That would work great. I don't have the small steel buckets but I do have a steel 55 gallon barrel that I can engineer into a silencing system.
For cooling the engine, I'd keep the water pump but run lines out to a water filled pit or a long, deep ditch with incoming at one end and outlet at the opposite end. It's a natural convection cooling system like what I use for the geothermal refrigeration systems I work with. The coolant lines would be submerged so that there would not be any noise coming from that source.
My daughter's current ride is a Nissan car that has an E-85 engine in it so, once the stuff hits the fan I bring her over here and keep the car to use for the generator I already have. Too bad I won't be able to make full use of the 250 horsepower that puppy can generate, it'll probably be more since it would be running in a no-load condition.
I have means to produce ethanol or other alcohols so I'm set for fuel and barter :thumbs: .

If you have steel buckets that system will work great. If you drill holes in the exhaust pipe where it passes through the bucket, this is enough to allow for pressure expansion and it will act just like a muffler, especially if you use 5 buckets in a line like you mentioned above. You will then have a silent generator. Another way to loose some sound, if your generator is water cooled, is to make a thermal syphon water cooling system with a 55 gallon drum filled with water. This lets you remove the water pump, radiator and fan which will make that engine purr like a Singer sewing machine. There are diagrams of this system on the net and its pretty easy to make. The noise of that fan turning is loud and can be heard from a great distance.

I've had access to lots of steel 5 gallon buckets that were used to contain roofing tars and aluma-kote roof coating. Those would work quite well for that muffler system.

I have tried this muffler system in the past and the heat from the exhaust melted the bockets. Drywall compound used to come in metalic buckets but that is a thing of the past and I don't know of any other material that comes in steel buckets. I also tried running 2" PVC pipe, attached to a 30' length of standard galvanized steel muffler pipe and buried the entire system. The PVC pipe got hot and warped and almost closed off the exhaust system. Had to replace it with steel pipe.

Had another thought about generator motors and fuel needed. Why not find a vehicle that has one of those E-85 engines in it and use that to power the generator. Since it can run on almost full ethanol, it should work for a lot longer than a regular gasoline engine would operate on a steady diet of ethanol. Tear the vehicle from around the engine bay and attach the generator directly to the transmission tailpiece and let 'er go.
I thought some more about reducing the sound signature. If you have several 5 gallon buckets with tight lids that are no longer useful as a storage means, they could be used to construct a muffler system for the generator. Connect all of the buckets in series with some pipe keeping the pipes not in any alignment with any other and bury the whole setup. I'd probably also put in some steel or something baffle plates in a few of the buckets to disrupt the sound vibrations as well. Run an exhaust pipe from the generator into the first bucket of the set underground. The last bucket has the last pipe turning up out of the ground but, there is a complete loop at the terminal end for final sound attenuation. Basically, you've constructed a very large and effective muffler to likely completely reduce the noise of your generator down to not being able to hear it at all unless you are in very close proximity to it.

I'll probably get a cheap throwaway generator from Harbor Freight to do my experimentation on instead of my good genset, less to lose.
If it doesn't work I'm not out much, if it does I'm good to go.
A diesel generator would probably be a better choice though, leftover oil will probably be more readily available instead of ethanol producing materials. Besides, with all of the uses for ethanol and when someone finds out I'm producing it, I may not need a generator ya know.

During WW2 when the Japanese army occupied the Phillipine Islands there was no gas allowed to the civilian population. The locals started making alcohol from cocoanuts and using it for gasoline to run their bus system and power generators. I would imagine this could be done here using grain when the situation demands it. Most modern gas generator carburators have gaskets that won't deteriorate when coming in contact with ethanol or alcohol. I have always wanted to try this but was unwilling to take a chance on destroying a perfectly good generator to find out if it will work.

Good knowledge on the generator Toepopper! While the information was good enough for urban survival, it has limited use for those of us who have a home base established already. I've already gotten plans in place for procuring gasoline and diesel fuel while it may still be available and hopefully after all of the "chicken running around with its head cutoff" behavior that will occur shortly after that stuff hitting that fan.
I have a gasoline generator that I could probably convert to natural gas or even ethanol or methanol, I know how to produce both natural gas and ethanol, methanol needs some more work, likely I won't use it.
A muffler system is a definite must, I hadn't thought of that while I was viewing, other than he was going to be found out quite soon by anyone else who happened to be within a couple miles. We think generators are loud now, wait until all of the rest of the ever present background noises are no longer present, that gen-set will be heard on the other side of the neighboring counties, Yikes! :shock:

