they were the old Onan flat heads, and some of the Wisconsin and Tecumseh stuff. They had splash oilers bushings as few bearings as possible and everything is made out of rough sand casting little precision they litterly just pond away until something comes apart. Most were designed before WW2 and built with the purpose of limited resources during war time, and many only just completely went out of production ten years ago. These designs worked well for consumerism after the war as just as the old flatty 6cyl and v8 that had to be overhauled and new babit bearings poured every 20k it sold cars.
You should have left the original Muffler on it and added some flex pipe. The original Muffler combined with a car muffler I found has lowered it buy up to 30 decibels
Another solution that works is to get some sound absorption foam, glue it to some really thing plywood or paneling and build a triangle around the generator leaving one side open. you can even stand up a fourth one on that end, just leave plenty room for air to enter and escape. the idea is to intercept and dampen the sound waves. you can use other materials, but the "egg crate" stuff is the best design for it. you could even build a full enclosure if you could provide enough airflow via powered extraction somehow. personally, i pout mine inside my workshop and close all the doors and run it inside, running the cables to wherever they are needed from there. and for house power, i have a back-feed system setup inside the workshop to back-feed the entire house if needed. that way it can run for days if needed and the continuous droning won't drive myself and everyone around me crazy.
Thank you for this video! Even though the result was not what we would hope for, it clearly tells us the exhaust noise is only part of the equation. Could the intake be making a bunch of noise as well as the engine block?
Yes, the intake puts out a lot of sound. The air filter seems to muffle it to be slightly quieter than the sound coming from the side of the engine block. Virtually all of the sound is coming directly out of the engine block.
if that muffler was hooked up right and a stock car muffler was used it would reduce the noise a lot. I didit to a 11 hp briggs and it worked fine. what he used looks like a flowmaster muffler
+mack1ford Sorry but it wont. You can change the tone to a deeper tone but you won't change the db more than a few... if you're lucky. Also with something as restrictive as a stock car muffler you just changed the jetting on your carb and will burn up valves in no time.
+sixtyfiveford thats not true you dont have to change any thing on the carb and all a stock car muffler is is a larger briggs muffler. i wouldn't have left it on if it hurt the engine.
Very true. You can see even in the video me adjusting the mixture screw to take a perfectly good running engine before the exhaust was added and adjust it to compensate for the lean running condition. The rpms also changed taking the HZ from 60 to around 56-57 which will damage equipment. Any restriction will slow the engine from it's designed 3600rpm to maintain this 60hz frequency for US devices. but that can be compensated for. Sound travels directly out of the side of the block and a decibel meter shows more sound coming from the side and front of the motor than directly out of the exhaust... Take your car and rev it to 3600 with the hood open and you'll see how much noise there is.
+sixtyfiveford again if you hooked it up right it would work stuffing aluminum foil in the gap won't seal the exhaust properly there for it won't feed the muffler right and it won't work and makes the engine run lean.make a adapter to fit the muffler right then try it again.
if you weld pipe on the arigenal muffler diameter of the exhaust pipe then install the muffler it will be quite I have three generators as I live off the grid it doesn't need all that insulation your talking about;
Excellent video sir. Informative and enlightening. I've always wondered if a muffler would help mine. Not a failed experiment at all. I'm wondering if the dolly added to the noise being it was maybe metal on metal? Thanks again and keep up the great work. We need more of this stuff on TH-cam.
Very honest video! If one doesn't want to spend a few thousand on a encased generator, and as I'm going to do, which is to buy or build a shelter box to protect and house the generator. if well ventilated it will help with the noise and protect it as well.
It won't help and more restriction only messes up the fuel air mixture and the carb needs to be re-jetted. This old 90's generator just happened to have an adjustable jet(something you won't find on anything made in the last 20 years) so at 2:40 in the video you can see me reach down and lean out the fuel air mixture do to the reduced air flow. The majority of the sound comes directly out of the engine block and not the muffler.
Yes. Basically the majority of the sound you hear is coming directly out of the block of the engine. So you need to surround it and keep the engine cool at the same time. They will still never be as quite as the Honda but they can be pickup up everywhere for a fraction the cost of a Honda. I have seen so OK doghouses here on utube.
Thank you for doing the experiment and thus saving many of us the time and expense. The insulated dog house structure in other vids is still the best way to go. :-)
With my generator, I found It, not the Exhaust Muffler. it's the clicking racket coming from the motor case the cylinder head the valves And the piston slamming against the cylinder walls The best way leave the old muffler on And Just go get some sheets of ply and shield the cast like a tepee You quieten it down better than an automotive muffler
sixtyfiveford One of the guys did a video on where he just uses an old caravan fridge to cover the generator he cut out the two ends for veneration put two fands in it And it reduces the noise by about 30% 88DB down to 58 DB. By the way, 58 DB down to someone talking the problem with is if the engine does do not get enough air it cants cool itself and the generator will burn out.
A lot of these exhausts have a packing material that burns out over time. You can repack them with steel wool or standard scraps of household fiberglass insulation.
When i saw this video my 1st comment would have been, this is NOT going to work because probably 90% of the noise is from the engine & generator itself. My buddy put an exhaust extend pipe off his muffler and aimed it UP and ran the pipe UP 7 ft high ... I can tell you it did NOT help with the noise db's at all... It was still LOUD, BUT now the exhaust gas was exiting up at 7 ft high so we never smelled the exhaust anywhere around the generator ...
I know this is an old video but has anyone tried to isolate the vibration from the metal parts like using rubber grommets when installing the shrouds to the engine? how about using one of the flexible joints used to isolate car exhaust from the motor so that the extra pipe and muffler don't become a large tuning fork amplifying engine vibration?
There is too much of the engine block exposed. The sound travels the fastest through solid material like the engine block and get pushed right out to your ears. The only way to quiet a generator is to build an enclosure.
