Home Engine Test Cell

[Robin Colbourne]

If you have done, or thought about doing, anything special to contain engine noise and mess when running them at home, perhaps you would like to share here?

[J D 8]

I once went past the place where RR [ I think ] Tested their jet engines, perhaps we should ask them.⁉️

 Not a problem for me as I live on a farm.

[Geoff S]

Even RR got noise complaints when we ran engines outside 'reasonable' hours.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of them came from those living on streets called Olympus Close or Trent Drive which are across the road from the Hucknall factory where they had an outdoor noise test facility before the airfield was converted into a housing estate itself.

 

I don't run engines at home now but when I did I tried to be considerate as to timing (ie during the day rather than evening) and for as brief a period as possible.  My neighbour sometimes overhauls chainsaw etc engines as well and occasionally runs them.  Never had a complaint but we live on the edge of a village and aren't surrounded by houses.

 

Geoff

[Robin Colbourne]

Thanks for the replies JD8 and Geoff S. 

I used to work at what was the National Gas Turbine Establishment at Pyestock, near Farnborough, so I guess its that that made me want a smaller version of the engine test cells there, to contain the noise and also stop the whole area disappearing in a cloud of exhaust fumes.

I was thinking along the lines of a sound absorbent tunnel to go over the engine and prop, plus a pipe running to a full-size car silencer to collect the exhaust goo.

This was our anechoic chamber at Pyestock, but it is a little larger than I had in mind:

National Gas Turbine Establishment - Anechoic Chamber
Pyestock Anechoic Chamber

Edited March 6, 2021 by Robin Colbourne

[Nick Cripps]

I never went there myself but many of my colleagues in the RR Performance Office spent many happy days testing a range of Tay, V2500, RB211 and Trent engines at Pyestock some years ago.

As Geoff says, there's no longer any engine testing at Hucknall but production and development engines still run regularly at the Derby site. Even near to the test beds on the Sinfin site you can hear very little noise, just a low frequency rumble at times.

 

I read somewhere that running a pipe into a bucket of water made for an effective silencer for model engines. Probably one of the WOO articles in RCM&E.

[Geoff S]

I had to go to NGTE for work a very long time ago - I know because it was icy and I fell off my motor bike on the way to catch the train and arrived late ?   I think it's where we acquired the vacuum tank we used to do a blade-off rig test at Hucknall, also longer ago than I care to remember.

 

There was an engine test rig somewhere near our building and noise wasn't a problem but the horrible parafin smell wasn't very pleasant.  I retired in 1995 and both building (which I really liked - especially the Pater Noster lift and the views from our top floor location) and test beds are gone.

 

Geoff

[Nick Cripps]

There were 4 beds behind the old Seven Storey block on A-site which were last used at least 20 years ago. Many of those old buildings are long gone, as are the row of poplars on Victory Road and the Bassett Block further down.

I retired early last year (thanks to Covid) and spent the last 10 years in the Lombard Building. If the wind was in the wrong direction you could get a strong smell of Avgas through the air conditioning when prod or dev engines were being tested on the beds next to Wilmore Road.

[dave windymiller]

We used to run model diesel engines in the shed until the eyes stung too much.   Tried it with a pulse jet but my dad had other ideas on the issue . I guess he could hear it despite the noise abatement.   CO poisoning?   That was for wimps.  

 

Pater Noster lifts!   Had my arm broke on one of them at Perry Barr College in 82.   It was decided that it was my turn for the trip down from ground floor into the dark.  As you journey into the gloom, the emergency stop would be pushed so you spent hours trapped.  I resisted the push of several "friends" by holding on the handles until one came off the wall breaking my wrist on the other one.

 

[Denis Watkins]

I remember my dad running new aero motors in the shed via an electric motor attached to the aero engine crank shaft by rubber coupling ! ! ! with both motors mounted firmly and aligned accurately on a jig.

The idea was to remove the new cylinder head from the new motor, and to drive this, well oiled, by an auxiliary motor, for as long as needed.

This was both quiet, and exhaust gas free. Those were the days.I

I must admit, these days, with modern motors, mine are bolted to an aeroplane, and if they run 5 minutes on the ground at the field, the rest of their running life is spent safely up in the cool air, where the gunk, goo, gas and noise disperse as normal.

[Engine Doctor]

Small IC engines not a problem , run in garage with doors closed and a large extractor fan. Large petrol job just run in garden during daytime and not for extended periods.And don't do it in the early morning or from early evening. The only people likely to complain are the ignorant ones who insist on getting up early on a Sunday morning and mowing their grass with an old noisy lawn mower , but that doesn't seem to count !

Testing engines during pandemic is it seems is unlikely to cause any complaints where I live . It appears that everyone is running some sort of powertool during the day  doing some form of DIY.