Community Forums

lhenderson · 01-02-2005, 06:57 AM

I have a Newmar Kountry Star 5th wheel thatwas gen. prepped from the factory. I am about to install a 6.5 Onan gen in the compartment. It is made of sheet metal and I want to cover the compartment with a sound deadening material. Has anyone done this and if so what did you use.
Lou

lhenderson · 01-02-2005, 06:57 AM

I have a Newmar Kountry Star 5th wheel thatwas gen. prepped from the factory. I am about to install a 6.5 Onan gen in the compartment. It is made of sheet metal and I want to cover the compartment with a sound deadening material. Has anyone done this and if so what did you use.
Lou

Spoonman · 01-02-2005, 10:51 AM

I used dog house insulation kit from camping world, worked great.I have since found the same foil faced blankets in Home Depot & Lowe`s much cheaper. Just make sure you get the foil tape to seal the edges of the blanket so they don`t soak up moisture.

Roy W. · 01-02-2005, 01:01 PM

I haven't sound proofed a generator compartment, but I did do the "dog house"engine cover on a boat. I used air conditioning duct board, which is easy to work with and cuts with a razor knife. I used liquid nails to glue the foil side to the hatch cover, leaving the fiberglass mat facing out. It worked great....should work in a generator compartment as well.

RV Dude · 01-03-2005, 02:52 AM

Spoonman, can you give some more detail on the material you used? Specific name, etc. Looking for some of this stuff.

Thanks,
David

Don in E Texas · 01-03-2005, 10:57 AM

Remember that sound proofing materials and insulation materials are not the same. One suggestion I have---- hop on over to the bus conversion site as sound proofing generators is a common thread with a lot of ideas -- might find something there of interest.

www.busconversions.com

don (MC8 bus conversion)

TXiceman · 01-03-2005, 04:07 PM

As Don stated, insulation and sound deading materials are not the same. For sound deading you will need a dense material that can absorb the sound and not reflect it. You can not close off the compartment as you need air to cool the generator.

Sound attentuation is a non-exact science and it takes a lot of emperical data to properly deaden a source such as a generator. Specific materials will absorb sound in certain frequency ranges.

For a hit and miss approach, you might look at some of the sound deading materials from J.C.Whitney online. The bubble insulation from Camping World and Lowes will have minimal effect on the sound.

I work with low-noise A/C and refrigeration units and we have an acoustical expert on retainer to assist in the design. You will have two soucrces for noise...one is mechanical noise from the engine, valves, lifters, knocking, and the exhaust which the generator manufacture should address with a silencer. The other noise source is the windage noise from the cooling fan and generator armature. You can't do away with the fan as you need to cool the generator. Hopefully the generator manufacturer will address this and build a quiet fan. They should be able to provide sound data for you generator. You need to see what rterms they are using...sound power or sound pressure and make all of your comparisons on the same basis and distance.

Ken

01-03-2005, 07:39 PM

....fire resistance and heat build-up/ventulation is a factor also.... No use in overheating your generator= generator death.....many generator manufactures have a kit to supress your generator noise-give them a call first....geof kaye

lhenderson · 01-04-2005, 02:40 PM

Thanks for the suggestions, I will have the compartment vented, actually that is part of the gen prep. I have seen some of the dense sound deadening material, but they are very expensive and this is a fairly large compartment. How thick is the foil faced material that is sold at Lowe's and Home Depot

TXiceman · 01-04-2005, 04:48 PM

The foil faced material from Lowe's and HD will do litttle for sound deading. It is a thermal insulation.

Ken

Bearman · 01-05-2005, 03:37 PM

I just today bought myself an Onan 5500 Marquis Gold. I am fabricating an enclosure for the front compartment of my 5'er and will be watching this thread closly.
Cheers
Bear

Jeff_in_The_Dalles · 01-07-2005, 07:24 PM

Here's a product people use inside car doors, under the hood and so on specifically made for sound...

http://www.fatmat.com/

and here is a company that makes high $$$ sound control kits for Cummins trucks, submarines, and what not. They seem to specialize in high temp stuff.

http://www.atpwrap.com/home.htm

lhenderson · 01-08-2005, 06:57 AM

Thanks for the websites, fatmat website has a product called rattletrap that looks like it might do the job. I will post the results once I get everything done.