Burying a generator vault into a bank

[Sodo]

Vertical out the roof would be quieter I think. Right now, exiting thru (the door) is easiest, I will try that first. I'll start with a simple plywood door (just a cover) and if it seems to work I'll build a better one out of solid wood.

A raised floor would be harder to get the generator in and out. But the plan is it would be semi-permanent in the vault.

 

[PILOON]

Simply stapling an old carpet to the door will kill off a whole lot of noise.

You mention running a fan on 112 VAC outlet--that works OK but with many gensets you have choice of 110 OR 220 and not both at same time.

 

[Jim Timber]

I've got both on mine.

A little ramp to go up over the intake duct would be a piece of cake.

 

[Sodo]

Mine runs 120v and 240v same time. Got this duct-fan on Craigslist, $25, ( (this morning, 2 miles & 20 minutes after my last TBN post :thumbsup:. Perfect!) They sell new for $92 with 5 year warranty, I guess $25 is OK since it will run only when the generator's running. At 435 cfm it will exchange the vault volume (90 cu ft) every 2 minutes. Hope that's OK.

Forecast is for snow on thanksgiving. Got conduit, wire, carpet, fan, long underwear, supplies, gonna headout to my hideout!

 

[Jim Timber]

You should be fine with that either sucking fresh air in, or pulling exhaust air out. Personally, I'd use it in a stack and send the heat up and out, with some venting around the door, or just leave the door open a little when the genset is running.

The carpet suggestion was a good one too. Being in the hillside will help immensely, but you'll still get an echo box sending sound outward through the opening.

 

[jenkinsph]

That is a lot smaller fan and duct than I would use. Having the fan in the wall or door without ducting will allow a lot of noise to pass through it. Be careful to monitor the temperature closely would hate to see you overheat the genset.

 

[Sodo]

I think a thermometer will tell the story. I'll check air temp in, and air temp coming out. I'll know if its OK pretty quickly. Do you think the spread between the in/out will be about the same in the summertime? I suppose I'll find out.

 

[PILOON]

I'd wrap that ducting with felt or carpeting otherwise it will act like an echo chamber and amplify exhaust noise.
If you use that fan to evacuate exhaust if will probably cook in short order. Probably better to move cooling air IN which in turn would push hot air out.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would have an over temperature shut down on the genset to reduce the chance of over heating. The fan and ducting I suggested are several times the size of what you purchased.

I would not expect the enclosure in the hill to make much of a difference in summer/winter operating temperatures "when running". It will help if left in place for storage purposes.

 

[dragoneggs]

I think the overheat temp switch is a great idea.