3000W Chinese Gensets Info.

professor95 wrote:

The Celotex is one of the original materials I experimented with some three years back. It did work well but was not moisture proof enough to use as an enclosure material.

I am rapidly approaching a camping weekend in the non hook-up loop of a national park and am anxious about the noise factor when using my champion to recharge the trailer batteries each day. Not so much because I'm worried about any grief from the rangers, but for my own enjoyment while in the campsite while the gen is running.

The generator will be running in the bed of my pickup which has a carpeted fiberglass topper with side, front, and rear opening windows. The bed of the truck has line-x coating. Also, the generator has a wheel/handle kit on it so it sits a little higher off the ground.

When situated in the bed of the truck the generator will be placed in the rear left corner, which puts the switch panel, choke, and pull starter within fairly easy reach for a right handed person such that I'm pretty sure I can get it started when it's in the bed.

This of course also means the air intake at the gen head and the engine exhaust pipe is at the other end facing the front of the truck bed.

I am getting ready to head out to HD to buy either or both the celotex 1/2 sound block and the rubber backed door mats.

My thought is to make a five sided rectangle/cover structure that would sit down over the entire generator. Cut a hole for the intake end like Professor has done above and I assume another hole is needed on this end for exhaust? Or since the gen head and exhaust are so close together should I cut one big hole for both?

Do I need more vents or airflow then this? The celotex cover will sit down and rest on the bottom of the bed, but the bed has ridges and the bottom of the celotex cover will not be sealed flush with the bed bottom, so there will be a little air flow through those small openings. Not to mention with the RV cord plugged in the celotex cover will be jacked up a bit where the cord exits at the bottom of the cover.

I realize this is a balance between sufficient airflow for safe operation vs. fewest openings for best sound deadening. If I need more venting I wonder if I could use some small screen vents, maybe 4"x4" or so that could be glued to the celotex. Or, I'm pretty sure I have a couple of extra foundation screen vents left over but those are pretty large, like around 4"x12".

My thought is with this cover over the generator I would leave both side windows closed and the rear window closed on the topper during operation. I would open the front window which of course is up against the back window of the truck. (The truck has a non-opening rear window) The front window of the topper is hinged across the bottom and folds in and down. I would prop this window open leaving about a 4" opening gap. The theory being the sound would find its way out via the 4" window opening which is at the top of the topper/truck and pointed up.

I have not seen nor used this Celotex and was wondering if I should just use construction adhesive to make this cover or should I try to use some sort of screws? Can I use a regular circular saw to cut this material?

I hope to have this together soon enough that I can test it at home before leaving on the trip. I can use my ir thermometer to check the temp at the gen head with the cover on and the gen running, and I suppose check the exhaust temp at the tip of the exhaust pipe just inside the hole. What operational temps am I looking for? I could also put a thermometer inside the bed of the truck to check ambient temp with gen running if that is useful info?

And finally, what about combining the celotex cover with the rubber backed door mats? Maybe make the celotex cover a little larger than it needs to be and cut up the mats into the same size as the cover panels, and use spray glue to glue the mats to the inside of the celotex cover panels? Or maybe the rubber mats should be glued to the outside of the celotex cover? And of course cut the corresponding holes in the mats.

Of course I need to be able to put the celotex cover on the generator while it is sitting in the truck bed. The generator with wheel/handle kit is 22” tall and the distance from the truck bed to the topper roof is 45.75” so there is not much room to play with clearance wise. I could remove the wheel kit while the gen is hanging from my auto hoist (that’s how I load/unload the generator) just prior to backing under it with the truck but that adds another level of complexity to the operation. I could use some sort of hinge or breakdown arrangement on the panels of the celotex cover but again, another level of complexity.

Lets say the celotex cover is 22.5” tall (height of the sides with the top panel flush with the top of the sides). How thick is the mat, ½”? For a total cover height of 23” and a total installation height of 46”. Whew that’s close enough to make things exciting. :)

However, I guess there is nothing that says the sides of the celotex cover need to extend all the way to the bed when installed on the generator? The celotex cover could rest on top of the two end loop frame rails of the generator with the sides suspended 1” above the bed floor could it not? This would be total celotex cover height of 21.5” and total installation height of 43”. Or if I were feeling lucky it could be a total celotex cover height of 22” and a total installation height of 44”.

Thanks for reading my diatribe on this subject. Any input on this plan would be greatly appreciated.