Smyrna, TN Noise from Specific Sources: Generator Noise (2026)

Smyrna's anti-noise section, § 11-401 of the Municipal Code, has no provision headed generators. The closest governing text is subsection (1)(g), titled 'Exhaust discharge.' It makes it a noise violation to discharge into the open air the exhaust of any steam engine, stationary internal combustion engine, motor vehicle, or boat engine, except through a muffler or other device which will effectively prevent loud or explosive noises. A gas or diesel generator that sits in one place and runs on an engine is the everyday example of a stationary internal combustion engine, although the section itself never uses the word generator.

The standard is functional, not numeric. The section prints no decibel limit, no distance from the property line, and no hours in which an engine may run. What it demands is an effective muffler or equivalent device, and the loud or explosive noise it is meant to prevent is the measure of whether the device works. An unmuffled or failing muffler on a standby unit, a contractor's job-site generator, or a boat engine run on a trailer is the situation the subsection describes.

The opening sentences of § 11-401 also apply. They prohibit unreasonably loud, disturbing, and unnecessary noise, and noise of such character, intensity, or duration as to be detrimental to the life or health of any individual or in disturbance of the public peace and welfare. The list of examples is not exclusive, so a generator that is muffled but still creates a disturbance can be reached under that general ban.

The exceptions in subsection (2) cover vehicles of the town on necessary public business, night excavations or repairs of bridges, streets, or highways by or for the town, county, or state, and permitted noncommercial loudspeaker use. Private generators are not among them.