Generator exhaust

[JeepHammer]

You can also wire a draw fan that vents outside, comes on when the genset is running.
Won't take much of a fan to vent a home garage...

Not all detectors pick up CO & CX, check the package.

If you get the detector that plugs into the wall, again, wire it so it works automatically when the genset is running.
No 'I Forgot' that way...

I build/wire everything as idiot proof as possible, when you can't remember why you walked into the kitchen, you can forget to check batteries!

 

[Fargo]

I already have one in the garage, just going to relocate it, I also have one in the utility room where you come in from the garage because of the furnace and water heater. CO is one of the reasons I was thinking of using a in-line fan for the exhaust. After thinking about it, suction on the exhaust just didn't seem like a good idea. I may install a 2nd exhaust port with a fan so I could vent the garage if needed. A test run while monitoring the CO levels will make that decision.

If you are going to power vent the garage, you really need to make sure that there is enough make up air. The generator is also already going to require a good bit, a power vent is going to want more.

 

[churchmouse]

If you are going to power vent the garage, you really need to make sure that there is enough make up air. The generator is also already going to require a good bit, a power vent is going to want more.

AND..............do not put the furnace/water heater (if gas fired) under a negative pressure environment. You will back draft the flu's.

 

[AlVine]

Glad I found this thread! I did the dryer vent/flex pipe thing, but have not been happy with it. Got some good ideas from this thread though.

 

[JeepHammer]

Not to put too find a point on it, but using actual exhaust pipe for exhaust is very easy while being reliable and relatively inexpensive.

Dryer vents aren't designed for the heat an internal engine produces, and they aren't designed to handle CO/CX.

If you are worried about sound, a plain old muffler (or mufflers) will do that job, and again, specifically designed to handle engine exhaust.

Some of us actually consider thermal signature, the heat the engine & exhaust produces.
Double wall pipe, or even triple wall pipe with air circulation between pipes reduces heat signature.
This is taking things to the extreme, but something to think about if you expect someone showing up with thermal vision capabilities.
Multiple vents, false vents, long runs of insulated / multi walled pipes etc help hide/disguise location.

 

[10-32]

Glad I found this thread! I did the dryer vent/flex pipe thing, but have not been happy with it. Got some good ideas from this thread though.

I tried going with just a pipe running outside but after about 30 min, I was getting reading on my carbon monoxide reader. I'm not sure what was the reason was so I went to dryer vent with a inline fan. I added a short piece of pipe (about 14") to the factory "muffler" so I could hang the dryer vent over the pipe and secured the dryer vent close to the generator itself also. The inline fan is plugged directly into the generator so it comes on with the generator. I did another test run and the carbon monoxide reader held 0 ppm the entire time. My garage does have a vent in the ceiling and you can see some daylight on the edges of the garage door so airflow coming into the garage shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Butch627]

Not to put too find a point on it, but using actual exhaust pipe for exhaust is very easy while being reliable and relatively inexpensive.

Dryer vents aren't designed for the heat an internal engine produces, and they aren't designed to handle CO/CX.

If you are worried about sound, a plain old muffler (or mufflers) will do that job, and again, specifically designed to handle engine exhaust.

Some of us actually consider thermal signature, the heat the engine & exhaust produces.
Double wall pipe, or even triple wall pipe with air circulation between pipes reduces heat signature.
This is taking things to the extreme, but something to think about if you expect someone showing up with thermal vision capabilities.
Multiple vents, false vents, long runs of insulated / multi walled pipes etc help hide/disguise location.

Have you done or can point to any tests that show how much the thermal signature is reduced by these mods and how much of an effect on it showing up on thermal imaging equipment? Who would you expect to be coming around your house with this thermal imaging equipment and why?

 

[JeepHammer]

Have you done or can point to any tests that show how much the thermal signature is reduced by these mods and how much of an effect on it showing up on thermal imaging equipment? Who would you expect to be coming around your house with this thermal imaging equipment and why?

Police use thermal imaging all the time, in chopper to locate bad guys in the dark, and to locate things like meth labs & pot grows.
A hot pot grow underground or in a garage will show up on thermal.
I use thermal imaging to detect hot power lines, connections & devices looking for undersized or failed hardware.
A hot bearing is easy to find with thermal.

