Heat Pump noise and Neighbor
Abigail Baker
we had oil wanted gas, wasn't available on our side of the street, we
had no heat due to broken oil furnace, the dealer told me about a heat
pump, but never explained to me what it was.. and being an idiot, I
didn't ask the right questions... I had no idea this would iclude a
huge piece of machinery outside. The installed it right under our
bedroom window, and about 7 feet away from neighbor's bedroom window.
Neighbor has MAJOR issues with this... we are trying to be a good
neighbor without going into debt over it. We have a Trane XL15i,
which is suppose to be pretty quiet, but we live in older homes so the
sound is noticeable.... We just put up a fence to the cost of 750, and
this has been no help to her!!!
Any suggestions as to what our options are to reduce noise????
Thank you!!!!
.p.jm@see_my_sig_for_address.com
<kuhl...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>I am having some major problems with my heat pump. Long story short
>we had oil wanted gas, wasn't available on our side of the street, we
>had no heat due to broken oil furnace, the dealer told me about a heat
>pump, but never explained to me what it was.. and being an idiot, I
>didn't ask the right questions... I had no idea this would iclude a
>huge piece of machinery outside.
Did you not have central air before ? It's the same thing.
> The installed it right under our
>bedroom window, and about 7 feet away from neighbor's bedroom window.
Then he's an asshole. When mine was installed, the idjit
wanted to put it ~ 7 feet to one side of a certain door, which would
have been directly outside my bedroom wall. I jumped his shit and
told him 'no, put it on the OTHER side of the door ( TONS of open room
on both sides ) ' - outside a kitchen window.
Seeing as I rarely sleep in the kitchen, this was a reasonable
idea. Of course, installers don't give a shit, they don't have to
live where they work.
>Neighbor has MAJOR issues with this... we are trying to be a good
>neighbor without going into debt over it. We have a Trane XL15i,
>which is suppose to be pretty quiet, but we live in older homes so the
>sound is noticeable.... We just put up a fence to the cost of 750, and
>this has been no help to her!!!
>Any suggestions as to what our options are to reduce noise????
Move the unit. There is NOTHING you can do at 6' - 7 ' away
to make it acceptable outside a neighbor's bedroom window at 2 AM.
NOTHING.
>
>Thank you!!!!
--
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Abigail Baker
Do you have any idea what the cost of moving one of these things is?
Also, do you know since we have not de comissioned our oil tank yet,
can the handler that works with the heat pump be hooked up with oil.
so we could use oil for heat, and the heat pump just for air???
I appreciate your help!
On Jan 24, 9:17 am, .p.jm@see_my_sig_for_address.com wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:43:29 -0800 (PST), Abigail Baker
>
> Click here every day to feed an animal that needs you today !!!http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/
.p.jm@see_my_sig_for_address.com
<kuhl...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>No- we did not have central air.
>Do you have any idea what the cost of moving one of these things is?
Varies a lot. You need some estmates.
>Also, do you know since we have not de comissioned our oil tank yet,
>can the handler that works with the heat pump be hooked up with oil.
>so we could use oil for heat, and the heat pump just for air???
Depends on a lot of variables. Again, get some estimates.
Get some contractors out to look at it and answer questions.
jamesgangnc
>
> - Show quoted text -
Get it moved. Think about the best location for it. If your house is
on a crawl space or basement then moving it might be pretty simple.
Might be a little cheaper than the fence. The main cost is because
they have to evacuate the refrigerant and then relocate the copper
lines that connect it to the air handler to the new location. As
well as run the 240 power to the new location. Then reconnect and
recharge the system. So you ought to be able to get an idea about the
level of difficulty by considering wher those copper lines and the
power have to run now and where they will have to run to the location
you are considering. Most people have several reasonable spots for
the outside unit. The installers should have asked you more about the
location. If you went with the lowest bid then they probably put it
where they had the shortest and most direct run to the circuit
breakers and the air handler.
Marc O'Brien
Reading the four other replies it seems the unit has to be moved.
Moving the unit once will cost less in the long run than an continuum
of experimental efforts each with only speculative effect. Not to
mention the costs associated with poor sleep and neighborly peace if
mind.
But what is it that is noisy? The compressor? The fan? The paneling?
First try work out precisely what causes the offensive noise?
Does the manufacturer expect less that dB(A) at 1m?
Abigail Baker
Thank you all so much for help.... is running the "emergency heat" at
night an option? That way the outside unit would not be running....
could this be done until we have the money to have it moved?
Marc O'Brien
Does the manufacturer expect less that 50dB(A) at 1m? (my spell
checker wasn't set to ignore words with numbers and deleted tthe 50 in
my last post.)
The only problem you might encounter with running emergency heat only
or only supplementary heat is that you don't get enough heat.
But up to 50% of a system's capacity is often spent, wasted, on
heating air-leakage masses. Air leakage in excess of required
ventilation masses. Reduce the unwanted portion of the natural air
ingress for a while and run on emergency only and you might get by.
Build up some heat during the day by raising the heat pump stat
temporarily until it can be relocated or until you can eliminate the
noise emanating from the offensive component.
