Do you run up your engines in the garden?

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Mine are normally quite tolerant but how would your neighbours react to having this gentleman next door? Particularly from 5:45 in....

Rather a brave man though - I don't think I'd want to be anywhere near a dusted off discarded Derwent without a thick concrete wall and some armoured glass in between us!

[Kim Taylor]

Never run a model engine in my current back garden (although soon to change) but a while ago now when my son was kart racing we had to do a quick rebuild on a motor and 'as you do' once it was done, we put it in the kart and decided to fire it up, 'just to make sure'.

Now, I don't know if anybody on here has heard a 100cc kart engine with an expansion chamber exhaust, but trust me, it's loud........................................................................especially at 2 in the morning!!!!

We were in the garage and I'd completely lost track of the time. Still, safety first, I opened the door to let the exhaust fumes (and apparently the noise) out.

Oops

Kim

[bert baker]

Always run them up even the jet, some of the clubs I fly at are over 1 hours drive away so need to know they start,

[cymaz]

I run engines in the garden...but am mindful of the natives. Usually I do it after work, about 5:30-6:00, just before being called in for tea.

[Robert Parker]

Never, I use a patch of land about 1/2 mile from my house and away from everyone / thing just an occasional passing farmer.

Don't want to upset neighbours been good since I moved in 20 years ago.

Regards

Robert

[Geoff S]

I do run engines in our back garden but not for very long and just to check the settings and that they at least run without any dramatic fuel leaks. My next door neighbour sometimes repairs chainsaw/strimmer engines and he runs them up, too, but like me just for acceptably short times.

I used to work for RR but on instrumentation design for test beds and rigs so I know very little about gas turbine design (I just used to blow them up ). However, I do know that no-one is allowed on a bed with an engine running and ear defenders were required wear in many areas. A friend of mine was a rig design draftsman and sometimes needed to go down the yard to the test beds. In summer he always wore sandals and got some very old-fashioned looks from people wearing Toetectors.

I think those two guys were dicing with, perhaps not death, but certainly possible serious injury (blade containment was one of my experiments!)

[Cuban8]

I will occasionally run an engine up in the garden, but only for a very short time just to check settings or to run the engine dry if I've forgotten to do so at the field. I have quite a large garden so I can get some way away from the houses which also helps.

Having been on the receiving end of noisy and inconsiderate neighbours (thick as two short planks) in the distant past, my present neighbours are great.

[kevin b]

No problem here with neighbours.

If they aren't happy with the noise, they just go down to the other end of the field and eat the grass there.

[Peter Miller]

No problem with running engines here. The next door neighbours are very tolerant and anyway I only run them to setthe throttles. Mainly four strokes and there is a lot of undergrowth between our houses..

A little story that might amuse.

At RAF Wattisham the residents of Bildeston down in the valley were not happy with EE Lightnings doing ground runs. so the RAF bought a huge "silencer" which was a tube full of baffles and with a right angle bend so the outlet pointed straight up. The squadron boys would back the Lightning up to it and run the engines. Well, that was the idea.

The first time they used it all the baffles were seen coming out of the top of the thing much to the amusement of the ground crew. I don't think it was ever used again

[Paul Jefferies]

Thanks Martin, 'Wonderful video! Ah, the halcyon days before elf and safety. It reminded me of an engine session session I had in my back garden with my mate and fellow superannuated schoolboy a few weeks ago........

I live in a fairly rural situation with only a few neighbours, most of whom are only here at weekends or out at work during the day. "Normal" engines are not really a problem but on this occasion we decided to give my hitherto untried Pulse Jet it's first firing......... With fire extinguisher at the ready, at first it was reluctant to do anything at all so we thought it might help to warm it up a bit with a heat-gun. That seemed to make all the difference! There were a few extremely loud bangs which echoed down the valley then several huge but short lived sheets of flame shot out of the back.......... and then it started! The noise was indescribable! I was aware that these things are not quiet so I had my noise meter at the ready and it topped out at a bit over 120db! It says in the instructions not to run it on the bench for more than a few seconds or the petal valves will burn out so we stopped it after about 15 seconds......... And then after it had cooled down we felt we really ought to try it again, just to prove that it wasn't a flook.......... And then just once more, to ensure that the petal valves hadn't burned out though after the first run we did whimp out and used ear defenders ;o)

It was serious fun but I would never dare to fly it!

Paul

[Tim Flyer]

I do on new models for about 15 Minutes or so just to set idle and make sure fuel system etc is good plus run them in a bit with cowling off, before taking to the air at the club. I don't keep them on high throttle plus my planes are well silenced. Certainly no noisier than my other petrol garden equipment. I would not keep a two stroke on high throttle in the garden. I must admit I have sometimes test started my novarossi hydroplane engine. On tick over that's about 5000rpm and quite loud, but I rarely do that.

[Nigel R]

Every so often I run something for 5 minutes in the garden. Not often, and not late. There's not too many (human) neighbours within earshot.

The jet guys in that video are brave or stupid. Not sure which! Echo the blade containment and concrete comments.

[extra slim]

Pulse jet story reminded me of mine, age 15 searching for something in the loft I cam across a Jet type thing.. "whats this dad?"... "Ahh my pulse jet, I wondered where that was.. it was my apprentice piece".. "What does it do?"... "bring it down and I'll show you"..

Anyway, it was strapped to a black and decker workmate in the garage, after about 30 mins of trying to get it going with air compressor and blow torch... at 15 I lost interest and went back in the house to watch grandstand or something..

Further 15 mins went past and then a huge roar, followed by an even bigger bang... I ran out, my mum ran out, all the neighbours had gathered at the bottom of the drive... to see the garage door with a road runner style imprint of a pulse jet strapped to a black and decker workmate indented in it...

My old man, opened up said door and declared to the now assembled audience "what do you think of that... great isnt it"... My mum went nuts, and dad just winked at me..

Hilarious looking back, my mates always thought my dad was kinda cool, and now his grand kids call him "dangerous grandad"..

[J D 8]

Do it all the time, but then the nearest neighbour is half a mile away.