Camping with the Sound Police

Boon Docker wrote:
How do you "pressurize" the interior of your trailer?

(We have a 24 foot Class C motorhome.)

When making long built-in generator runs, we close all openings except the front roof vent where the reversible fan is. We set this fan's air direction to " AIR IN" and turn it on to it's lowest speed setting.

This fan is constantly trying to bring air in - but with little actual air flow (because everything is closed up tight) merely creates and maintains a small amount of pressure inside the rig so no fumes from the generator mounted down low on the outside of the motorhome can get in through any unwanted small crack or opening due to the slight interior pressure.

There are no generator fumes up high where the roof's intake is - and it doesn't bring much actual air in anyway because all interior outlets (except for unwanted small cracks or openinigs) are closed up. Also, with a motorhome, the cab's air system should have it's ventilation mode set to "recirculate" so no air can escape out there either.

This works like a champ to keep any and all genny fumes from entering no matter what the winds outside are doing.

We also use this same technique to keep dust out of our motorhome when traveling on dusty roads, since most dust is created down low where the tires are. This dust prevention method could also be used with a trailer if the tow vehicle's alternator is connected to the trailer's battery system while traveling ... except of course maybe more dust may fly up towards the front and top of the trailer from the rear tires of the tow vehicle.

on the odd time we camp in a provincial park you can almost,no you can tell the time by the dozens of gennys all starting at the same time.on the flip side,when we camp at forest service sites that are user maintained and the only rules are don't shoot the outhouse and don't dump your garbage in it.we rarely,and i mean rarely ever hear a generator. it's mostly if not always fishermen that want the peace and quiet of a forest lake.i'm used to the latter.no screaming kids,no loud paties(most of the time),early to bed,early to rise.

Boon Docker wrote:
How do you "pressurize" the interior of your trailer?

Unless you have a LARGE canister of compressed gas onboard......
You suck in air from outside. :R

How do you "pressurize" the interior of your trailer?

For built-in generators, this helps reduce/elminate the exhaust concerns - especially with respect to campers close by:

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/gen-turi-generator-exhaust-system/14041

I came close to buying it once, but decided that it wasn't necessary for the more remote drycamping that we do. We also pressurize the interior of our coach during long generator runs to ensure that changing wind directions don't bring any fumes inside.

mabynack wrote:
This reminds me of one of my worst camping experiences. We were tent camping in central California and some guy pulled up next to our tent at 10:00 p.m. in a motorhome and fired up his generator. He ran it all night about 10 feet from us. It was smoky and noisy. We packed up and left at sunup instead of spending the weekend.

So the offender got what he wanted and you lost your weekend ... perfect. :R

This reminds me of one of my worst camping experiences. We were tent camping in central California and some guy pulled up next to our tent at 10:00 p.m. in a motorhome and fired up his generator. He ran it all night about 10 feet from us. It was smoky and noisy. We packed up and left at sunup instead of spending the weekend.

Most people now days don't have a care in the world about the other people around them, it is all about me, I understand if someone has a medical need for the geny to run, but you can camp without having 110v power, and do it for several days, If it is over 90* or below 50* you need AC/heat, but to run it for the TV and microwave or to run the AC when it's 75*outside I mean come on, I am one of those guys that likes to camp somewhere quiet and that is getting hard to find.

When it comes to noise from an onboard genny, the main source to the neighbours, is the exhaust. How do you reduce that?

My 5er is so-called genny prepped whuich means the cables are there & a tin genny enclosure is in the basement. NO sound insulation installed whatsoever. I hate to think how much noise the genny would make, internally & externally, if one was ever installed.

I have experience with a boat genny. Have a 6KW diesel genny in my boat. A typical marine genny is heavily sound insulated. It does not have a radiator which needs to draw in & expell air & is a source of engine noise escaping. It draws cooling water from outside through a heat exchanger then ejects it into the exhaust system, which helps quiet the exhaust. The only open exposure a marine genny needs is a source of air from outside to run it.

Unfortunately RV gennys cannot be sound insulated that way. They can be insulated to reduce the noise to the occupants inside but those around them suffer.

The best solution is an inverter type genny which most of the time won't be running much over an idle. Trouble is they are not cheap.

westend wrote:
pnichols wrote:

What Honda needs to do is introduce a new variable speed portable inverter generator line that TOPS OUT at 53dB instead of STARTING OUT idling at 53dB. They do have one model that idles at only 47dB, but they need to add several more of various power ratings. I know that it can be done, as I've stood right next to and tried to hear certain ultra-low sound level high power commercial generators at shows, fairs, etc., that truly are the Sound of Silence.


There will be a fair amount of engineering to accomplish your "low sound" goal in this endeavor and I'd bet that there will be a horse power ceiling and consequent electrical output limit to reach this goal.

Coming at sound reduction from another angle like Soundguy did with his EU2000 is a more efficient process, IMO. Look at what the Japanese can do with generator boxes (sorry, can't find a link this morning). The Japanese enclosures really cancel a lot of the sound transmission and are an easy solution. The downside is that one of these enclosures adds approx. $200 to the generator cost.

For those wishing to explore sound reduction at an engineering level, this Study from VPI covers a lot of ground.

Probably those ultra-quiet big commercial diesel generators on trailers that I mentioned earlier are designed exactly that way - merely putting the generator guts in a fully enclosed rigid material (i.e. steel) cabinet that is heavily sound insulated on the inside of it's walls.

Any thing that OEM's like Honda can do, or want to do, to reduce sound levels even further on their small inverter generator models is OK w/me. I just think that the camping world would welcome some improvement here by rewarding an OEM with even higher sales and rewarding it's customers with less complaining from the Sound Police.

In fact, Honda was headed exactly that direction years ago when they designed my little four cycle 54 dB EX650 portable generator that I keep harping about. It's way too heavy for it's power of only 650 watts at 51 lbs., because ... the cabinet is all steel and the cabinet is nicely insulated on it's interior walls.

Contrast that with, say, the popular Honda EU2000i with a (rated) power of 1600 watts and weighing only 45.6 lbs.. The designers got that low weight through use of a plastic material case with (probably) only partial covering of it's interior walls with insulating material, if any. What Honda designers were heavily counting on was the up and down in engine speed that is made possible via use of inverter technology ... betting on that a lot of the time owners would be requiring less than full power which in turn would mean lower engine RPM a lot of the time. The result of this plastic case and inverter technology is a generator that is just barely OK soundwise (except for some high frequency "ticking-type" noises) during low power usage but not OK soundwise when delivering higher power. For those of us who can stand a steady sound better than a constantly changing sound, an inverter generator is really irritating with it's up and down noise while powering a cycling appliance such as a microwave or an air conditioner.

What we all need for maximum camping flexibility is inverter portable generators and inverter built-in generators that come from the manufacturer enclosed in more rigid cabinets with thick insulation on the inside of those cabinets - OR what we all need for ultimate camping flexibility is affordable fuel-cells powered by propane that keep our RV batteries constantly charged up rain or shine, shade or shine, day or night.

I for one do not wish to be tied to a power pedestal or arrested by the Sound Police - life is too short and RV's are too expensive for that. :)