New Home Noise problems
 

Has anyone had a low volume, oscillating HUM in their house (new or old). I do and it's been identified as being caused by the AC unit's compressor (neighbor & mine) sending a vibration through the ground and being picked up by the house structure. So far they have only added rubber bushings to the AC units bolts connected to the concrete pad-- helped some but seems to me that this house picks up vibration too easily due to metal in house structure/ceilings (studs/ceiling strips). Any experience & comments? tks

No. Not in either house here. One was frame, this one is block stucco. The homes are close together and some people have good hearing.

Most good hearing disappears over time.

OP, One possibility might be that your homes happen to resonate at the same frequency as the A/C compressor. I do not know of any simple fixes if this is the problem. You might be able to test this theory with suitable equipment. For example a sub-woofer, amplifier, and signal generator could provide a variable frequency source, and a calibrated microphone would provide the level of the sound. Then sweeping the frequency range would show if there were any peaks (room resonance).
It just occurred to me that rugs might help, but if the walls or ceilings are resonating, then solutions become much more difficult, as you would need to somehow stiffen the wall or ceiling.
One other thought, a 'sound proof' or sound reducing fence or similar around the A/C unit.

Hope this helps, send me a PM with your phone # if you would like to discuss further.

It may have something to do with the hurricane code??? The construction of our house was delayed a bit due to something to do with the hurricane code.

I thought I knew everything, but I don't have a clue with your problem. Maybe if I have a few more beers, I'll figure it out.

I have had something similar in a previous home with a Carrier Heatpump. It only occurred in heating mode with the compressor in low-speed (it had a two-speed compressor) and was best described as a "hum". The system had a fairly long lineset (about 75' IIRC) and I suspected the issue was that the lineset was effectively tuned to the frequency of the compressor. The Contractor had a similar theory and increased the lineset by a few feet (brazed a short piece to the liquid line) and it markedly reduced but did not totally eliminate the problem. The neighbors house was not part of the problem.

If it's humming, it's probably because it doesn't know the words! :-)

Sympathetic vibration from some source?

Very possible your home is located in a small vortex. Bring some crystals into your home.

Google The Taos Hum.

Thought that our 4 year old TV home and 1 year old car was making continual higher pitched buzzing sounds.

Finally determined that it was Tinnitus...

My husband complains of the same thing. For years now he'll say, "Do you hear that hum?" He only hears it in one room. I don't hear it but then I don't hear rain falling either, unless it's a downpour.

When I read your post the first thing that came to mind was the Taos Hum. Hearing is as individual as the person. We all have deficiencies in certain frequency ranges and the opposite is true, we have greater sensitivity in various frequency ranges. Two people in your home may not, or will probably not, hear the same noises.

What is the Taos Hum?

Hmmm. interesting


What’s the Mysterious Hum Driving People Crazy Around the World? – TheBlaze

Update: recently the Lanai fans are causing a noise in the Lanai ceiling. People climbed into attic and discovered that the thin metal strips in the ceiling were not attached to the sheet rock, causing them to vibrate; fans checked and are fine. Seems these metal strips and the metal studs may also be the cause of the resonant Hum from the AC units-- hoping so.

Since I'm practically deaf I would not have that problem.

We had the same problem when we moved into our home in 2009. The noise was coming from the neighbors heat pump, was getting into the structure of the house and was loud enough in our bedroom that we could not sleep. We complained to warranty and the heat pump installer for the neighbors house came and put rubber bumpers under the compressor. That helped a lot. We also planted a row if bushes between the houses to act as a barrier. Not sure that the bushes helped. I think we also just got used to the noise. It does not bother us anymore. I checked into putting foam insulation in the interior walls and could not find anyone locally to do that.

Thanks. Yours sounds similar to mine. I think there is more metal in the houses today to resonate with compressors. FYI hearing that a thick rubber horse mat can be installed under the ac unit to tamper even better. Ear plugs can also help

I suspect your theory is correct. I'm hearing the same type of low constant hum at nite in the bedroom. It only started when the heat came on this past week.

Interesting; how old is your home? There are things that can be done to minimize the vibration sources but I'm trying to get the house fixed also. Appears some construction mistakes occurred with our house.

Is your house under warranty? What construction mistakes do you think have occurred other than your theory of metal humming? I would be very surprised if warranty wasn't helpful.

A little over one year.

We have an electrical distribution box near our house. It can be heard, but, so far has not caused an vibration.....our house is block stucco.

for three years now
 

The neighbors unit makes that noise now, not the first two years we lived here, but the last three years. She took my recommendation and had a Munns tech. come out and check it out, and the tech told me her unit is working fine, and the noise is normal. He said that all the the homes heat pumps make that noise. Non of my other neighbors have that problem though, and mine does not do that. The tech said that I will have to live with the noise. I have never in my 60 years heard that noise from any heat pump, no matter how cold it was.

The Munns tech lied.


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I have noticed a low frequency noise in the house during the recent cold spell, have not noticed it since the weather warmed up. I am GUESSING when the heat pump goes into heating mode there maybe a resonant noise frequency. In any case, this is the first time I recall hearing any low frequency noise over the last 4 winters.

It is the ac comp. . Munns changed ours and it was cured. Had a hard time convincing them but after three trips all was well

We have it at our house as well. I'm sure it is the air conditioner belonging to our next door neighbor. I got some good ear plugs.

I had that problem just last week...the A/C tech from SunKool tracked down the humming to the condenser lines that run up the outside wall of the house in a chase that looks like an aluminum downspout to the air handler in the attic. He moved the lines a little bit and solved the problem.