+sixtyfiveford I am aware of the sound transmission through the block, I have worked around power equipment most of my life and have found isolation of the lighter weight parts and elimination of non essential metallic contact points seriously reduces the noise level most of the time. look at the really quiet ones and you will see what I mean on all of them parts like the cooling shroud and fuel tank mounts are rubber isolated this gives them the same effect as an enclosure rather than transmitting and even amplifying those sounds. I bet if you had taken it off the metal dolly and set it on a piece of cardboard on the ground the dbl. meter could tell the difference I wouldn't expect a large difference, but enough that the meter would register it
i wonder how loud the engine noise really is coming from the metal itself? A person could technically jb weld goop that sucker to about five inches deep all around.... or something similar.... kind of expensive though. cool video
Carlos Chacon The point of the video is to show that the noise is coming from the engine block itself and not the exhaust like everyone thinks. Adding the muffler probably dropped the exhaust decibles by 10-15db but the engine block still emits its same sound and the generator is still LOUD. You need to enclose the motor to quiet the generator.
Well I hear you guys and I don't know what to say. Backpressure is a problem in dealing with these things. I have 2 ea. Honda generators on a powerhead.
saltyseascott On older engines(20+ years old) you can adjust the fuel/air mixture to compensate for the increased back-pressure throwing off the mixture but not on anything newer. I'm generally not a Honda or Yamaha pusher as they aren't worth the extra cost, but they hit the nail on the head with their quiet generators. Still a little pricey for what they do but worth it.
The majority of the sound comes from the engine block itself and has nothing to do with the exhaust. I could pipe the exhaust to China and it would still be just as loud.
With the sound meter does it read the same on the A and C(I think it was C or D on mine) settings? So its vibrations that come through the block and not the expanding gasses not having time to slow down; like in a gun barrel where the noise comes from the sudden pressure created by the bullet "uncorking" the hot gasses? Would be cool to take a metal probe and touch different parts of the engine to see max vibration.
Pop the hood of your car, and have someone hold it at 3600rpm like a generator and you'll see how loud an engine itself is. Now stand behind it next to the exhaust and it will be quieter than the engine. With the hood closed the enclosed engine bay offer the sound dampening (along with it being a water jacket engine vs air cooled). "Quiet" generators work the same way, with the engine being enclosed in a sound proofing box. The A weighting is designed to replicate what the human ear hears.
So I tried that and the exhaust was a soft wump compared to the higher pitch sounds of the engine. Didn't realize car exhausts were so quiet! I did try sound proof board around an AC transformer to get rid of the hum. Seems the 60hz goes right through. Water jacket makes sense as sound proofing!
I dont think a muffler would help with the type of sound coming out of the engine. Wouldn't a resonator help kill off the higher pitch sound waves? Without a resonator my mufflers would sound really bad, I have a video testing stock mufflers on my car, I added a resonator(no vid yet) and those high pitch nasty sounds from the turbo and engine are eliminated now.
Very bad testing, you had the muffler mechanically coupled to the frame with the vice grip . Could have worked with proper shock mounting of the muffler.
I am waiting to turn my heat on after I clean up and around my furnace. Just like I do every year before I head south to florida for the winter. Anyway, in the evening it can get damp and cold here in NH in November. I have been using my generator to fire up 2 1500 watt liquid filled space heaters until 10:00 PM. My neighbors called the police Friday night. The cop came and pounded (not knock, but POUNDED) on my front door. Luckily I was awake, otherwise I may have had a cardiac event. I came to the door and he said, "OPEN UP!" I thought I might be a bank robbery suspect the way he said that. He asked if I was using it for heat and I said that I was. He said that it was OK. He wanted to know my name and birth date. I'm sure i'm not going to get a birthday card. So much for that, "Thank you for your service" bullshit. My neighbors have sensitive ears unless it's them out hooting it up and getting all drunked up on their front porch all summer long. What a bunch of whimps. Thanks for the post and video. You tried and admitted fail. A real man for sure.
Hey Thanks. I leaned some simple boards up against the generator in this video and dropped the sound to 1/4 the original volume th-cam.com/video/5zwc5mdEbDI/w-d-xo.html
I welded a 2"od pipe to the back plate over the exhaust outlet of my Westinghouse 7KW genset. I then attached a 6' flexible exhaust pipe to run the exhaust outside of the garage. To that I attached a Titanium GSXR 1000 muffler which I purchased cheap on EBay. These mufflers have high flow and are very quiet. I've been running on generator a lot this winter as we have had high winds knocking trees on the power lines. The generator is inside my shop, out of the elements, and the muffler is outside and is quieter than my Yamaha 2kw inverter generator. Yes there is mechanical noise but it's in the shop. If you go my route, I would suggest a CO detector in case there are any leaks. Next spring I'm going to take the guts out of the genset's muffler to reduce the backpressure as those cheap Chinese mufflers are glass packed.
As with my generator (Generac 8000) I think the majority of noise is from the mechanical operation of the thing, and not the exhaust. I'm building a "doghouse" to enclose my generator with adjustable side panels so the noise will be deflected away from my house (towards the the neighbors - Ha! Ha! - you lucky bastards). I think the noise from the operation of these things is just part of the operational process, and there isn't a lot that can be done about it.
@sixtyfiveford Yeah, mechanical noise is a toughy... how about also isolating the frame with rubber mounts? In aviation, we call them lord mounts, made by the lord company. They are pretty expensive though. Everything aviation related is expensive. :-(
Here's what I've learned ONLY from reading. I haven't attempted to mod my muffler yet. 1. The carburetor will need to be tuned when modifying the exhaust (true or false?) 2. Position the exhaust upward. The sound will not bounce off obstacles or the ground. (This makes sense to me) 3. (This is my personal experience being a welder that has done exhaust) The tin foil or objects stuffed in the exhaust are doing very little to effectively consider that test accurate.
Long story short; the muffler makes virtually no difference and is a waste of time. Yes, the carb will need to be tuned if you choose to do this. The stock exhaust is quieter than the sound coming directly out of the side of the engine block. Adding a muffler changes the tone of the exhaust to a deeper tone that is "slightly" more appealing but it's still loud as hell.
