[Tumbush]

We recently moved into a new Iris. We are having a problem with noise from the house next door's heat pump/air conditioner compressor getting into our house. We contacted the warranty department and they were going to contact the builder of the house next door but so far nothing has happened. Has anyone else have this problem and if so what were the solutions if any ?

[dfn8tly]

Have you talked with your next door neighbors? If they contact the Warranty Service Dept. they will get a lot more attention than you will. Especially if they tell them complaints, albeit friendly, are coming in from their neighbors.

[otherbruddaDarrell]

We had the same problem and my neighbor had the company that installed his replacement heat pump come out.
The unit had slid off its pad a little and was making noise......moved it back
and it is fine now.
My neighbor came to me first and asked if I thought it was louder then normal before calling the company because he could hear it in his home.

[ricthemic]

The outside portion of the AC system is the condensing unit. It has two mechanical components that make noise, the compressor and the condenser fan/motor (during heat pump mode this becomes the evaporator). Is your neighbor condensing unit located outside on the opposite side of their master bedroom but on the same side as your master bedroom? This is common practice but with the lots smaller down here it sometimes becomes a problem for the neighbor. I notice in my village neighborhood they switched house layouts left and right frequently but eventually someone ends up with a neighbors condensing unit close to their own master suite. I am sure the developer reverses the front for ascetics but perhaps also for the AC location. Many manufacturers offer insulated compressor jackets that cut down the noise, typically they come with the unit. The condenser fan/motor should not be a problem unless the fan or motor bearing are defective or if they are running their system while your windows are open.
Question:
Are all the new houses coming through with heat pump components on the AC systems? Do they also have electric resistance heat coils too?

[Tumbush]

I don't think that the compressor is the problem. There is another house in our neigborhood that has the same problem, but other houses of the same or similar design do not have the problem. The noise seems to come from the celing so it seems that the compressor noise is getting into the attic and then into the house. The loudest place in the house is above the kitchen table which is on the other side of the house from the neigbor's compressor. I am going to ask the warranty department to contact our builder to have our builder check to see if maybe insulation is missing in the attic or there is some other problem.

[graciegirl]

I have been sleeping on the couch for the last six weeks taking care of our daughter who is convalescing from a broken leg and the couch is near the windows that abut the neighbors new compressor/heat pump/jet engine. Wow. It is REALLY loud. The old one didn't make that much noise. I feel for you if your permanent bed is close to a noise like that. At least I will get to move away from it. I think some air conditioners make a lot of noise. I can hear our neighbors in TV but only when I am in the bath.

[skip0358]

We only hear our neighbors in our master bath. Since it's only about 15' away I guess it's to be expected. I've noticed lately that several units in the area aren't really being leveled and that can create a problem. Hope there's a happy ending for you.

[Army Guy]

What type construction is your house? At TV our CYV is the poured concrete and we can not hear a thing from anywhere. In Alabama our house is wood frame vinyl siding and we hear our outside compressor in our Kitchen, which is the wall outside it is against.

Army Guy

[Tumbush]

The house is block and stucco. Our previous house in The Villages was frame with vinyl siding and our air conditioner and the neighbor's air conditioner was directly outside our bedroom and we could hear neither.

[Army Guy]

ok, then yes something definitely wrong. You should not be hearing it.

Army Guy

[ricthemic]

The loudest place in the house is above the kitchen table... quote from tumbush.

I assume you only hear this noise when the supply fan in your air handler is on.

Is your return air grille (2 ft X 2 ft approx) located in your ceiling near the kitchen or low on a wall? Also is your air handler in the garage?

If your primary return air grille is in the ceiling the sound could be emanating from your air handler. if this is the case you would also hear the noise right at your air handler, if in garage you wd have to be near it. If there is no abnormal sound from the air handler/supply fan then maybe you have a few supply diffussers or volume dampers installed improperly that are vibrating when the fan is on.
Still curious, are the newer house's HVAC systems installed with heat pump capability?

[Tumbush]

The problem is coming from the heat pump from the house next door, not ours. When our air handler is on, the noise is actually diminished a little and is less objectionable.

Our air handler is in the garage. In the model (Iris) that we have the kitchen, great room and dining room is one big room and the return air grille is in the ceiling about 25 feet from the kitchen table. Under that return air grille is one of the least noisy places in the house.

I don't know about all areas, but everthing new that we saw for sale in Bonita was all electric with heat pumps.

I crawled up into the attic today to look at the insulation depth. We are supposed to have 11 3/4 inches of fiberglass. In some places there is more than 11 3/4 inches and in a few places only two or three inches and in a few small areas no insulation at all. There are also a few vertical walls in the attic where there is no insulation or fiberglass bats that have pulled away. So maybe the problem is lack of insulation since from what I am reading fiberglass insulation is supposed to be a pretty good sound barrier.

[Tumbush]

I think that our compressor noise problem is solved. The heat pump installer came out today and installed four rubber pads between the heat pump and the pad. That seemed to solve the problem.