Why are outdoor power equipment engines so loud?

If I set for a minute or two with the mower running it burns the grass from the radiant heat. Already put some smoker grill insulation under it.
 
ARCOgraphite said:
Our Church's Lawn-Boy ran the exhaust under the deck, I thought it was pretty quiet - or it had a less irritating drone than a Briggs 4-stroke.

Mufflers? Cost and weight for a hand held device. Then weight and cost snowballs, as with a big silencer now you need to add heat shields with an air gap over the muffler can.

Good ole Lawn-Boy

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Man I miss these! Just different, fun!
 
SHOZ said:
If I set for a minute or two with the mower running it burns the grass from the radiant heat. Already put some smoker grill insulation under it.
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Probably why they don't do that anymore. Must have been way before spark arrestor days
 
I cut 3 lawns about every 3 weeks with gas ope. I wear a pair of ear muffs when doin them, so it's no big deal to me. And when the neighbors have their lawn service guys cutting grass, it's still no big deal to me. If I had to listen to it everyday from morning to night, then it probably would bother me.,,
 
BigCahuna said:
I cut 3 lawns about every 3 weeks with gas ope. I wear a pair of ear muffs when doin them, so it's no big deal to me. And when the neighbors have their lawn service guys cutting grass, it's still no big deal to me. If I had to listen to it everyday from morning to night, then it probably would bother me.,,
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I listen to mowers 8hrs a day. Always wear ear plugs. Wouldn't dare mow a single yard without them. Would probably be deaf if I did. Only problem with the ear plugs is they tend to pack the wax in after a while, but I've been mindful with how far I shove them in and it seems to be okay. One ear it can easily go in too far and the other is a pain to keep in
 
The motor guy said:
I listen to mowers 8hrs a day. Always wear ear plugs. Wouldn't dare mow a single yard without them. Would probably be deaf if I did. Only problem with the ear plugs is they tend to pack the wax in after a while, but I've been mindful with how far I shove them in and it seems to be okay. One ear it can easily go in too far and the other is a pain to keep in
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Have you tried the foam ones like the picture attached? I use these at work and home. They seem to keep my ears clean and work very well to block the sound.

plug picture

Just my $0.02
 
The motor guy said:
I listen to mowers 8hrs a day. Always wear ear plugs. Wouldn't dare mow a single yard without them. Would probably be deaf if I did. Only problem with the ear plugs is they tend to pack the wax in after a while, but I've been mindful with how far I shove them in and it seems to be okay. One ear it can easily go in too far and the other is a pain to keep in
Click to expand...
Ear plugs always give me earaches after a few hours. I'm stuck using muffs except for short term use. I usually wear both plugs and muffs while shooting indoors.
 
ARCOgraphite said:
Our Church's Lawn-Boy ran the exhaust under the deck, I thought it was pretty quiet - or it had a less irritating drone than a Briggs 4-stroke.

Mufflers? Cost and weight for a hand held device. Then weight and cost snowballs, as with a big silencer now you need to add heat shields with an air gap over the muffler can.

Good ole Lawn-Boy

View attachment 237319View attachment 237320
Click to expand...

My most used mower is a 1970s LB with a D601 engine. The D engines actually have a much larger muffler than the F engine-it's probably 2/3 the diameter of the underside of the deck.

It's definitely higher pitched than a typical 4 stroke mower, and makes a distinctive sound, but I've always felt that the D engine Lawn Boys I've run are some of the quietest gasoline mowers I've used. The F engine, like you show, does sound different and I perceive it as a bit louder, although I've never put a decibel meter on one to see.

The last Lawn Boy 2 stroke engines were the "E" series Duraforce engines, which do have a top side muffler. I've seen it claimed that they are no louder than the bottom exhaust ones, but subjectively they are LOUD. I try to remember to always wear earmuffs or plugs when I'm mowing, but the E engines will leave my ears ringing after an hour of use if I don't(which I know is a bad thing). For a variety of reasons, I've stopped using the couple of E engine mowers I have, even though when they're right they can cut pretty much anything that's thrown at them. I'm not sure what the reason for the top exhaust was on these either-the exhaust port is still out the bottom of the deck, and they have a U pipe under a cover to direct exhaust over to the top side muffler. That in itself is a pain, as you still have to get under the deck to service the exhaust, the cover has a half dozen bolts holding it on plus some RTV that you're supposed to renew every time, and worst of all if the engine is running rich or if you've flooded it a few times(easy to do since they put both a primer and a choke on these-most other LBs had one or the other) or if you're running too much oil, it tends to collect there and just dump out and make a big mess when you pull the cover, or otherwise will sit there and slowly make its way out the exhaust.
 
The Barking Dog, the relentless weed wackers and air blowers and lawn mowers!
I went out and purchased a set of Elkhart Tolle meditational CDs to help relieve some of the noise stress because it's nothing you can do about it.

Those have all been long since smashed against the side of my house! Yes passive aggressive then I go shooting at the range! Actually feel much better afterwards☀️
 
I damaged an AirPod pro with OPE - the whistle of the string trimmer was too much.

Best OPE buds I have, I made custom. I have a pair of cheap Bluetooth buds connected by a wire with the brains in the middle of the wire. I placed them in my ears and then used a custom moldable ear plug kit for sharpshooting from Amazon. The ear plug kit is $10, and it’s enough for 2 sets. With the buds in my ears, I packed the earplug material all around, under and over, and let them harden up. It helps to have a second hand here, and it took making a couple of sets to get it right.

They are amazing.

*****

Agreed. Muffler, intake both make noise. Rotating assembly makes noise. Valve train makes noise. You can knock it down a little by spraying bed liner or undercoating inside the cooling shroud, or applying gutter-sealing tar tape on the inside, but it’s not great. The super quiet inverter generators rely on a solid plastic or metal housing completely surrounding the engine.
 
Newer ones are pretty quiet. My Honda with a GCV170 engine is extremely quiet for a gas motor. Generally speaking though, I don't think OPE is that loud unless we're talking about 2-strokes.
 
I use to have to work on a running vacuum pump about 4x8. It was outside and I would use both ear plugs and some muffs but the sound just came in through your bones. Couldn't take much f it.
 
My Honda em6500sx with a GX390 engine. At 75 meters you’re not sure if it’s running. Not bad for an open-frame generator. 😉
IMG_9602.webp
 
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