No not necessary, you have a water jacket and extra material in between to absorb the noise. The exhaust would have to be insulated to cut noise. The setup I am attempting is a prius engine with pruis generator trans-axle. at 1200 rpm I will get full voltage 220v. The setup that could work with an automotive engine would be a beefy 200 amp alternator and 2000 watt inverter for pure sine wave generation without going to 3500 rpm. Hence no need to run at full throttle unless you go the wrong way and use a generator head which you should really use on a diesel engine. These off the shelf gas units are nothing but noise and wasteful on the budget. Cheap in your hand and expensive on your wallet to run.
There is a lot of energy wasted converting 12volt to 120volt through a sine wave inverter. If a person was going to run an engine it's best to go straight to 120volt. A generator head needs to turn at 3600rpm to create 60hz. You can gear it up and turn the engine at a slower rpm but it will require twice the hp/torque. Onan has done this on a ton of their quite generators but they take up a good amount of space as you have to use a lot bigger engine. You need about 16-20hp to generate 10,000watts @ 120v. If you put a generator head on a car engine and geared it down so the engine only turned 1000-1500 rpms or so it would be quiet but will also require 45-60hp at that rpm. You would need a governor system to control the rpm with the varying load to keep your voltage and hertz the same.
Yes, that is a valid way to do it and most often taken route by most engineered gen sets. Still the inverter isn't bad idea for someone who needs power and doesn't need prolonged run time. For the inverter for every 1 amp of ac power you spend 10 amps of dc to make it happen. That is about 1/4 horse power to make 10 amps and 200 amp alternator sets up for 4 to 6 horsepower required. So a 2000 watt inverter for a car engine would be do-able at 1200 to 2000 rpm.
Introduction, noise meter dealy, blah blah blah. Just show us the auto muffler on the generator. Couldn't take it after 1:19. Went on to music videos. Sorry.
rolyatknarfable actually his video was informative and did not drag on whatsoever. this was a troll comment obviously. Maybe you could make a video yourself to show how its done?
stelthy100 That's a very common misconception. The sound coming directly out of the engine block is louder than the exhaust. I can hold the DB meter right in the exhaust flow and get 70db but then at the front of the motor or anywhere on the block and easily get 80-90db. I relate it to a car. It's nice and quiet at idle but pop the hood and rev the thing to 3600 rpm and its going get real close to 60-70 decibels. An engine compartment is designed to be a sound deadening room and that is the same thing Honda does with their quiet generators. They build a sound deadening enclosure.
Yes, those are very nice. Onan does a series of RV generators that only run at 1800rpm to keep the mechanical sound down but those are only air cooled. Honda portable EU series generators are the quietest right now at around 54db. They use sound deadening insulation to quite them. Thanks for commenting and watching.
There are two things to consider when trying to quiet down a small engine. #1 The amount of metal and thickness of the crank case and cylinder and cylinder head. Small, air cooled, engines have very little metal in the engine housing itself so a lot of the combustion noise is actually coming through the walls of the engine. This can be addresses by enclosing the engine in a sound dampening housing. however this is problematic with air cooled engines. #2 No matter how quiet a muffler claims to be, it is greatly influenced by the length of exhaust tubing. The longer the exhaust tubing the quieter the the sound. The exhaust noise is greatly reduced by the distance and turns and surfaces in which the exhaust, and pressure wave, has to transverse.
Thanks for watching. There is just so much sound that comes out of the engine block. But you can't hear is until you put the muffler on. It helps a little but nothing like you would expect.
Automotive mufflers are made for engines with 4 to 8 exhaust pulses per two revolution and the pulses are used to drown out other pulses. If you have only 1 pulse per two revolutions the muffler will not quieten it down too much!
I purchased an aftermarket muffler on Ebay for my generator and it makes a big difference in the noise level. I can talk in my backyard with the generator running nearby! The muffler is about 6" in diameter and 12 inches long made for my particular motor. it was about $100 on Ebay was a bolt on installation! Get the model number of your motor and ask the seller if it will fit your motor before you buy! Well worth th money and really reduces the noise!
@Roy Futrell I have always been amazed by the quietness of some of the Honda Generators. I was talking to a guy and felt something on my pants leg that turned out to be the exhaust of a Honda generator! Of course it was a $2000 generator and the muffler was cast aluminum! Well engineered!
I tried to quieten an old generator and built a muffler for it! The exhaust was quiet the the noise from the valves, piston slap and rod knocking was then the main source of the noise! Maybe that is why they put those noisy mufflers on their motors to hide the other noises!!!!!
The best solution seams to be the little enclosures people build for them. Thanks for watching.
@stevosredneckrepairs The muffler quieted the exhaust a ton. I tried several exhausts with the auto muffler being the best. Even with that 90% of the sound was coming straight out of the wall of the engine block.
Motorcycle engines , car engines ...etc have just simple muffler systems ...your pipe size going into the muffle has to be the same size or smaller on the exit side ....Best results for generators are when they are in a sound - proof room ..
@01va8i The muffler actually quieted the exhaust a ton. Off camera I did stick the original muffler in the tailpipe of the auto muffler and it made a different tone but not necessarily quieter. When I idled the engine down the muffler made a HUGE difference. The problem is the engine is always running at full throttle and all the sound is coming right out of the engine block.
wow.... just came across this old video and realised you've been on TH-cam for over 10 years. Good on ya and thanks for making the videos. I have learned many things from you 🙂👍
The aluminum foil was only used to temporarily seal the edges. The muffler quieted the exhaust and changed the tone. It allowed you to hear how much sound actually comes from the engine block. Virtually all the sound is coming from the block itself and you can hear the engine firing.
To compare: pop the hood on your car and have someone rev and hold it at 3600 rpm. Then close the hood and you will hear a huge difference with the sound deadening they put on the inside of the hood.