I was in the military for 16 years, and we used thermal to locate targets, and we practiced countermeasures to thermal surveillance.
A lot of our cloths blocked body heat, many of the camo nets and all our observation hide camo was thermal blocking.
I didn't like that metal foil lined crap, but it would block body heat, but roast you like a chicken!

Keep in mind FLIR (leading company in infrared imaging) makes a smart phone attachment for $200, and $500 will get you a hand held unit you can make faces out in pitch black with.
For $1,000 you can get one that will see footprints on the ground & hand prints on trees or building with.

It's out there, it's inexpensive and getting cheaper every day.

I've had light magnification night vision since the '90, including a rifle sight with reticle & personal viewers.
I purchased a hand held FLIR for a job/contract, but was so Impressed I purchased a rifle sight with reticle.
No infrared illuminators needed with thermal/infrared, the body heat lights up what you are looking for...

As for running genset exhaust, if you are worried about heat signature, then I would plumb it into the storm drains in a city sewer system.
It's not exactly legal, but deep underground it's going to diffuse the heat, and sewers are warmer than ambient ground 24/7, so it looks 'Normal'.
I have an Earth sheltered container for my batteries, inverters & generator, so 4 feet (or more) of dirt diffuses the heat, but the exhaust lights up like a highway flair, day or night through infrared...
I'm planning to do something about it, but not this winter.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

Police use thermal imaging all the time, in chopper to locate bad guys in the dark, and to locate things like meth labs & pot grows.
A hot pot grow underground or in a garage will show up on thermal.
I use thermal imaging to detect hot power lines, connections & devices looking for undersized or failed hardware.
A hot bearing is easy to find with thermal.

I was in the military for 16 years, and we used thermal to locate targets, and we practiced countermeasures to thermal surveillance.
A lot of our cloths blocked body heat, many of the camo nets and all our observation hide camo was thermal blocking.
I didn't like that metal foil lined crap, but it would block body heat, but roast you like a chicken!

Keep in mind FLIR (leading company in infrared imaging) makes a smart phone attachment for $200, and $500 will get you a hand held unit you can make faces out in pitch black with.
For $1,000 you can get one that will see footprints on the ground & hand prints on trees or building with.

It's out there, it's inexpensive and getting cheaper every day.

I've had light magnification night vision since the '90, including a rifle sight with reticle & personal viewers.
I purchased a hand held FLIR for a job/contract, but was so Impressed I purchased a rifle sight with reticle.
No infrared illuminators needed with thermal/infrared, the body heat lights up what you are looking for...

As for running genset exhaust, if you are worried about heat signature, then I would plumb it into the storm drains in a city sewer system.
It's not exactly legal, but deep underground it's going to diffuse the heat, and sewers are warmer than ambient ground 24/7, so it looks 'Normal'.
I have an Earth sheltered container for my batteries, inverters & generator, so 4 feet (or more) of dirt diffuses the heat, but the exhaust lights up like a highway flair, day or night through infrared...
I'm planning to do something about it, but not this winter.

Not very professional, who would ever consider doing something like that?
It's wrong so many ways...

 

[JeepHammer]

I'm, not to put too fine a point on it, but the USMC listed it as a possibility in the insurgency manual...
Only possible in industrialized countries that have closed sewer systems, otherwise it's possible to run pipe in a creek bed, letting water flow over it until exhaust is cool, etc.

More than half the world has open sewers...

If you want remarkably bad ideas, look to the Reagan/Bush years.
Teaching the Mujahideen insurgency to beat a standing army even though everyone on the ground was screaming NOT TO let that cat out of the bag... Works equally well on our standing military 10 years down the road.
Selling chemical & biological weapons plants to Iraq, and 10 years down the road having to bomb them out of existence.
Training a guerilla army in central America to fight 'Communists' (wasn't communist), then they went to work for the drug cartels, and when we had to fight those, they actually signed on to the actual Communists that took over the drug trade in central/South America.

Those were remarkably short sighted and extremely bad ideas...
Piping exhaust gas into a vented storm sewer doesn't even register when you consider those incredibly bad ideas.

 

[HoughMade]

I wouldn't try to use a power vent on the exhaust. You have a better chance of blocking the flow and causing a back up.

...but honestly, I would just put it in the back yard with some sort of insulated enclosure if neighbor noise is a concern, with an open top.

