What is a silent generator?
Most modern high quality generators will be labelled ‘silent’, but how can that be? How can an internal combustion engine with lots of moving parts be silent? Is it true? Well honestly, no, if a silent generator was in a quietness competition with a ninja and a Tesla, the generator would lose… Every time… A silent generator is a generator that has been soundproofed to limit the noise pollution it emits.
How loud is a generator?
Knowing what we know from above, this begs the question, how loud is a silent generator? The industry standard for measuring the noise pollution emitted by a generator is 7 meters. However, to comply with EEC regulations all generators have to be marked in LWA this is a different measurement of sound which is taken from a different distance. For example the Mighty Atom is rated at 58 dBA @ 7 metres on the LWA scale this would equate to approximately 90 decibels. Please beware of this as all products have LWA marked on them, many do not have the industry rated @ 7 metres level.
Standard Decibel Readings:
To give you an idea of how loud certain generators may be at a distance of 7 metres, please see this helpful chart below:
190 dBA | Heavy weapons, 10m behind the weapon (maximum level) |
180 dBA | Toy pistol fired close to ear (maximum level) |
170 dBA | Slap on the ear, fire cracker explodes on shoulder, small arms at a distance of 50cm (maximum level) |
160 dBA | Hammer stroke on brass tubing or steel plate at 1m distance |
150 dBA | Hammer stroke in a smithy at 5m distance (maximum level) |
130 dBA | Loud hand clapping at 1m distance (maximum level) |
120 dBA | Whistle at 1m distance, test run of a jet at 15m distance |
115 dBA | Take-off sound of planes at 10m distance |
110 dBA | Siren at 10m distance, frequent sound level in discotheques and close to loudspeakers at rock concerts, violin close to the ear of an orchestra musicians (maximum level) |
105 dBA | Chain saw at 1 m distance, banging car door at 1m distance (maximum level), racing car at 40m distance, possible level withmusic head phones |
100 dBA | Frequent level with music via head phones, jack hammer at 10m distance |
95 dBA | Loud crying, hand circular saw at 1m distance |
90 dBA | Petrol Lawnmower |
85 dBA | 2-stroke chain-saw at 10m distance, loud WC flush at 1m distance |
80 dBA | Very loud traffic noise of passing lorries at 7.5m distance, high traffic on an expressway at 25m distance |
75 dBA | Passing car at 7.5m distance, un-silenced wood shredder at 10m distance |
70 dBA | Level close to a main road by day, quiet hair dryer at 1m distance to ear |
65 dBA | Normal Conversation |
60 dBA | |
55 dBA | Low volume of radio or TV at 1 m distance, noisy vacuum cleaner at 10 m distance |
50 dBA | Refrigerator at 1m distance, bird twitter outside at 15 m distance |
45 dBA | Noise of normal living; talking, or radio in the background |
35 dBA | Very quiet room fan at low speed at 1m distance |
25 dBA | Sound of breathing at 1m distance |
0 dBA | Auditory threshold |