Did you just say 'sound deadening on the hood'?? Wtf
I did automotive exhaust work for 27 years and on many generators. Generally most of the noise you are hearing is from the motor and rotating parts. Before you waste your time putting an extra muffler on it put on a thick leather glove and take an old rag and hold it over the muffler outlet on the gen set for a couple of seconds and see if it makes much of a difference in sound. Probably wont unless the muffler is just toast. Best to build an enclosure for the gen set, run the exhaust out of it through a flexible pipe extension, and be sure you have decent air flow so you dont overheat your gen set
do you know how I can make a predator 212cc engine on a go kart quieter
Top idea my bro told me to do with my generator! So are you saying not bother with muffler? Any reply appreciated thanks from Australia!
Not necessarily true. Honda GX motors have thicker casing, the block, and most the noise comes from the exhaust. Briggs and Stratton is the wrong motor for a quiet test video like this lol. Briggs are the loudest clanking motor on earth
Thank You. Off camera I actually tried it without the dolly and it was the same. It is weird because you can hear the piston/ combustion process very clearly when the muffler sound is virtually eliminated. One of the biggest things is that it is running at full throttle. In comparison a quiet car will be significantly louder if you open the hood and floor the accelerator.
@Landotter1 Yes, I tried playing around with the air intake as well with only very little effect. When you muffle the exhaust with your hand you can tell that 90 of all the noise is coming straight out of the block.
Good Video. Many people think that all the noise of a generator comes from the exhaust and make huge work to try and quiet that way alone. The quietest generators I have ever worked on are the liquid cooled enclosed ones from Honda. They don't even make them anymore because of cost and cheaper competition. When they're running at full rpm (3700), you can have a normal tone conversation right next to it. Thanks for the video.
Yeah, the inverter generators are all I'll use. Most people dont want to pay 4x as much though so I thought I would make a video as I always wondered what a muffler would do. Thanks for commenting and watching.
I think Flat head engines such as the Briggs & Stratton are pretty loud. As opposed to over head valve engines.
Great advice! But I was interested in the hour meter you showed at the end, but the ending popup ad videos blocked it entirely so could not see what it looked like.
I wondered how that would work. I think the best way to quiet a loud generator is to put it behind your neighbor's house and run an extension cord over the fence to your house. :)
Chuckle!
I know of a few people out here where it rains a lot and power goes out a lot. The seal the generator in a shed the stick the air and exhaust out of the shed. Actually super quiet.
piling hay bales around 3 sides and the exhaust pointing out the 4th open side will really lesson the engine mechanical noise.
Hay bales are a good idea.
sixtyfiveford I've seen it done with a rented commercial generator powering a block of houses. Very effective.
The best candidate I've seen is an Onan out of an r.v. They're ducted, or the older ones were, to be fully enclosed with the cooling air being exhausted through the floor and fresh air being vented in through the door of the generator box. The older ones didn't run but 1800 r.p.m. and a reasonable muffler helped but the enclosure did the most work. Got to have cool air or they'll melt and lock down.
This is also a problem in dairy barns with the noisy milking vacuum pump. Some guys build a small 6'x6' "vacuum pump room" with plywood sheathing & vent fan. Then they use oversized exaust steel pipe up into the attic and back down below grade out to a outside pit (burried 5 gallon pail) to vent the noise. Works great. Yankeeprepper used pvc pipe from his basement generator and went below ground. I would think the condensation within would turn to ice. ?
I see some 90,000 views means i'm not the only one tired of loud lawn mowers, edges, etc. I've been doing tests as well--a no go on all my ideas. Taking the muffler off actually doesn't make my edger that much louder. As people say below, it's probably sound emitting from the engine block. Automotive manufactures figured this out, why not Briggs and Stratton ?!? C'mon guys I know you are reading posts like this--figure it out.
Kris Kasprzak I showed this experiment fully knowing what the outcome would be. Yes, the sound is coming from the engine block. You can hold the db meter right at the exhaust and then right next to the block and the block will be a few db higher. It has been figured out but it's not practical. First auto engines are water cooled which deadens some sound(this would triple the cost of the motor and double the weight), secondly they are shielded and sound insulated( this would double the cost of the motor and add weight). All these small motors run at approx 3600 rpm. Pop the hood of your car and have someone rev it up to 3600 and it is loud, in fact virtually the same decibel on small cars and louder on larger vehicles than a mower. People already complain about the pricing of power equipment I can't imagine people taking a $500 mower and paying $2500 just because it is quiet. A lot of engine manufactures have reduced noise by decreasing the performance of their engines. Honda for example, take their engines and slow them down to 2900rpm. They do less work but are a few db quieter. Standard generators enable to keep costs down can't run this slow, they need to run at 3600rpm to hold the 60hz frequency rating in the US. Honda who makes the quietest generators, but also chargers 4-5 times the price of loud models uses reduced rpms to run inverter type generators coupled with sound deadening to reduce decibels.
Well if you want to lug a radiator and another 10 pounds of shit around to make the engine liquid cooled, be my guest.
Theres more too it than slapping an oversized muffler on something. You have to also attack noise reduction with a well designed intake tract, just like in a modern vehicle. Ive messed around alot with these type of projects, one of the best easiest things seems to be using some threaded pipe adapters lengthen your exhaust tube, wrap it with exhaust wrap, and point the outlet to the ground. Most effective over a yard than driveway. Also be aware with any change to a generator that effects the RPM at all, this changes your HZ not to mention other shit. In the US our devices are made for 60hz. They set the RPMs with this in mind. Ive used Permatex ultra black high temp silcone with some success insulating my air filter box on some engines.
Build a simple wooden box to put over the generator. Insulate the inside of the box with fiberglass wall insulation for noise absorption. Include a fan for cooling. The fan directs airflow into the box. Use your muffler and about ten to twenty feet of metal flex tube to vent the exhaust out of the box... Attach the metal hose to the exhaust port and the muffler to the far end of the metal hose and put it out away from the generator. You will drop the the noise level by about 40dB... This is cheap and effective!
