Concerned over ASHP noise for sensitive ears

BensonBooga

I have reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis and a new 60 home housing estate is being built, nearest house will be approx 35 metres away from my house. All 60 houses will be built with air source heat pumps due to the new government rules. I am terrified I am going to have a low frequency hum cutting through my ears, especially on cold nights. I am so sensitive to noise and my ears vibrate even when a diesel car is ticking over on idle outside the house. 

Does anyone know if 35 metres away is far enough to not hear them in the dead of night ? 60 decibels is loud when it is night time. I don't have double glazing either. I just hate the thought that after 4 years of construction work being then saddled with 60 fans all blasting 24/7. I don't want to move if I can help it. 

Any info appreciated. Thanks !

MultiFuelBurner

No louder than 60 fossil fuel boilers is probably the answer.

However now the better weather is here grab a folding chair, find a new estate local with heat pumps and sit 35 meters away if this affects you this much you may need to do your own personal tests.

Hoenir

Isn't the answer to install doube glazing? Beneficial in many ways. 

MultiFuelBurner

Hoenir said:

Isn't the answer to install doube glazing? Beneficial in many ways. 

Or triple glazing for those that are extra sensitive to noise?

QrizB

BensonBooga said:

Does anyone know if 35 metres away is far enough to not hear them in the dead of night ? 60 decibels is loud when it is night time.
Any info appreciated. Thanks !

@matt_drummer will be able to confirm, but I think the noise limit is 42dB at the property boundary.

See matt's post here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79991697/#Comment_79991697

MultiFuelBurner

The OP mentions night time and of course temperatures drop at night time and heat pumps work harder at lower temps (louder). As the years go by heat pumps do get noisier as well.

Still plumping for triple glazing. Cheaper than moving.

matt_drummer

QrizB said:

BensonBooga said:

Does anyone know if 35 metres away is far enough to not hear them in the dead of night ? 60 decibels is loud when it is night time.
Any info appreciated. Thanks !

@matt_drummer will be able to confirm, but I think the noise limit is 42dB at the property boundary.

See matt's post here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79991697/#Comment_79991697

Yes, it is 42dB within 1 metre of the window of a habitable room for permitted development under MCS rules.

More could be allowed with planning consent.

The noise quoted in manufacturers brochures are no real help, Daikin quote 62dB for many of their heat pumps but I know they cannot be the same. My 9kW heat pump was identical to the 16kW, the larger output is achieved by running the fan at twice the speed, otherwise they are identical but produce the same noise, it just isn't true.

My 8kW Daikin is also quoted at 62dB but is noticeably quieter than the 9kW one it replaced.

It is so quiet you would never know it was running.

People have been stood next to both of them and ask how noisy they are not realising they were actually running.



Anyway, not much the OP can do, the houses are being built and heat pumps installed.


Indoors, with windows closed at 35 metres away you will never heat them and even you did it won't be 60dB as that is how noisy they could be standing 1 metre away from one.

As the closest is 35 metres away then the rest will be much further.

Spoonie_Turtle

My first thought was an interim measure if needed might be earplugs / ear defenders / noise cancelling headphones (in order of utility).  I don't have hyperacusis and my tinnitus isn't particularly reactive but I am noise sensitive and noise can make me extra unwell.  So I do sympathise, and I can understand your concern.  Realistically those three solutions make my tinnitus much more noticeable due to reducing external sounds so it depends what your tolerance is for that kind of thing.  [I don't sleep with earplugs because they irritate my ear canals, but I can sleep fine with ear defenders or noise cancelling headphones.]

We have a heat pump but with double glazing the noisiest part of it for us is the internal circulation pump at night (keeping it defrosted, I think) so I've not noticed how noisy the external unit is at night when it's colder when we used to have it on 24/7 by default.  Our neighbour also has one, the other side of our hedge, but we're in a small village with no other heat pumps in the immediate vicinity and the motorway is noisier than anything else for us so our experience is only of very limited relevance to you.

