Quieter Generators?

Seagreen

Seagreen

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The "noisy superyacht in Yarmouth" topic has got me thinking.
Is there a muffler or box cover to reduce the noise of a suitcase genny for sale out there? Has anyone made one?

If not, I accept the challenge of making a cheap, home made, collapsible genny muffler to fit my Kipor i2000. In principle, it should fit other suitcase gennys as well.
 
Many, many years ago I had a boxed-in air-cooled 2-stroke generator. I think it was made by Mase. It had a metal case, lined with sound-deadening foam. The engine had a cooling fan which drew cold air in at one end of the case and blew hot air (with exhaust fumes) out of the other end. The inlet and outlet were muffled by foam-covered baffles. It would be fairly easy to knock up a similar arrangement for your Kipor, but you'll need to incorporate a fairly big fan to ensure adequate cooling. May a kitchen vent fan might do the job?
 
I have also been wondering about this. I take it you don't mean muffler in the American usage I.e. silencer, but it seems to me that the main noise source is the exhaust, certainly on my 2kVA Honda.

It had occurred to me that one could weld a stainless steel spigot to the exhaust stub (once the warranty has expired) and attach an extension tube which could be dangled in the water. I know that there will be a loss of power, but if the machine is stood on the bathing platform close to the water it shouldn't be much.
 
I may have the wrong view on mine, but its a 3kva piageru with a dry exhaust (water is separated before the exhaust exits). It is very quiet, I often forget its switched on! It can be done.

I just found before I had one with a seperate water separator the major annoyance was the combination of water and exhaust
 
I had cause years ago to have access to sheets of sound absorbing foam, but sadly only kept a small piece to provide padding for my back in an old Bergen.

I did have in mind a box of thin ply or plastic sheets, lined inside with a fire-proof foam with a baffled entry and exit for air and fumes, with a thick foam/ply sandwich as a base. The whole thing would slot/strap together and be flat when stowed.

I've no idea how practical or effective this would be. If I were at anchor up a secluded river, the last thing I'd want to hear is any noise from another boat, let alone a genny going all night. I had a stop in Canna tarnished by a distant generator, and was getting very annoyed, till I realised it was ashore and provided power to the Island. Not the case at Scavaig, or a lot of other lovely places.

However, I'd be a lot happier being next to a boat running a genny if I knew they were at least trying to deaden the noise.

And I think its a problem with small suitcase gen sets, as used by yotties and campers, rather than the larger inbuilt units.
 
I have built silencing boxes for 4 stroke petrol generators over the years. Silencing the mechanics is easy but the exhaust is much more difficult. Tried building larger SS mufflers and having the tip face down but to little effect. Probably having the exhaust straight up so sound is not reflected off anything would be the only solution. Diesel generators with water injected into the exhaust makes them very quiet but is impractical on something like a Kipor portable.
 
Seagreen said:
The "noisy superyacht in Yarmouth" topic has got me thinking.
Is there a muffler or box cover to reduce the noise of a suitcase genny for sale out there? Has anyone made one?

If not, I accept the challenge of making a cheap, home made, collapsible genny muffler to fit my Kipor i2000. In principle, it should fit other suitcase gennys as well.
Click to expand...

I have the same unit and would love to quieten it down, so do share your developments. I thought about creating a collapsible case (for storage when not in use) with perhaps fan assisted cooling in the case and then piping the exhaust under the water to kill some noise. Never got beyond thinking about it though.
 
Seagreen said:
If not, I accept the challenge of making a cheap, home made, collapsible genny muffler to fit my Kipor i2000. In principle, it should fit other suitcase gennys as well.
Click to expand...
I found the bulk of the (minimal) noise form my Kipor was exhaust niose - easily cured by attaching a 3' length of eber exhaust to the Kipor exhaust pipe - no need for any boxes or enclosures
 
Efoy Fuel Cell

JomsViking said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cells

Less smelly/harmful too

and/or improve power management and use renewable
Click to expand...