 

[JettaKnight]

How often will it run?

If the electricity is out, I guess I wouldn't be upset if my neighbor's generator was running. I would think a wooden fence would mitigate both concerns; out of sight, out of mind.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

I'm, not to put too fine a point on it, but the USMC listed it as a possibility in the insurgency manual...
Only possible in industrialized countries that have closed sewer systems, otherwise it's possible to run pipe in a creek bed, letting water flow over it until exhaust is cool, etc.

More than half the world has open sewers...

If you want remarkably bad ideas, look to the Reagan/Bush years.
Teaching the Mujahideen insurgency to beat a standing army even though everyone on the ground was screaming NOT TO let that cat out of the bag... Works equally well on our standing military 10 years down the road.
Selling chemical & biological weapons plants to Iraq, and 10 years down the road having to bomb them out of existence.
Training a guerilla army in central America to fight 'Communists' (wasn't communist), then they went to work for the drug cartels, and when we had to fight those, they actually signed on to the actual Communists that took over the drug trade in central/South America.

Those were remarkably short sighted and extremely bad ideas...
Piping exhaust gas into a vented storm sewer doesn't even register when you consider those incredibly bad ideas.

You can try to sugar coat and head down whatever rabbit hole anyay you see fit, but
It's called a cross connection, or simply put, you can kill your neighborhood that sleeps in the basement by pumping exhaust into the sewer system. Don't do it..

 

[woowoo2]

You can try to sugar coat and head down whatever rabbit hole anyay you see fit, but
It's called a cross connection, or simply put, you can kill your neighborhood that sleeps in the basement by pumping exhaust into the sewer system. Don't do it..

Agreed,
It's an incredibly bad / stupid suggestion that should have never been made.

 

[Fargo]

Agreed,
It's an incredibly bad / stupid suggestion that should have never been made.

Eh, about the same as a non-locked out backfeed with a deadman’s cord.

 

[lonehoosier]

Me think some people don’t know how sewers work. Under you’re guys understanding everyone has already got sick or dead from sewer gas.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

Eh, about the same as a non-locked out backfeed with a deadman’s cord.

Except a lineman will check for voltage and run a ground before working...

 

[JeepHammer]

Me think some people don’t know how sewers work. Under you’re guys understanding everyone has already got sick or dead from sewer gas.

No doubt.
It's not like a STORM sewer for runoff water doesn't have two vents per block, and every house around you doesn't have a 'P' trap/sump before it connects to the SANITARY sewer and doesn't have a SANITARY sewer vent.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

Me think some people don’t know how sewers work. Under you’re guys understanding everyone has already got sick or dead from sewer gas.

No doubt.
It's not like a STORM sewer for runoff water doesn't have two vents per block, and every house around you doesn't have a 'P' trap/sump before it connects to the SANITARY sewer and doesn't have a SANITARY sewer vent.

Its comical how you can try to justify doing something as stupid as plumbing exhaust gas into the sewer system.
Me thinks some dont understand that still today most municipality's still have the storm and the sanitary sewers connected together. Me thinks that some dont understand that when you run exhaust into a storm or sanitary sewer system you pressurize it, If a neighbor has a vent issue with something as simple as a bad quickie vent you will pump exhaust gas into their home. Its a cross connection, you can and and will kill people with cross connections.

Me thinks some dont understand there are plumbing codes for a reason, some of them keep folks from getting sick or dying.

Me thinks both of you are the kind of guys that will install your own irrigation system and not use a back flow to protect not only your water supply but the community's supply you live in.

 

[lonehoosier]

Its comical how you can try to justify doing something as stupid as plumbing exhaust gas into the sewer system.
Me thinks some dont understand that still today most municipality's still have the storm and the sanitary sewers connected together. Me thinks that some dont understand that when you run exhaust into a storm or sanitary sewer system you pressurize it, If a neighbor has a vent issue with something as simple as a bad quickie vent you will pump exhaust gas into their home. Its a cross connection, you can and and will kill people with cross connections.

Me thinks some dont understand there are plumbing codes for a reason, some of them keep folks from getting sick or dying.

Me thinks both of you are the kind of guys that will install your own irrigation system and not use a back flow to protect not only your water supply but the community's supply you live in.

Me still know you don’t know what you are talking about when it comes to sewer and sewer gasses.