Neighbor's generator is LOUD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moving the generator to the back of the property is a bad idea. You lose power the further it has to travel from the generator to the appliance.

Not that much. 12 gauge extension cord wire probably only costs you 1.5 Ohms per 1000 feet. If anything, buy a heavy duty extension cord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can buy quiet generators. Quieter than an idling car, but they are expensive. Your neighbors are cheap and/or inconsiderate.

I agree. The most selfish, boorish, neighbors usually have the biggest loudest generators and never offer to share with anyone. A plague on their houses, I say. A plague.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:once it is dark, go over to their house and open the fuel tank, put a few cups of water in there and listen as it starts to sputter and then silence. Then the husbnad will come outside and try to play around with it. He ill check the fuel then wigle a few things then his wife will come outside and ask what is wrong and they will get in a big fight because he spent so much money on his new toy and you will sleep.

Hooo-boy. Anarchy and cannibalism are next on the list.

[Anonymous]

What is the cost of a generator that you could run to keep a fridge a couple of TV a couple of laptops and a fan or a heater 18+ hours a day for a few days or even up 2 a week? I think we're going to have get ready for real zombieapocalypse this winter. I'm really asking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the cost of a generator that you could run to keep a fridge a couple of TV a couple of laptops and a fan or a heater 18+ hours a day for a few days or even up 2 a week? I think we're going to have get ready for real zombieapocalypse this winter. I'm really asking.

For $450 we got a 4500 watt generator which is enough to run what we need. Sometimes we have to unplug something to use another appliance, like unplug the fridge to use the microwave. I got tired of all the outages of PEPCO. There were 2 last summer in 100 degree heat and then another in December. But we had bought the generator in November, so we got to use it 1 month after buying it. You have to go out a couple times a day and get more gas to run the thing. I think it runs up to 8 hours on what it holds in its tank.

I had to clean out my freezer twice last summer, plus we stayed at a motel (over $100 a night - College Park), so that all adds up pretty fast. We have lost power so many times, that I consider my generator our "Emergency Preparedness". Some of my neighbors have generators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask them to move it to the back of their property. We have a loud generator (sorry didn't get those $2000 Honda generator) and we situate it at the back of our property which is far away from our house and all of our neighbors houses. Then run an extension cord to our house from there. We run it all night long because we are using it for the freezer and the fridge. (We actually have power, so this is what we do when we lose power.)

You wouldn't lose your food if you turned off the generator overnight and turned it back on in the morning, especially if you didn't open the fridge and freezer in the meantime. And your neighbors would greatly appreciate it.

What is the point of having a generator if you are going to turn it off at night and no power the freezer. I don't see any point to unfreezing my freezer every night. I put it at the BACK of the property, 50 feet from my house, more than 50 feet from any neighbor's house. Sorry if it keeps you up. I don't put it by your window or your property at all.

Really -unfreezing your freezer every night?? Our power was out for 14 hours, and our food was still frozen. You are just looking for ways to excuse your own selfishness.

What gets me about you people who constantly put your comfort above everyone else's is that you are likely the same people who come on DCUM and complain about what an anonymous, unfriendly place DC is, and how there is no sense of "community."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can buy quiet generators. Quieter than an idling car, but they are expensive. Your neighbors are cheap and/or inconsiderate.

I agree. The most selfish, boorish, neighbors usually have the biggest loudest generators and never offer to share with anyone. A plague on their houses, I say. A plague.

You sound pretty entitled! Why should they share with you anyways? They don't owe you anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can buy quiet generators. Quieter than an idling car, but they are expensive. Your neighbors are cheap and/or inconsiderate.

I agree. The most selfish, boorish, neighbors usually have the biggest loudest generators and never offer to share with anyone. A plague on their houses, I say. A plague.

You sound pretty entitled! Why should they share with you anyways? They don't owe you anything.

Not that poster, but if you are annoying your neighbors with something as loud as a lawnmower, when you know everyone's got their windows open to get some cooler air, then at the very least you should offer fridge space, fresh brewed coffee, or something to make up for it.