The best known fuel cell is the German EFOY, which is starting to be available on yachts. A friend has just fitted one to his Beneteau 47.7 kept on a pontoon in the middle of the Hamble (no shore power) and is delighted by how simple it is to operate. My company (Landau UK) is in the process of taking on a dealership and the engineers are pressing me to fit one to my 42 ft yacht, to try it in practice. I'll take another look at it at Southampton boat show and decide then.
 
Efoy

innesker said:
The best known fuel cell is the German EFOY, which is starting to be available on yachts. A friend has just fitted one to his Beneteau 47.7 kept on a pontoon in the middle of the Hamble (no shore power) and is delighted by how simple it is to operate. My company (Landau UK) is in the process of taking on a dealership and the engineers are pressing me to fit one to my 42 ft yacht, to try it in practice. I'll take another look at it at Southampton boat show and decide then.
Click to expand...

Have seen one of those on a (German) boat - the owner seemed to like it too.
He didn't appreciate the .5 m rock that didn't show at the actual zoom on his Garmin plotter, though. (5 boats touching that one so far in '12 and counting)..
 
nigelmercier said:
For those not having an Eberspaecher, could you please explain what this exhaust is like, and how you attached it?
Click to expand...
Eber exhaust hose - Duh! corrugated flexible stainless steel tube/pipe as fitted to Eberspachers - NOT an exhaust silencer, just the corrugated flexible stainless steel tube/pipe. The section I had lying around was just the correct size to be a reasonably neat (tight) push fit over the Kipor exhaust outlet (no clamp required).
 
Seagreen said:
The "noisy superyacht in Yarmouth" topic has got me thinking.
Is there a muffler or box cover to reduce the noise of a suitcase genny for sale out there? Has anyone made one?

If not, I accept the challenge of making a cheap, home made, collapsible genny muffler to fit my Kipor i2000. In principle, it should fit other suitcase gennys as well.
Click to expand...

Well if you got loadsa wedge, you could get one of these?:)

http://www.whispergen.com/content/library/A4_Relaxing_Man_Handout_LR_EnglishUS.pdf
 
cliff said:
Eber exhaust hose - Duh! corrugated flexible stainless steel tube/pipe as fitted to Eberspachers - NOT an exhaust silencer, just the corrugated flexible stainless steel tube/pipe. The section I had lying around was just the correct size to be a reasonably neat (tight) push fit over the Kipor exhaust outlet (no clamp required).
Click to expand...

I guess you could include an eberspacher exhaust silencer into the pipe work but I would suspect the back pressure may cause problems. ANyone know?
 
pvb said:
Many, many years ago I had a boxed-in air-cooled 2-stroke generator. I think it was made by Mase. It had a metal case, lined with sound-deadening foam. The engine had a cooling fan which drew cold air in at one end of the case and blew hot air (with exhaust fumes) out of the other end. The inlet and outlet were muffled by foam-covered baffles. It would be fairly easy to knock up a similar arrangement for your Kipor, but you'll need to incorporate a fairly big fan to ensure adequate cooling. May a kitchen vent fan might do the job?
Click to expand...

Correct, I had the not so quiet one. Yours was derated from 600 to 500wt. Very useful, esp with 20amps charging cap at 12v.

I installed a Sailor Silent Set 3.5kva on our company yacht. It was very quiet with a foam sandwich enclosure and effective silencing on the intake as well as the exhaust. The only sign it was going was the sploshing of water from the exhaust skin fitting and that could have been sorted.
It was fairly important as the galley was all electric at 230v (no gas on board) and turned out to be not very reliable. The voltage control failed while I was test running it. They sent out new c/boards and I sent the boat off to the Canaries on route for the US. A few days out from the islands, a bolt came loose inside the alternator section and wrecked it. So they had to fly a new complete unit out there. Big delay and unhappy crew.
 
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