Lets talk ways to silence a portable generator? Barriers, enclosures? What's everyone using to limit the noise?

For your fixed generators, lots of muffler. Watch the direction you point the final outlet. It will bounce the noise off walls and make it louder.

A siding rated plywood/osb enclosure with rigid foam would also dull noise well. I would have heat concerns about a plastic garbage can cover, and it could be a PITA to access for maintenance. Simply unscrew the plwood. Don’t most whole house styles sold come with a plastic enclosure? Not sure how they come apart. I’d want to look for FR foam.

For a portable generator… If you have a big open shed, you could pipe the exhaust out the roof with simple dryer duct for emergency use, or have some proper stove pipe ready for planned use. Big fire hazard on the dryer duct. Could run the gene with it setup inside a pickup truck box with cap, of course needing exhaust plumbing too.

Not sure if they are still in business or not since the last post on their company FB was 2021. But Zombie Generator Boxes always seemed like the over engineered Arfcom approved solution
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ETA- they make portable ones as well

My dad made a box out of plywood and hinges.  Left one side open for ventilation, point that side away from you.  It folds up for storage.

For the exhaust, he bought a flange, some 2" flexible exhaust pipe, and a cheap car muffler.  Mounted the flange to the muffler on the generator, and just lay the car muffler on a piece of wood, or concrete.

ETA:  The only noise you hear on this with just the muffler is the valvetrain noise.  

I have mine in a shed and I duct the exhaust out of a roof vent pipe.
The roof exhaust helps disperse the sound.

Be loud, be proud…

I was looking into this earlier in the year and after exhaustive youtube research decided I'm just going to lean some plywood and/or OSB sheets against it.
I can't find the specific video I watched but he said angling the panels better deflected the sound.
And I have a small tarp packed with it in case it rains.

I have one of the 3000w honda inverter generator and and used the 7000w version at work, those things are so quite you can talk on the phone while it's a full throttle while standing next to it. Person on the other end of the phone can't even hear it. It looks like what they've done is use stabilizers to dampen the vibration and insulated the crap out  of it.

From a FB group I'm on:

Lowes
• PolyPro Foam Insulation (0.5in x 48in x 96in) -$10.98 each x4
• 3M Foil Tape- $6.98 x2
Home Depot
• Suncast Stow-Away 3 ft. 8 in. x 5 ft. 11 in. Resin Horizontal Storage Shed-$469 x1
• Concrete Blocks 4x8x16- $1.37 x30
• Everbilt Return Air Grille 16x16 -$22.65 x1
• 3in B Vent pipe (3inx24in)-$18.63 x1
• 3in B Vent Cap-$15.28 x1
• 3in Firestop Support- $12.98 x1
• 3/4 in. x 24 in. Black Steel Pipe- $11.51 x1
• 2 Gang weatherproof receptacle cover- $21.36 x1
Amazon
• 1" Thick x 12" x 24", Fireproof Insulation Blanket- $ 22.90 x1
• SUNAPEX 10W 12V Portable Solar Battery Charger & Maintainer - Solar Panel - $29.99 x1
• iPower HIFANXEXHAUST12CTB 12 Inch Variable Shutter Exhaust Fan with Speed Controller and Power Cord Kit -$69.99 x1
• Titanium Exhaust Black Wrap 1" x 16' Roll - $9.99 x1
O'Reilly Auto Parts
• Walker 1-1/4 Inch Diameter Steel 12 inch Pipe-$4.29 x1
• Nickson 1-1/4 Inch Steel Exhaust Clamp-$1.99 x 2

Our small generators are Hondas.  Very quiet but we couldn't run the well pump with them.  We have a much larger generator just so we can run the well and that box above may be just what we need for it.

Thanks for posting!

My transfer outlet is in the back garage about 65 feet from the house.
I just run the generator in the garage with exhaust end pointed out the man door and the overhead door open a couple inches.
Dam thing loud but doing it that way you can't hear it in the house, well in my house anyway.

Edit, I see this is a detached garage.

This is what I did, sans insulation because it resides on the far side of the house behind the garage, & I can only just barely hear it.

I don't bother with the inverter.  Cannot even hear it inside the camper.

The open frame generator (5500K) I just dig a hole in the sand. It works well.

For a redneck fix I have seen people use those snap together plastic play houses.

Link

It's called a "whisperwatt" for a reason.