Seriously, something that loud can cause hearing damage in just 8 hours. Not cool at all.

[Anonymous]

A portable gasoline generator has a sound output of around 80 dB(A). The noise ordinance for generators in Montgomery county is 55 dB(A) for night time. I don't know about others in the area but it's probably similar. If you want to complain than you can. They will require your neighbor to purchase a sound proofing enclosure for night time use. It'll probably be just as expensive as the generator if not more.

We have a natural gas stand by and it's rated at 63 dB(A) which is MUCH better but just over the night time limit. I've been researching sound reduction enclosures but they are hard to come by. It's not something you can just buy at Home Depot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can buy quiet generators. Quieter than an idling car, but they are expensive. Your neighbors are cheap and/or inconsiderate.

I agree. The most selfish, boorish, neighbors usually have the biggest loudest generators and never offer to share with anyone. A plague on their houses, I say. A plague.

You sound pretty entitled! Why should they share with you anyways? They don't owe you anything.

Not that poster, but if you are annoying your neighbors with something as loud as a lawnmower, when you know everyone's got their windows open to get some cooler air, then at the very least you should offer fridge space, fresh brewed coffee, or something to make up for it.

Seriously, something that loud can cause hearing damage in just 8 hours. Not cool at all.

Agree that a generous offer of fridge space is nice, but honestly it does not make up for being kept up all night. In my neighborhood in Arlington it's very rare that a power outage lasts long enough for the stuff in the fridge to go bad anyway. If you are someone who insists on running loud equipment late at night, you should be living out in the country where there's nobody to disturb. (And obviously the municipalities agree, hence the noise ordinances.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A portable gasoline generator has a sound output of around 80 dB(A). The noise ordinance for generators in Montgomery county is 55 dB(A) for night time. I don't know about others in the area but it's probably similar. If you want to complain than you can. They will require your neighbor to purchase a sound proofing enclosure for night time use. It'll probably be just as expensive as the generator if not more.

We have a natural gas stand by and it's rated at 63 dB(A) which is MUCH better but just over the night time limit. I've been researching sound reduction enclosures but they are hard to come by. It's not something you can just buy at Home Depot.

Honda makes a 2800 Watt generator that has a max dBa of 49.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A portable gasoline generator has a sound output of around 80 dB(A). The noise ordinance for generators in Montgomery county is 55 dB(A) for night time. I don't know about others in the area but it's probably similar. If you want to complain than you can. They will require your neighbor to purchase a sound proofing enclosure for night time use. It'll probably be just as expensive as the generator if not more.

We have a natural gas stand by and it's rated at 63 dB(A) which is MUCH better but just over the night time limit. I've been researching sound reduction enclosures but they are hard to come by. It's not something you can just buy at Home Depot.

Honda makes a 2800 Watt generator that has a max dBa of 49.

A 2800 watt generator couldn't power very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. Your neighbors were smart in having a generator - every one of our neighbors were running yesterday until our power was restored last night. This is life so deal with it. We share a huge generator with our next door neighbor, and we can both plug in to save food, have lights, fans, TV, cable, microwave, coffee maker, blender - sorry, but if someone told me to turn off my generator, I'd tell them to call the police. What kind of neighbor are you?

Wow. I hate to through around the overused "entitlement" but...

Why is the comfort you get from insisting on running a loud generator overnight more important than your neighbor being comfortable enough to sleep without having to listen to that thing? Storm or no storm, there's a word you should think about: compromise. It blows my mind that some of you truly believe your NEED to run a fan and a tv overnight trumps your neighbors' need for sleep. Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:power will be back up soon. Just put up with it. It will not be long

I agree with this. Yes, I know, I know, PEPCO takes forever. But, your neighbor isn't running the generator 365 days/year. Not having power is a pain in the butt for everyone. I'd let this slide.

[Anonymous]

Granted, freezers can survive the night easily, but the fridge is getting iffy past the 6 hour mark. By hour 8 a lot of your stuff is dead.

But, they may also need to keep the sump pump going all night forcing them to keep the generator going.