REAL RESULTS Here I easily obtain 10db drop, that's 4x quieter th-cam.com/video/5zwc5mdEbDI/w-d-xo.html
Get a decibel meter for yourself with a link in the description.
Tks for doing the test to educated us with generator noise. Really appreciated ur effort!! Ken - TX
I know it sounds reasonable but once you put any car muffler on you realize 95% of all the sound is coming directly from the block. It is mechanical noise not exhaust noise like you would think. If you pop the hood on you caravan, stand in front of it and have someone floor the gas pedal you are going to be running a car engine under the same situation as generator. It will be nearly as loud.
I've got no help here. Could you come over and stand in front of the car while I floor it?
The car muffler may have actually been louder or equal in db as it was facing the opposite direction whereas the stock muffler was to the side, essential dispersing the sound in a 50/50 direction. So if the car muffler was facing to the side, it may have registered the same or higher than the stock muffler. Even tho it doesn't make a difference, just something to think about.
As far as decibels they are pretty close (withing 2-4 decibels). I do think that the mufflers are a little more high tech on the newer motors, they also seam to have more plastic to shroud the engine and deaden the sound "a little".
I think this was an aluminum foil fail more than anything.
Another thing to consider is the fact that the auto muffler has a much larger outlet, which tends to be louder. One thing to try might be to weld a plate over the outlet of the muffler with about the same size or even smaller outlet. Some gas golf carts do this to help reduce noise and it has a negligible effect on power.
dig a ramped hole in the ground ...it is cooler down there and will be quiet...the ramp will allow u to pull it out to service it.....need drainpipe leading away at the bottom too prob.
You definitely have the best idea...no joke
Under ground is the best way and it's free and fast. I'mma go hit the home depot up now and buy me a Mexican!
⛏+⚽=😁
Hummm I wonder if the same material & build use on gun silencer work??🤔Maybe my guess was just as good as a lot others who was unable to pull this off!
Automotive engines are heavy thick material pressurized high volume oil systems and are liquid cooled small equipment engines are light weight thinner material splash oiled and air cooled. Sound is absorbed by the thicker material coolant and oil. Sure the small engine companies can build a quieter engine bit do you want an 800 pound push mower or chainsaw?
with generators, most of the noise you hear is mechanical. generator unit spinning, engine spinning, the entire unit vibrating on the ground, etc. the exhaust itself is actually very quiet
You use the word 'generators' like they are equal. Don't cheap out. Money buys quietness
You really need a surrounding of four panels and perhaps a lid too.
The panels can be 2 inches thick, filled with fibre glass or rock wool.
The metal panels need lots of small holes.
Basically the same as an air conditioning unit, where the noise from the motor drops 100 dB.
We have used this method for years.
Do you have any video about you comment
Yeah, the enclosures seam to be the best option for these.
the biggest reason why a Briggs engine is so much louder than an automobile engine is the water jacket around the car engine dampens much of the noise
I did the same thing. I installed a auto muffler on a 4000watt powermate, looks identical to the one you tried it on. Made no difference at all. I dont know what would be worse, the power outage or the noise lol .
Build a light weight, well ventilated, baffled, insulated generator barn. Should get 30 -40 dB or more quieting from 23 feet.
Interesting test. My Coleman is real loud as well. It has a Briggs motor. I think an enclosure is going to be more the way to go if it's for power outages. For other uses maybe a protable enclosure. But good attempt...
I get tired of all you folks preaching on back pressure and harm from it. Back pressure has almost NO effect on small engines. I've worked on small engines and modified exhausts for years, and the only type that's relies on specific back pressure is two-stroke. You can literally do anything you want with a small engine four stroke exhaust except blocking it entirely without negative effects guys, seriously.
Jeff Sims Who said it causes harm???
Jeff Sims I laugh at that term. Who wants any pressure built up in their engine? The pressure is never built up for more than the exhaust stroke. It's not a smelly anus that builds up various pressure until a fart is released.
your very wrong about that it does have a huge affect on them
how can I make a minibike quiet. Anyone. Please, and thank you.
@@brandonsmisek get a bigger motor
I worked during school in an old machine shop that made parts for those old flathead Briggs type motors they were the old Onan flat heads, and some of the Wisconsin and Tecumseh stuff. They had splash oilers bushings as few bearings as possible and everything is made out of rough sand casting little precision they litterly just pond away until something comes apart. Most were designed before WW2 and built with the purpose of limited resources during war time, and many only just completely went out of production ten years ago. These designs worked well for consumerism after the war as just as the old flatty 6cyl and v8 that had to be overhauled and new babit bearings poured every 20k it sold cars.
You should have left the original Muffler on it and added some flex pipe. The original Muffler combined with a car muffler I found has lowered it buy up to 30 decibels
did this on an old sears tractor, The car muffler could be clamped right down to the round tube muffler
Been watching these. So, what makes the Honda generators so quiet? No huge muffler!
Thicker engine blocks and better internal design!
I think the guy across the street needs to mow his driveway.
+Marc Eaton Yeah, it looks pretty bad.
+Marc Eaton Hahaha!
+Marc Eaton lol...XD
+Marc Eaton Gee that's not bad mine has been worse than that.
Marc Eaton I laughed so hard I forgot to watch the video.
Another solution that works is to get some sound absorption foam, glue it to some really thing plywood or paneling and build a triangle around the generator leaving one side open. you can even stand up a fourth one on that end, just leave plenty room for air to enter and escape. the idea is to intercept and dampen the sound waves. you can use other materials, but the "egg crate" stuff is the best design for it. you could even build a full enclosure if you could provide enough airflow via powered extraction somehow. personally, i pout mine inside my workshop and close all the doors and run it inside, running the cables to wherever they are needed from there. and for house power, i have a back-feed system setup inside the workshop to back-feed the entire house if needed. that way it can run for days if needed and the continuous droning won't drive myself and everyone around me crazy.
How did I get here? This is awesome though
Thanks for watching.
What is the point of even trying this when the muffler is vibrating like that just sitting there?