.p.jm@see_my_sig_for_address.com
Yes. That means you'r eheating with electric strips only.
B-Hate-Me
"Abigail Baker" <kuhl...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:47300f48-665b-4671...@q77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
Kill neighbor. Problem solved.
jamesgangnc
sugggests run the temp up at the end of the day with the heat pump and then
lower the setting when you put it on emergency heat.
"Abigail Baker" <kuhl...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:578f5648-ba34-49dd...@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
tony
"jamesgangnc" <ja...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:13pjmlh...@corp.supernews.com...
> The emergency heat mode will be much more expensive to run. As Marc
> sugggests run the temp up at the end of the day with the heat pump and
> then lower the setting when you put it on emergency heat.
Escuss my ignorance but if you running all of heat from heater elements
why would you run comprresor? (Condenser.)
Tony
jamesgangnc
> "jamesgangnc" <ja...@nospam.com> wrote in message
>
> news:13pjmlh...@corp.supernews.com...
>
> > The emergency heat mode will be much more expensive to run. As Marc
> > sugggests run the temp up at the end of the day with the heat pump and
> > then lower the setting when you put it on emergency heat.
>
> Escuss my ignorance but if you running all of heat from heater elements
> why would you run comprresor? (Condenser.)
> Tony
>
>
>
>
>
>
In the emergency mode the compressor is not running. What we're
suggesting is that she heat the house up a bit higher than normal
during the day with the hp while the neighbor is not in their
bedroom. Then switch to emergency heat and lower the thermostat some
at night. That will lower the amount of time the expensive resistive
heat has to run.
PrecisioNmachinisT
"tony" <t.s...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:xPpmj.1398$v86.1174@trnddc08...
>
> Escuss my ignorance
Idiot you've been told many times in the past...laziness is no excuse for
your ignorance.
>
> but if you running all of heat from heater elements
> why would you run comprresor? (Condenser.)
>
Suggest reading comprehension classes because the current discussion
concerns running the compressor during the day and then locking it out at
night, switching over to run heat strips only.
--
tony
Are there such devices built into system that
home owner can simply switch from one to the other
Tony
"PrecisioNmachinisT" <precision...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8NqdnRc0YfTX7Afa...@scnresearch.com...
Jeffrey Lebowski
> Excuses my ignorance again?
Okay since at least this time your expressing a desire to learn something
new.
> Are there such devices built into system that
> home owner can simply switch from one to the other
>
Yes--it's called a heat pump thermostat...typical here is at a minimum you
will have connections for compressor (Y), reversing valve ( O or B ), fan
(G), and backup heat as call for oil or electric (W)--this in addition to
red and common ( if used ).
Typical thermostat mode settings will be auto changeover, cool only, heat
only, off, and emergency heat.
When the "emergency heat" mode is selected , compressor operation is locked
out causing unit to run backup heat mode only.
--
tony
was that hard to answer in my opinion NO!
I am 70 years old,
my philosophy is that you never too old to learn
Tony
"Jeffrey Lebowski" <Nope@nono> wrote in message
news:XZ6dnXx-5Pp_BAba...@scnresearch.com...
Jane
>
> Any suggestions as to what our options are to reduce noise????
> Thank you!!!!
next to her garage; she never hears it but I do……..it's so loud, a
constant humming and sometimes a constant buzzing. One night she was not
home, so I left a note asking her to turn it off at 10:00 p.m. and she
would not comply. Another night I went over at 10:30 p.m. to ask her to
please shut it off;
she opened the door and yelled at me and then slammed the door in my face.
Last summer she would not respond to Community Mediation Service's
letter. I contacted Code Enforcement and the Police and learned the City
Counselors decided to exclude heat pump noise from the law.
Community Mediation contacted her again this summer and asked her to turn
it off at 10:00 p.m.; she responded to them that she fell asleep and
forgot to turn it off. It has become a health issue with the constant
noise in my bedroom, so my only option is to sleep on the couch or daybed,
neither one is very comfortable where I can get quality sleep. Bottom
line: my neighbor dictates whether or not I can use my bedroom. BLAIRCO
is the company that installed it and they are based in Vancouver WA. I
contacted them last week regarding the problem and their policy is not to
install a heat pump next to a bedroom, but they did! I will call them
again tomorrow morning and see if they will relocate it next to my
neighbor's bedroom where it should be!
--
james...@gmail.com
> replying to Abigail Baker, Jane wrote:
>
> > kuhlbaker wrote:
>
> >
>
> > Any suggestions as to what our options are to reduce noise????
>
> > Thank you!!!!
>
>
>
> My next door neighbor installed a heat pump 6 feet from my bedroom and
>
> constant humming and sometimes a constant buzzing. One night she was not
>
> home, so I left a note asking her to turn it off at 10:00 p.m. and she
>
> would not comply. Another night I went over at 10:30 p.m. to ask her to
>
> please shut it off;
>
> she opened the door and yelled at me and then slammed the door in my face.
>
> Last summer she would not respond to Community Mediation Service's
>
> letter. I contacted Code Enforcement and the Police and learned the City
>
> Counselors decided to exclude heat pump noise from the law.
