the neighborly thing to do?

[Brokermike]

I have a massport vacuum pump that I just bought that came with a nice military spec gas engine. The engine itself is great as it has a fuel pump, and I can just run a line right in to a 5 gallon bucket. However, even with a muffler it is brutally loud. My sugarhouse runs on a small generator that easily powers our lights, sap transfer pump, and blower. However the generator is not big enough to also run a 1.5hp electric motor. The sugarhouse is about 500' from my house, but only about 300' from our neighbors, they are a very nice, older retired couple that is home all day. So my open ended question to everyone here is what do I do?

Keep the setup as it is now, but try to deflect the sound a bit away from their house

Sell the nice military spec and hopefully clear enough dough to buy a quieter engine from Harbor Freight or Northern Tool

Sell the military spec and buy an electric motor, run the vacuum pump from outside my garage and run 500' of pipe to the releaser

[C.Wilcox]

A horseshoe of straw bales can do a lot to cut down on the noise from a loud pump. We've used this technique on a major scale to help cut down on the noise of large construction equipment in residential areas. Even a temporary plywood wall built on the neighbor's side of the pump can do a lot to deflect the noise away from a house. Of course, if there's a hillside on the opposite side of the pump it will send a lot of the noise back.

Just as another thought, can you upgrade the muffler?

[jasonl6]

A local maple sap farmer here had a simular problem. He made a 4 sided "box" out of 2" blue board and left the top off. He said it deflected the noise upward and the neighbor was happier.

[markct]

i would look at adding a bigger, better etc muffler you would be surprised at the difference you can achive. i had a cat road grader with a ford 300 six engine that was deafly loud to operate with a ford tractor muffler on the stack which is right behind the seat. well i happened to borrow the muffler for our ford tractor when the other one got damaged, and then stuck a automotive toyota muffler on the grader when i needed it and wow what a difference, much quieter! and odly enough the for tractor with the muffler is not real loud either with the tractor muffler, just something about the way the engines are different. i would try putting a large automotive type muffler on it and see what it does. you would be surprised what a car muffler will do for a small gas engine like a 8 or 10 hp single cyl engine, realy knocks down the pop pop noise they have under load

[sapman]

My vote would be to go electric. Wish I had that option at my bush. Even several hundred feet of cable to run is better than keeping a gas engine running!

[lew]

Go electric. I ran a wire heavy enough to run a 3 hp motor a little over 600 ft. and the cost was $1.00 per ft. A little heavier wire and you can run the whole sugarhouse. No engines to deal with, no gas tanks to run dry, a multitude of improvements that can be made as time goes by. A long term investment compared to gas, but it never runs out.

[Russell Lampron]

Put the electric motor on it and set it up at your garage. Gas gets to be pretty expensive. 500' of pipe is pretty cheap, it will pay for itself pretty fast. My releaser is going to be 1500' away from my pump this season. It was 900' before.

[Acer]

'lectric way to go

[Brokermike]

how big of an electric do you figure I need, it's only about 200 taps, all new tubing and should be very, very tight

[maplecrest]

1/2 hp electric. i will look and see if i got one

[red maples]

If possible maybe ask your neighbor if you can run a wire from their place??? and go electric then pay them for the month its running. since its only 300'.

my sugar house is 200+ ft from my house and there is no electic in there "yet"!! so I just run 2 - 12G extension cords out there for a month that I tied into 2 outdoor CFGI outlets that I ran to their own 20 amp breakers. 1 for the 1hp electric motor on the vac pump. the other I wired to an electric box for lights transfer pump and stuff. works great. In the summer they are for the deck lights and my electric smoker.

Someday when I feel like digging a trench I will add in electricity out there.:rolleyes:

[kiegscustoms]

I agree with everyone saying go electric. Once you figure what you will spend on gas to run it for the entire season it really adds up. If converting it does not work out for this year build a lean-too style roof around it with the opening facing away from the neighbors and insulate it with "sound control" fiberglass insulation. I have not used it in this sort of application but have in several commercial remodels where one unit has to be isolated from the abutters and it has worked very well, also relatively inexpensive.