Small portable generators are not designed to operate with mufflers. Building a well ventilated shelter will solve the noise issue to a degree..
This is the best idea I have heard yet...
IT will work but the outlet of de silencer needs to be same size like the outlet of the engine
Did i miss the actual muffler inatall?
Great attempt, I would have gone the same route so your documenting this is really appreciated.
Thank you for this video! Even though the result was not what we would hope for, it clearly tells us the exhaust noise is only part of the equation. Could the intake be making a bunch of noise as well as the engine block?
Yes, the intake puts out a lot of sound. The air filter seems to muffle it to be slightly quieter than the sound coming from the side of the engine block. Virtually all of the sound is coming directly out of the engine block.
Well what hell you think its coming from!? The control panel?
my briggs lawn mower had a warped head, pressure and sound leaking, , did you buy a muffler same as the first machine you tested at 64db?
if that muffler was hooked up right and a stock car muffler was used it would reduce the noise a lot. I didit to a 11 hp briggs and it worked fine. what he used looks like a flowmaster muffler
+mack1ford Sorry but it wont. You can change the tone to a deeper tone but you won't change the db more than a few... if you're lucky. Also with something as restrictive as a stock car muffler you just changed the jetting on your carb and will burn up valves in no time.
+sixtyfiveford thats not true you dont have to change any thing on the carb and all a stock car muffler is is a larger briggs muffler. i wouldn't have left it on if it hurt the engine.
Very true. You can see even in the video me adjusting the mixture screw to take a perfectly good running engine before the exhaust was added and adjust it to compensate for the lean running condition. The rpms also changed taking the HZ from 60 to around 56-57 which will damage equipment. Any restriction will slow the engine from it's designed 3600rpm to maintain this 60hz frequency for US devices. but that can be compensated for. Sound travels directly out of the side of the block and a decibel meter shows more sound coming from the side and front of the motor than directly out of the exhaust... Take your car and rev it to 3600 with the hood open and you'll see how much noise there is.
+sixtyfiveford again if you hooked it up right it would work stuffing aluminum foil in the gap won't seal the exhaust properly there for it won't feed the muffler right and it won't work and makes the engine run lean.make a adapter to fit the muffler right then try it again.
mack1ford
Foil more than adequately seals the 1/16" gap for a test. I'm not welding on the exhaust for a hopeless cause...
MacGyver! You are so young in this video!
if you weld pipe on the arigenal muffler diameter of the exhaust pipe then install the muffler it will be quite I have three generators as I live off the grid it doesn't need all that insulation your talking about;
Charles L. Brown The sound comes directly from the block of the engine, not from the muffler.
Was was the muffler diameter? Should put a resonator or somethin too
The majority of the sound comes straight out of the side of the engine block and not the exhaust.
@@sixtyfiveford Get a bigass muffler and put it over the whole generator
Excellent video sir. Informative and enlightening. I've always wondered if a muffler would help mine. Not a failed experiment at all. I'm wondering if the dolly added to the noise being it was maybe metal on metal? Thanks again and keep up the great work. We need more of this stuff on TH-cam.
Very honest video! If one doesn't want to spend a few thousand on a encased generator, and as I'm going to do, which is to buy or build a shelter box to protect and house the generator. if well ventilated it will help with the noise and protect it as well.
dcobbism If you want to watch a basic, quick and easy method a reducing sound I just did a video on it. th-cam.com/video/5zwc5mdEbDI/w-d-xo.html
Hi I got some fibreglass exhaust insulation. Have you tried this stuff. Up to 650 degrees Celsius?
Fiberglass melts around 2000 C
As someone has probably already mentioned, Overhead valve engines are quieter and run better.
They don't run quieter. They are slightly more efficient in fuel consumption and power but would never say they run "better" either.
you should try to put a smaller muffler the car muffler is to big the sound pretty much goes straight through try a motorcycle of scooter exhaust.
It won't help and more restriction only messes up the fuel air mixture and the carb needs to be re-jetted. This old 90's generator just happened to have an adjustable jet(something you won't find on anything made in the last 20 years) so at 2:40 in the video you can see me reach down and lean out the fuel air mixture do to the reduced air flow. The majority of the sound comes directly out of the engine block and not the muffler.
True. Mechanical noise, not exhaust tone.
Thanks Ken
Yes. Basically the majority of the sound you hear is coming directly out of the block of the engine. So you need to surround it and keep the engine cool at the same time. They will still never be as quite as the Honda but they can be pickup up everywhere for a fraction the cost of a Honda. I have seen so OK doghouses here on utube.
Thank you for doing the experiment and thus saving many of us the time and expense. The insulated dog house structure in other vids is still the best way to go. :-)
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.
With my generator, I found It, not the Exhaust Muffler. it's the clicking racket coming from the motor case the cylinder head the valves And the piston slamming against the cylinder walls The best way leave the old muffler on And Just go get some sheets of ply and shield the cast like a tepee You quieten it down better than an automotive muffler
Yep, I have a full video on just that procedure.
sixtyfiveford One of the guys did a video on where he just uses an old caravan fridge to cover the generator he cut out the two ends for veneration put two fands in it And it reduces the noise by about 30% 88DB down to 58 DB. By the way, 58 DB down to someone talking the problem with is if the engine does do not get enough air it cants cool itself and the generator will burn out.
hey dude,its me again with another question.i cant seem to find a exhaust silencer for my 2000 polaris trailblazer 250. any ideas? ??
+1982pantro The stock exhaust is pretty quiet. I'm assuming someone put an aftermarket one on it?
+sixtyfiveford,yeah its some kind of a slip on no brand though. also what about if i wrap them with fiberglass tape?
A lot of these exhausts have a packing material that burns out over time. You can repack them with steel wool or standard scraps of household fiberglass insulation.
+sixtyfiveford thanks man,by the way, i love your videos dude keep them coming.
What you think he is, the ATV parts store?
