Generac Noise Mitigation

[Tom Bender]

We did a couple things to mitigate the noise of our generator.

1. The weekly test runs are at 1pm on Wednesdays when fewer people are around. Also it is much quieter than the monster mowers or snowblowers.

2. We installed a couple of duplex outlets on the outside of the house, each on a dedicated 20 amp circuit. Near neighbors have been told to plug in whatever they wanted without asking in an outage. With an extension cord or two they can have a little light, a refrigerator and entertainment. With a bigger cord they can run a gas furnace or sump pump.

3. Looking for some other simple ideas, (the Zombie Box is too ugly to be one of them)

[Frank Pratt]

I think that #2 will be very effective.

[Brian Elfert]

The Kohler generators I have used are pretty darn quiet. My previous house I came home after being gone for the weekend and opened the garage door with the remote like usual. I heard a little bit of noise and it turned out the generator was running due to the power being out.

There was a three day outage at my previous house and I ran power to the neighbors. That outage I had to shut down once to change the oil in the generator. My current house the other houses are too far away for extension cords.

[Jim Becker]

I mentioned in the other larger thread that there are a number of ways to mitigate noise from a generator. "In general", deflecting direct sound transmission is the idea...topology, fencing, vegetation, etc., can all play a role.

My close neighbor who is in direct line of sight over a short distance to our generator knows that she can plug into the outlets that are physically on our generator if necessary, but she has her own generator now. Electricity is somewhat important here...no water and no septic without it.

[Mike Cutler]

Tom

If you were my neighbor, I'd thank you for option #2 and tell you to test run the generator whenever you want to, as long as it's daylight outside.
You're a very considerate neighbor My friend. I sincerely hope your neighbors appreciate you. :)

I have the Generac 17.5KW, portable, gas generator and run it once a month. It has to be factors louder than yours.

[Tom Stenzel]

The power hasn't gone out in my neighborhood since... Wednesday. It was out most of the day.

The houses here a 1000 sq. foot on small lots. A guy across the street two houses down has a Generac. When the other generators weren't running we couldn't hear it at all. Someone halfway down the block had a portable that so loud it overcame my next door neighbor's portable!

My neighbor has let me plug into his generator if I've needed to. I didn't need to Wednesday. This is the same neighbor that needed to use my saw for a project he was working on when I was going out of town. I gave him the remote for the garage, told him to have at it for the weekend. It all evens out.

-Tom

[Frank Pratt]

We are very fortunate here in that we very seldom have power failures & when we do they are very short in duration, like minutes.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Much of the noise from a generator doesn't come from the exhaust, but from the rod and internal parts. I just finished a generator shed for my 11.0 HP generator. At the house (50 feet away) with the doors open, the engine noise is louder than the exhaust. Close the doors, and engine noise almost disappears. The exhaust feeds thru a 4" vent pipe, and is directed towards the ground with a 45 degree elbow, allowing the sound waves to be absorbed by the ground. Shed has a screened opening (16" X 16") on one end and a 12" exhaust fan, with shutters on the other. You would expect a lot of noise to come out the exhaust fan shutter, but the spinning fan blades helps to "chop" up the noise. 1800 RPM generators are much quieter than the typical 3600 RPM portables. That's one reason to buy an old Onan out of a camper, instead of portable. First weekend of the month is generator test day here. I do shed generator, portable, and welder. Let them run for at least 15 minutes each. The shed generator and welder are electric start. Battery on shed generator was made in 2008, meaning it's eleven years old. It's kept on a "Battery Minder full time.