Great heat insulating device for the hottest part of a mini-excavator. Well worth it on hot days!
If you run one of the little mini excavators that use the 13.5 horse Briggs and Stratton motors you know about dealing with engine compartment temps. Fuel boiling on hot summer days, overheating hydraulic fluid, burning up motors in hot engine compartments, and just plain heat coming from the motor you are sitting over. Thermal management is a problem with these. On the older models (2024 is mine) they did not come with a large enough charging system to power an electric fan in the engine compartment. I have left my back door open and only ran it 20-30 min at a time with rests to deal with the heat issues. I am willing to try anything to reduce heat. A major source of heat is the hot muffler located inside the engine compartment. There have been all sorts of tricks tried to reduce heat radiating from the muffler in the engine compartment – like remotely mounting the muffler. Header wrap tape has been known to help, but is fiberglass and miserable to work with and nearly impossible to get it to stay in place. This muffler blanket is awesome! It is very thick, much more so than expected due to thick fiberglass insulation. It has heat reflective material inside and outside. Quality of construction and weight is very impressive – it is very thick and quality feeling. With an insulated muffler it keeps the heat from radiating into the engine compartment and instead going out with the exhaust. It has nothing scratchy or uncomfortable to deal with as the the insulation material is fully encased in the inner and outer heat resistant fabric. The build quality exceeds my expectations and it looks like it will work for many years. Anything that reduces engine compartment temps helps on the mini excavators, and the muffler is the hottest component in the engine compartment and will make the most difference. Highly recommend if you want to run a mini-excavator more than 20 minutes at a time in over 100 degree temps.