When i saw this video my 1st comment would have been, this is NOT going to work because probably 90% of the noise is from the engine & generator itself. My buddy put an exhaust extend pipe off his muffler and aimed it UP and ran the pipe UP 7 ft high ... I can tell you it did NOT help with the noise db's at all... It was still LOUD, BUT now the exhaust gas was exiting up at 7 ft high so we never smelled the exhaust anywhere around the generator ...
Can't say I've ever seen a 7' muffler on a generator.
Its not a 7' muffler... Its a 7' PIPE coming off his muffler so the exhaust fumes go UP and away... HOT AIR RISES....
I know this is an old video but has anyone tried to isolate the vibration from the metal parts like using rubber grommets when installing the shrouds to the engine?
how about using one of the flexible joints used to isolate car exhaust from the motor so that the extra pipe and muffler don't become a large tuning fork amplifying engine vibration?
There is too much of the engine block exposed. The sound travels the fastest through solid material like the engine block and get pushed right out to your ears. The only way to quiet a generator is to build an enclosure.
+sixtyfiveford I am aware of the sound transmission through the block, I have worked around power equipment most of my life and have found isolation of the lighter weight parts and elimination of non essential metallic contact points seriously reduces the noise level most of the time.
look at the really quiet ones and you will see what I mean on all of them parts like the cooling shroud and fuel tank mounts are rubber isolated this gives them the same effect as an enclosure rather than transmitting and even amplifying those sounds.
I bet if you had taken it off the metal dolly and set it on a piece of cardboard on the ground the dbl. meter could tell the difference I wouldn't expect a large difference, but enough that the meter would register it
i wonder how loud the engine noise really is coming from the metal itself? A person could technically jb weld goop that sucker to about five inches deep all around.... or something similar.... kind of expensive though. cool video
Glad it was some help, but it's not what you wanted to hear.
Ugh, I had such high hopes when I saw the title of the video. My neighbor runs his generator until 11 pm.
Have him try this th-cam.com/video/5zwc5mdEbDI/w-d-xo.html . You can have the sound directed away from you.
Call the police
Go to a junkyard and get a Honda resonator, catalytic and the muffler. That way you will lower the noise. Not just the muffler.
Carlos Chacon The point of the video is to show that the noise is coming from the engine block itself and not the exhaust like everyone thinks. Adding the muffler probably dropped the exhaust decibles by 10-15db but the engine block still emits its same sound and the generator is still LOUD. You need to enclose the motor to quiet the generator.
Does it pass smog?
The muffler was left facing, now rear. That's the 2db right there. Seems like the muffler is doing nothing.
Pretty much nothing is correct.
Well I hear you guys and I don't know what to say. Backpressure is a problem in dealing with these things. I have 2 ea. Honda generators on a powerhead.
saltyseascott On older engines(20+ years old) you can adjust the fuel/air mixture to compensate for the increased back-pressure throwing off the mixture but not on anything newer. I'm generally not a Honda or Yamaha pusher as they aren't worth the extra cost, but they hit the nail on the head with their quiet generators. Still a little pricey for what they do but worth it.
Tin foil? Thats going to make noise because of the air leaks and vibration going through it. Try putting it on properly and see if it quieter.
The majority of the sound comes from the engine block itself and has nothing to do with the exhaust. I could pipe the exhaust to China and it would still be just as loud.
With the sound meter does it read the same on the A and C(I think it was C or D on mine) settings? So its vibrations that come through the block and not the expanding gasses not having time to slow down; like in a gun barrel where the noise comes from the sudden pressure created by the bullet "uncorking" the hot gasses? Would be cool to take a metal probe and touch different parts of the engine to see max vibration.
Pop the hood of your car, and have someone hold it at 3600rpm like a generator and you'll see how loud an engine itself is. Now stand behind it next to the exhaust and it will be quieter than the engine. With the hood closed the enclosed engine bay offer the sound dampening (along with it being a water jacket engine vs air cooled). "Quiet" generators work the same way, with the engine being enclosed in a sound proofing box. The A weighting is designed to replicate what the human ear hears.
So I tried that and the exhaust was a soft wump compared to the higher pitch sounds of the engine. Didn't realize car exhausts were so quiet! I did try sound proof board around an AC transformer to get rid of the hum. Seems the 60hz goes right through. Water jacket makes sense as sound proofing!
How do you put tinfoil on properly man?
I dont think a muffler would help with the type of sound coming out of the engine. Wouldn't a resonator help kill off the higher pitch sound waves? Without a resonator my mufflers would sound really bad, I have a video testing stock mufflers on my car, I added a resonator(no vid yet) and those high pitch nasty sounds from the turbo and engine are eliminated now.
No one cares about your car
good advise. spend more and get quality.
Very bad testing, you had the muffler mechanically coupled to the frame with the vice grip . Could have worked with proper shock mounting of the muffler.
I am waiting to turn my heat on after I clean up and around my furnace. Just like I do every year before I head south to florida for the winter. Anyway, in the evening it can get damp and cold here in NH in November. I have been using my generator to fire up 2 1500 watt liquid filled space heaters until 10:00 PM. My neighbors called the police Friday night. The cop came and pounded (not knock, but POUNDED) on my front door. Luckily I was awake, otherwise I may have had a cardiac event. I came to the door and he said, "OPEN UP!" I thought I might be a bank robbery suspect the way he said that. He asked if I was using it for heat and I said that I was. He said that it was OK. He wanted to know my name and birth date. I'm sure i'm not going to get a birthday card. So much for that, "Thank you for your service" bullshit. My neighbors have sensitive ears unless it's them out hooting it up and getting all drunked up on their front porch all summer long. What a bunch of whimps. Thanks for the post and video. You tried and admitted fail. A real man for sure.
Hey Thanks. I leaned some simple boards up against the generator in this video and dropped the sound to 1/4 the original volume th-cam.com/video/5zwc5mdEbDI/w-d-xo.html
Remember that the intake makes a lot of noise too....
NOW THIS IS AN HONEST GUY !! SO STOP PUTTING FAIL GENERATOR NOISE REDUCING CRAP!!
