Deck Box as a Generator Quiet Box?
All- I was lying in bed last night thinking of a way to quiet down my Champion 3500w generator. I have read several different post on RV.net as well as on the web however I came up with the though...
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I built a 1/2" plywood box for my Champion last year. I used a multi-input Fluke thermocouple meter to measure temperatures at many points inside the box.
Your enemy here is heat. I added some fans at various places on the enclosure and measured the temperatures. Without any fans, tempoeratures rose considerably. With fans, the temperatures dropped, but some localized spots actually got WORSE. Airflow control over a complex-shaped object such as a generator is a tricky subject at best. I ended up putting a duct booster fan inside a 6" duct section, then a 90 elbow into the intake side (sound loses intensity when bending 90 degrees). On the exhaust side, I had an open slot at the bottom of the enclosure and added pipe to the muffler exhaust to bring it outside the box.
After all that it was definitely quieter, but not nearly enough. This year I will experiment with added sound insulation.
Unless you are ready to spend hours and hours doing experimentation and measuring temperatures (and enjoy doing it like I did) forget about any quick solution.
In general, damping generator noise involves materials with high mass, which a deck box definitely is not. The box will probably vibrate with some resonant frequency and may actually be more annoying to hear. You will also probably raise temps in certain areas of the generator which will reduce lifespan of some parts (such as the voltage regulator, etc.). Raising the temp of the gas tank area might induce vapor lock.
This is just my observations after my efforts last year.
Steve
Your enemy here is heat. I added some fans at various places on the enclosure and measured the temperatures. Without any fans, tempoeratures rose considerably. With fans, the temperatures dropped, but some localized spots actually got WORSE. Airflow control over a complex-shaped object such as a generator is a tricky subject at best. I ended up putting a duct booster fan inside a 6" duct section, then a 90 elbow into the intake side (sound loses intensity when bending 90 degrees). On the exhaust side, I had an open slot at the bottom of the enclosure and added pipe to the muffler exhaust to bring it outside the box.
After all that it was definitely quieter, but not nearly enough. This year I will experiment with added sound insulation.
Unless you are ready to spend hours and hours doing experimentation and measuring temperatures (and enjoy doing it like I did) forget about any quick solution.
In general, damping generator noise involves materials with high mass, which a deck box definitely is not. The box will probably vibrate with some resonant frequency and may actually be more annoying to hear. You will also probably raise temps in certain areas of the generator which will reduce lifespan of some parts (such as the voltage regulator, etc.). Raising the temp of the gas tank area might induce vapor lock.
This is just my observations after my efforts last year.
Steve
