Hot Water Heater Options

[richard5933]

The radiator on mine is mounted in the middle between two opposing bays. The air is drawn in through grating in the door on DS and exits through grating in the floor of the CS bay which houses the generator. The air is moved by a large squirrel fan. I don't think that this is the source of the noise problem.

I think that the source is the Perkins itself. It is exhausted though a muffler, but first goes through about eight feet of flex line which is wrapped in heat insulation. The flex line is necessary to allow the generator to be pulled out on the slide, but unfortunately I think it is adding a lot to the noise. Not that the Perkins is quite by any means. Also suspect that the spring mounts have collapsed enough that they are no longer providing any insulation against vibration transmission.

Not sure how much money I want to sink into the current generator. Eventually I should just bite the bullet and buy a new one from Wrico. For now that's not an option though.

So, back to the internet to keep searching for a way to make hot water quietly.

Richard
1974 GMC P8M4108A-125 (Current bus)
1964 GM PD4106-2412 (totalled Sept 2017)
Located in beautiful Wisconsin
KD9GRB

[luvrbus]

Not much you can do to make a older Perkins quite

[chessie4905]

Our 4104 had the same setup. Squirrel cage and all. You need to line the compartment which it resides with modern day noise insulating materials. Ours was lined with brown insulation board. Back then, our close friend with a mc5 lined his with sheet lead and some noise matting. Really quieted it down. BTW, you need to check tighteness of connections at generator head. They tend to loosen some over time and overheat, burning the copper ends.

[Branderson]

Maybe I should ask a different question... How do I silence a 44-year-old generator?

In the meantime, I am doing what I can to minimize its use.

Richard
1974 GMC P8M4108A-125 (Current bus)
1964 GM PD4106-2412 (totalled Sept 2017)
Located in beautiful Wisconsin
KD9GRB

A solid bottle of bourbon?

[Tom Y]

Sorry if I repeat what has been said, I did not read whole post. I have an RV aluminum hot water tank ( NOT LINED ). I bought a 5/8 od aluminum tube an welded it to it about 6" and run engine coolant through it. Works great.