Sounds like an interesting show. The part about the diesel generator in the hospital was good. Many solar powered retreats use a diesel generator for backup power during the short days of winter, to provide lights and charge up the battery bank. The noise these generators produce can be heard for miles through hill and dale and this noise will certainly give away your location to any miscreants who are roaming around looking for an isolated homestead to rob and pillage. In a homestead/retreat situation it might be a good idea to try to make the generator as quiet as possible. A family could construct a sandbag wall around the generator leaving an opening for an entrance, shaped similar to the number 6 only with a space to get into the sandbag room and to let air in. This will deaden the operating noise of a generator and placing a roof over it will deaden the noise almost completely. Building sandbag walls is hard work and you will need to have several thousand sandbags at your disposal. These can be bought from the local county road crew or agriculture extension office. To deaden the exhaust noise you can run the exhaust pipe underground and into a buried 55 gallon drum, then continue another pipe out of the other end of the barrel to a daylight position where water won't run into the pipe. The drum will act like an expansion chamber and muffle the noise to almost zero decibels. Steel pipe is a must, pvc pipe will melt. I removed the exhaust manifold from the engine and turned it over 180 degrees so that the exhaust pipe could be run down into the ground, make a turn and head to the buried drum. I also encased the drum in concrete and that helped lessen the vibrating and resonating of the drum. I have used this system on a 4 cyl diesel generator and it worked so well I could not hear it run from my house. :thumbs:

I got to watch a survival program named [b]Apocalypse Man[/b] that I had recorded a couple of weeks ago. The host and camera crew provide some skills information for surviving a collapse of civilization along with some handy knowledge I had not considered prior to the show.
The host does seem to be a bit overly dramatic, like he is in a near const t state of battle with hordes of mutant zombie bikers. I could do without the drama but, to get the information I have to accept the over-emotive presentation.
Information he provides that I found most helpful was producing a form of bio-diesel with common and possibly still available materials. He used HEET fuel additive, a bit of regular diesel fuel, some lye of a drain cleaner and some leftover cooking oil from abandoned restaurants he had gathered.
He first mixed the HEET and a small amount of lye in a small sealable container and shook it for awhile to thoroughly mix the concoction. He then poured the mix into the 5 gallon container of cooking oil and shook that container vigorously to mix the ingredients
He did point out that this particular process would keep a diesel engine running but, not for very long. It is not meant to be a constant fuel source just an emergency supply to get you and your party as far as possible under power as quickly as possible
He also provided communication possibilities. His own experience through his military training showed him that the biggest hindrance to survival is loneliness, the need for companionship can be detrimental to your own survival if you cannot interact in even the most minor manner.
He did indicate that he had gone through SERE training, or something like it, and that is how he found that some minimal form of companionship is necessary for survival.
The communication possibilities were transceivers he acquired from a cab company in whatever city he was working in along with a power supply to operate the radio. Funny thing there, he sets up his communication system to send out a broadband signal so that he can make contact with other possible survivors in that city but shortly later he's got a diesel truck and his homemade fuel and he gets out of dodge. Really I think he was in a part of Detroit that has been abandoned by businesses and residents. Couldn't say for sure but, that was my first inclination.
He also provided a reasonable scenario for a home base setup, in an abandoned hospital. He did his walk through at first and found the place to be unoccupied. He then found the hospital's generator, got some fuel from an abandoned gas station and started the generator and had some electricity for awhile. The first thing he did was to turn off some breakers in a panel as a demonstration of a strong need. Turn off everything you absolutely do not need because you do not want to announce to the world that you are there and you have electricity. Of course, a diesel generator is not silent or even quiet, even in an enclosed space that exhaust is going to be very noisy and loud. It's still a potentially good idea to have some electricity for awhile. One thing he did do was use the generator to recharge a 12 volt vehicle battery for future use. He used it for the diesel truck he found, got started and fueled, and then drove away in it.
He made his base of operations in the hospital security office on the reasoning that there were functioning cameras in the office so that he could monitor the property. Good idea until the generator stops operating.
He did briefly mention the fact that food and water will be a serious requirement with a short demonstration of finding some unlabeled cans in some old house he entered. He did mention a way to check the cans for usefulness, if the ends would flex and make a popping sound, it's contaminated so don't use it. The cans being unlabeled would be a pot luck meal of course.
Water was simpler and less information about it. He found some standing water on the rooftop somewhere and heated it over a can of Sterno like substance that he had found at some house he visited and used that to boil the water. Still, not a lot of information about water or how to make it usable.
He often dealt with obtaining materials and supplies by scavenging which is about the only method available if there were no prep supplies, they were completely consumed or you got stranded away from your regular home or home base and did not have any supplies.
All in all the program was minimally interesting and may serve as a basic introduction to survival techniques and tactics to the uninitiated but, it is most definitely not an all encompassing display of knowledge and skills. It will do for getting started but no farther.