How To Quiet A Generator For Camping
We can think about this picture, after a week of hard work, you plan to go out camping with your family on the weekend to relax, you have bought a lot of food and spent a pleasant day with your family. But when you are ready to rest at night, the generator outside the tent turns out to be very noisy, so the family can’t sleep, will this make this camping trip very unpleasant for you? Please read on to find a way to deal with it.
How noisy are portable generators?
First of all, we have to understand it, to ensure our sleep quality, how many dB should it be? it is between 53 dB and 45 dB(Reference), but as we know, an ordinary portable generator noise is between 80dB and 95dB or more, and your ear hearing will be damaged if you continue to be in a 95-decibel environment for more than 50 minutes.
(Source:Hearing Health Foundation)
| Degree of hearing loss | Adult hearing thresholds (dB)* | Description |
| None | 0–25 | Hearing within the normal range |
| Mild | 25–40 | Difficulty hearing distant or faint speech |
| Moderate | 41–55 | Difficulty hearing conversational speech |
| Moderately severe | 56–70 | Difficulty hearing most speech |
| Severe | 71–90 | Difficulty hearing loud speech and environmental sounds |
| Profound | >90 | Difficulty hearing even very loud sounds |
But a generator is necessary for camping, and we cannot get rid of it, so we have to figure out how we can reduce the generator noise. We’ve collected some practical ways to reduce noise, and we hope they will be helpful to camping enthusiasts, please read on if you’re planning the trip.
1. Purchase a Suitable Generator That Meets Your Needs
If you don’t have a portable generator and have a plan to purchase one, you should keep one thing in mind, what your power needs are. Only when you know your power needs, can you check the same power, which generator has a lower noise level, right?
As we all know, the higher the power output of the generator, the more noise it produces, and the generator cost is higher. So before you buy a generator, you should weigh the amount of power you need, the amount of noise you are comfortable with, and how much you are willing to spend on the generator.
1) Buy Portable Power Station – The Quietest Generator
What is a portable power station? it is a kind of battery storage tool, which has the features of quietness and does not need to make a lot of noise like a generator. It can store electricity in a rechargeable battery that can be used to power the device at home or for camping, it has many charging ports, can provide electricity power to many devices at the same time, up to 3000 charging or discharging circles, we often use it with solar charging panels to make the energy renewable, so we also call them solar generators.
2) Purchase A Quiet Inverter Generator
How can we understand a quiet inverter generator? It is a kind of fuel-powered generator, with the features of quiet, convenience, fuel efficiency, nice appearance, lightweight, easy transportation, and storage. The only weak point to this generator is that it is a bit more expensive than a traditional generator, so whether you need to buy one or not based on your situation. (Know more about inverter generator)
2. Put Your Generator On Soft Surfaces
May I know where you often operate your generator? Where the generator’s running has a significant impact on the level of noise, some hard surfaces will make your generator noise much louder than softer places, such as concrete and wood. So find a softer place to set the generator, dirt and grass both are good choices.
3. Use Anti-vibration Pads
Sometimes, it’s really hard to find a softer place to put our generator, so how can we deal with it? We can reduce the generator noise by placing anti-vibration pads on hard surfaces, you only need to put the anti-vibration pads underneath your generator, which can offer you softer surfaces to reduce the generator noise, that’s the effective way to control the level of noise.
4. Equip The Generator With Rubber Feet
As you know, the function of the rubber feet is the same as the anti-vibration pads, dirty and grass, can absorb the vibrations from generator operation, making the generator feel like working on softer surfaces, which can stop the vibration and noise. However, it is important to note that before purchasing, please check your generator model to make sure that the rubber feet can match your generator.
5. Put The Generator Further Away
How far should we keep the generator away? Of course, the further and the noise will lower, if you can move it a little farther away, you’ll find this method useful for reducing noise. However, there are limitations to what you can do with this, such as not having enough extension lines or disturbing other people where you place the generator. In the end, you should keep in mind that moving the generator far away from your tent can really reduce the noise.
6. Turn the exhaust pipe up or away from you
You should pay attention to the generator’s exhaust, you can put it straight up, or far away from your campsite, and the level of generator noise will decrease. For your health, or to get rid of carbon monoxide poisoning, we also strongly recommend that you keep the exhaust far away from your tent.
7. Use Sound Deflectors To Quiet Your Generator
Assuming you have placed the generator on a soft surface or placed it far away from your campsite, you can use another way to reduce the noise by using sound deflectors. Although it sounds difficult, it is a very simple thing to do. If you want to learn how to keep your generator as quiet as possible, then it can’t be far off. You can use plywood to deflect the sound! Place the plywood against the sides of the generator at an angle, with the top of the plywood touching the generator and the bottom away from the generator. You’ll need a total of 4 sheets of plywood, whose diagonal tilt captures the noise and deflects it so you don’t hear too much of it. It is important to note that you should not place any flammable items around the generator or it will easily cause a fire, please follow the safety operation manual.
8. Equip The Generator With An Acoustic Enclosure Box
What is an acoustic enclosure box? An acoustic enclosure (also called a baffle box) is mainly designed to isolate noise and stop it from traveling outside the box, thus reducing noise. You can design an acoustic enclosure box by measuring your generator size, allowing enough space for the generator, and also leaving the air intake, otherwise, the generator will not have enough oxygen to burn. See the video for details on how to do this.
9. Replace Your Generator’s Muffler
We all know, that the exhaust pipe is the loudest noise part of our generators, but the muffler is a good choice to help us to quiet them. If your generator’s muffler has been used for many years and it’s a little old, you’d better bring your generator to the aftermarket for a replacement. Or you can ask for a larger one to reduce more noise. Because there are many generator models, sometimes you need to visit a mechanic for help.
10. Muffle Your Generator With Water
You may feel a little confused about this, how can water reduce the generator noise? You can follow my instructions and you will achieve satisfactory results. Firstly, you need to prepare a bucket of water to put next to the generator, then prepare another hose to connect to the exhaust port of the generator and put the other end of the tube into a bucket of water so that you will find that the noise will be reduced by the water.
11. Conclusion
Though, we have suggested you so many tips on how to quiet a generator, not all of them are suitable for you. Whether you’re at home or going camping, please find the best tips based on your situation. I sincerely hope that this post helps you guys to have a perfect camping experience.