>
> Community Mediation contacted her again this summer and asked her to turn
>
> it off at 10:00 p.m.; she responded to them that she fell asleep and
>
> forgot to turn it off. It has become a health issue with the constant
>
> noise in my bedroom, so my only option is to sleep on the couch or daybed,
>
> neither one is very comfortable where I can get quality sleep. Bottom
>
> line: my neighbor dictates whether or not I can use my bedroom. BLAIRCO
>
> is the company that installed it and they are based in Vancouver WA. I
>
> contacted them last week regarding the problem and their policy is not to
>
> install a heat pump next to a bedroom, but they did! I will call them
>
> again tomorrow morning and see if they will relocate it next to my
>
> neighbor's bedroom where it should be!
>
>
>
> --
Tony Hwang
What is the noise level? Bylaw must have permissible noise level. OP
happened to measure it with sound level meter? In the mean time ear
plugs may help you. Sounds like unfriendly neighbor.
Tony Hwang
she falls asleep B4 10:00PM, how about installing a timer to the heat pump?
Ben
side of his garage, and is very close to our fence line and our bedroom
windows. The humming/buzzing high and low noise that it puts off is really
irritating to listen to. It has caused a lot of lost sleep for our family,
and grief between the neighbor and us. He leaves it "on" and lets the
thermostat inside his house determine when it shuts off. It runs for hours
at a time.
He could have located the heat pump in the back of his house, but instead
decided to let us enjoy the noise from it.We have talked to him about it,
but he claims that we can't possibly hear it running. The noise it makes
is actually above the acceptable noise level for both day and night time
use, but so far we haven't been able to get anywhere with making him
relocate it or build a sound barrier around it. It is so frustrating to
have this problem with our neighbor. I am sorry that this is happening to
you, too.
--
No Body
> We have the same problem, Jane. Our neighbor's heat pump is located on the
> side of his garage, and is very close to our fence line and our bedroom
> windows. The humming/buzzing high and low noise that it puts off is really
> irritating to listen to. It has caused a lot of lost sleep for our family,
> and grief between the neighbor and us. He leaves it "on" and lets the
> thermostat inside his house determine when it shuts off. It runs for hours
> at a time.
he is probably "within his rights" to run it as he sees fit.
Did your neighbor get a building permit to install the unit? (If a permit
was required and not procured, some jurisdictions will require the unit
be removed.)
Was it inspected?
Are there "setback" limits to things installed on the property? Is it
too close to the side lot line? (Is an AC unit included in the things
you can't install within the setback? Sometimes it's just the permanant
structure of the house that can't extend past a given point.
> He could have located the heat pump in the back of his house, but instead
> decided to let us enjoy the noise from it.We have talked to him about it,
> but he claims that we can't possibly hear it running. The noise it makes
> is actually above the acceptable noise level for both day and night time
> use, but so far we haven't been able to get anywhere with making him
> relocate it or build a sound barrier around it. It is so frustrating to
> have this problem with our neighbor. I am sorry that this is happening to
> you, too.
noise" and not just "loud music etc"? If so, is he in violation of
that ordinance? (Where is the sound level measured in the ordiance,
and by what method? Is it a measureable standard or "subjective", such
as "can't be heard 200 feet away"?
Is "acceptable" your definition or a legal one?
Where he put the unit may have been decided by where the furnace is
and where the main breaker panel is. Copper tubing is run to the coil
installed in the furnace, and wiring is run to the breaker panel.
Can you put in a sound barrier on your side of the fence?
This is one of the "drawbacks" to living in densly populated areas..
unfortunately.
I guess the other option is to install AC of your own, and sleep with
the windows shut. :-)
A simple window fan can mask a lot of noise.
P.S. Be careful.. if you stir up the Community Association or the
building inspector.. and your own "house isn't in order" the "oh shit"
angel can be visited on you just as easily!
No Spam
disconnect and shut the unit off yourself. If the disconnect is a pull
out type, take the fuse holder with you. He won't find a replacement
in the middle of the night. Next, pull the main power from the entire
building. If he decides to stay up and watch the unit, wear a costume
and bring a can of mace with you.
NotMe
news:elurv9ppd5vk7l0hj...@4ax.com...
> <caedfaa9ed1216d60e...@example.com> wrote:
>
>>replying to Abigail Baker, Jane wrote:
>>> kuhlbaker wrote:
>>>
>>> Any suggestions as to what our options are to reduce noise????
>>> Thank you!!!!
>>
>>My next door neighbor installed a heat pump 6 feet from my bedroom and
Follow that advice and you could end up dead.
Scott Lurndal
just one that could get one arrested and charged.
pca...@casale.net
The reversing valve has a electrical coil that energizes for cooling.
The coil is loose fitting on the solenoid valve stem. have some one
put a TieWrap on the coil and around the valve pulling it onto the
valve tightly.
Or the 24v control tranformer is mounted in the condenser and is loose
on the mounting plate.
I have installed hundreds of systems and none keep up NEIGHBORS.
(unless its a York)
There are residential codes that determine where a unit can be
located.
Tony944
Jen
I would really like to discuss this w you. I am in vancouver Wa.
--
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