On Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:41:28 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:
On Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:46:29 -0500, the infamous Richard J Kinch
scrawled the following:
Larry Jaques writes:

Two U-shaped, sound-damped frames with a lid on
top will take a helluva lot of sound out of the picture while
providing ample air exchange.

Enclosing your air compressor is no example. A convection-air-cooled 10 HP
gasoline engine puts out huge amounts of waste heat. Mere air exchange is
not the issue. If you enclose free convection, you raise the ambient
temperature around the fuel tank dangerously, where it can and will boil.
You can hardly put them up against a wall.

As I have no experience in this particular application of air-cooled
IC engines, I'll bow to your expertise.

I thought the intake air would supplement the convection enough to
handle it. Don't the air-cooled types use fans, too, though no
radiators? Aim the fan output at one side to increase draw on the
other.

Then again, most generators I've seen have radiators and are liquid,
not air, cooled. shrug

You can make a sound enclosure around practically anything, but you
have to think it through first.

You have to allow access for service, and proper ventilation (fan
forced if needed), and insulate against radiant heat from the exhaust
on an engine, and get the fuel supply out of the engine enclosure to
reduce fire hazards...

A small portable air-cooled generator could be done, but it's a lot
of work for the expected end results - and the portable units aren't
built for longevity, so you'll have to do it again in a few hundred
hours of run time. A compromise would be a unit designed for
Motorhome use, made for running enclosed and sound damped.

If you need larger and quiet, they make small factory sound-enclosed
units specifically for Residential Backup service from Cummins/Onan,
Kohler, Generac, Briggs, etc. Just pour a slab at the side of the
house and set it down, run the output and control wiring, connect an
external fuel source, and you're done.

-- Bruce --