I welded a 2"od pipe to the back plate over the exhaust outlet of my Westinghouse 7KW genset. I then attached a 6' flexible exhaust pipe to run the exhaust outside of the garage. To that I attached a Titanium GSXR 1000 muffler which I purchased cheap on EBay. These mufflers have high flow and are very quiet. I've been running on generator a lot this winter as we have had high winds knocking trees on the power lines. The generator is inside my shop, out of the elements, and the muffler is outside and is quieter than my Yamaha 2kw inverter generator. Yes there is mechanical noise but it's in the shop. If you go my route, I would suggest a CO detector in case there are any leaks. Next spring I'm going to take the guts out of the genset's muffler to reduce the backpressure as those cheap Chinese mufflers are glass packed.
So you want it louder?
guess we learned we cant make a cheap gen into an quiet inverter gen
When i was in the US Army back in the 80s we dug a hole in the ground and covered them . they were a lot quieter.
Try it and do another vidio
Won't that reduce the air it needs to breath?
@@2wheeleddemon999 Vent pipe, and a rain cap.
Yeah, that would work..
As with my generator (Generac 8000) I think the majority of noise is from the mechanical operation of the thing, and not the exhaust.
I'm building a "doghouse" to enclose my generator with adjustable side panels so the noise will be deflected away from my house (towards the the neighbors - Ha! Ha! - you lucky bastards).
I think the noise from the operation of these things is just part of the operational process, and there isn't a lot that can be done about it.
Yeah, a dog house is the best bet.
Nice sound AMPLIFIER!!!
I have 2 of those db meters they're pretty good! The second i bought at an op shop for $6 aud!
That's just great!
@@inlandenterprising9836 was for me!
@@dragan3290 mmm I see.. im jealous he only paid 6
@sixtyfiveford Yeah, mechanical noise is a toughy... how about also isolating the frame with rubber mounts? In aviation, we call them lord mounts, made by the lord company. They are pretty expensive though. Everything aviation related is expensive. :-(
Interesting..
Here's what I've learned ONLY from reading. I haven't attempted to mod my muffler yet.
1. The carburetor will need to be tuned when modifying the exhaust (true or false?)
2. Position the exhaust upward. The sound will not bounce off obstacles or the ground. (This makes sense to me)
3. (This is my personal experience being a welder that has done exhaust) The tin foil or objects stuffed in the exhaust are doing very little to effectively consider that test accurate.
Long story short; the muffler makes virtually no difference and is a waste of time. Yes, the carb will need to be tuned if you choose to do this. The stock exhaust is quieter than the sound coming directly out of the side of the engine block. Adding a muffler changes the tone of the exhaust to a deeper tone that is "slightly" more appealing but it's still loud as hell.
I run mine in the shed to horrify the squirrels
The Briggs internals are were most of the noise comes from.
You want quiet ,
Get a Honda or Predater/
Clone engine.
Started fine. I think the aluminum foil blew out.
if you want a quiet setup go with a car engine and muffler combo with fuel vaporizer. OR save up the money and buy a Honda EU generator.
Yes, I have several EU generators. A vehicle engine is just as loud outside at 3600 rpm.
No not necessary, you have a water jacket and extra material in between to absorb the noise. The exhaust would have to be insulated to cut noise. The setup I am attempting is a prius engine with pruis generator trans-axle. at 1200 rpm I will get full voltage 220v. The setup that could work with an automotive engine would be a beefy 200 amp alternator and 2000 watt inverter for pure sine wave generation without going to 3500 rpm. Hence no need to run at full throttle unless you go the wrong way and use a generator head which you should really use on a diesel engine. These off the shelf gas units are nothing but noise and wasteful on the budget. Cheap in your hand and expensive on your wallet to run.
There is a lot of energy wasted converting 12volt to 120volt through a sine wave inverter. If a person was going to run an engine it's best to go straight to 120volt. A generator head needs to turn at 3600rpm to create 60hz. You can gear it up and turn the engine at a slower rpm but it will require twice the hp/torque. Onan has done this on a ton of their quite generators but they take up a good amount of space as you have to use a lot bigger engine. You need about 16-20hp to generate 10,000watts @ 120v. If you put a generator head on a car engine and geared it down so the engine only turned 1000-1500 rpms or so it would be quiet but will also require 45-60hp at that rpm. You would need a governor system to control the rpm with the varying load to keep your voltage and hertz the same.
Yes, that is a valid way to do it and most often taken route by most engineered gen sets. Still the inverter isn't bad idea for someone who needs power and doesn't need prolonged run time. For the inverter for every 1 amp of ac power you spend 10 amps of dc to make it happen. That is about 1/4 horse power to make 10 amps and 200 amp alternator sets up for 4 to 6 horsepower required. So a 2000 watt inverter for a car engine would be do-able at 1200 to 2000 rpm.
This pilot said "use a car engine, or... SAVE up and buy a Honda generator"! Haha this guy!
Introduction, noise meter dealy, blah blah blah. Just show us the auto muffler on the generator. Couldn't take it after 1:19. Went on to music videos. Sorry.
rolyatknarfable Great, glad to see you left.
rolyatknarfable actually his video was informative and did not drag on whatsoever. this was a troll comment obviously. Maybe you could make a video yourself to show how its done?
Best video yet!
Love it !
+Cody Clark Hey Thanks.
it was a neat idea anyway
Try a Polaris atv muffler it works way better then that.
stelthy100 That's a very common misconception. The sound coming directly out of the engine block is louder than the exhaust. I can hold the DB meter right in the exhaust flow and get 70db but then at the front of the motor or anywhere on the block and easily get 80-90db. I relate it to a car. It's nice and quiet at idle but pop the hood and rev the thing to 3600 rpm and its going get real close to 60-70 decibels. An engine compartment is designed to be a sound deadening room and that is the same thing Honda does with their quiet generators. They build a sound deadening enclosure.
Show us video or it didn't happen man
Show us video or it didn't happen man