In the longer term if you can upgrade your glazing you'll reap both sound and energy efficiency benefits.  Depending on your circumstances and whether you own the property and what condition it's in, it could be worth seeing if you can get any help towards it.  If not, heavy insulated curtains could help, and theoretically thick carpets with good underlay to reduce sound transmission from the ground through your house.  (Also good for reducing the energy required to keep your home warm.)

BensonBooga

Thanks everyone !

Spoonie_Turtle said:

We have a heat pump but with double glazing the noisiest part of it for us is the internal circulation pump at night (keeping it defrosted, I think) so I've not noticed how noisy the external unit is at night when it's colder when we used to have it on 24/7 by default.  Our neighbour also has one, the other side of our hedge, but we're in a small village with no other heat pumps in the immediate vicinity and the motorway is noisier than anything else for us so our experience is only of very limited relevance to you.

Thanks. Just curious, but when outside at night when very cold, have you ever gone in to your garden to hear how loud it is ? I am guessing it wouldn't be the natural thing to have done unless asked though, ha.  

Yes, I have a problem with covering my ears too with ear plugs and defenders, as I just hear my tinnitus massively. So it is a double edged sword. It is odd because I have slept with ear defenders before, as a last resort when the outdoor noise is louder than my tinnitus, but then when I remove the defenders my tinnitus is even louder for many hours, as it has to get re-used to external noise covering some of it up. So annoying all round. 

Spoonie_Turtle

BensonBooga said:

Thanks everyone !

Spoonie_Turtle said:

We have a heat pump but with double glazing the noisiest part of it for us is the internal circulation pump at night (keeping it defrosted, I think) so I've not noticed how noisy the external unit is at night when it's colder when we used to have it on 24/7 by default.  Our neighbour also has one, the other side of our hedge, but we're in a small village with no other heat pumps in the immediate vicinity and the motorway is noisier than anything else for us so our experience is only of very limited relevance to you.

Thanks. Just curious, but when outside at night when very cold, have you ever gone in to your garden to hear how loud it is ? I am guessing it wouldn't be the natural thing to have done unless asked though, ha.  

Yes, I have a problem with covering my ears too with ear plugs and defenders, as I just hear my tinnitus massively. So it is a double edged sword. It is odd because I have slept with ear defenders before, as a last resort when the outdoor noise is louder than my tinnitus, but then when I remove the defenders my tinnitus is even louder for many hours, as it has to get re-used to external noise covering some of it up. So annoying all round. 

We no longer have ours on at night.  Our neighbours' does run later than ours (probably 24/7 as the default setting, same installer as ours) and I have been out on cold nights to check on the hedgehog feeding station and not noticed anything untoward.  As in, I know the usual volume level ours and theirs may be of a chilly evening and I've not noticed anything louder than that at night.  But then the hedgies are supposed to hibernate in the coldest times (and since the summer I've not been well enough to go out to check the hedgehog food anyway), so I really can't think of any useful definitive experience to say, sorry.

That said, in the dead of night I have occasionally heard trains going along the line 5 miles away, in a rare motorway lull, and I haven't knowingly been disturbed by any heat pumps since we've had them (summer 2019 they were installed).

MultiFuelBurner

BensonBooga said:

Thanks everyone !

Spoonie_Turtle said:

We have a heat pump but with double glazing the noisiest part of it for us is the internal circulation pump at night (keeping it defrosted, I think) so I've not noticed how noisy the external unit is at night when it's colder when we used to have it on 24/7 by default.  Our neighbour also has one, the other side of our hedge, but we're in a small village with no other heat pumps in the immediate vicinity and the motorway is noisier than anything else for us so our experience is only of very limited relevance to you.

Thanks. Just curious, but when outside at night when very cold, have you ever gone in to your garden to hear how loud it is ? I am guessing it wouldn't be the natural thing to have done unless asked though, ha.  

Yes, I have a problem with covering my ears too with ear plugs and defenders, as I just hear my tinnitus massively. So it is a double edged sword. It is odd because I have slept with ear defenders before, as a last resort when the outdoor noise is louder than my tinnitus, but then when I remove the defenders my tinnitus is even louder for many hours, as it has to get re-used to external noise covering some of it up. So annoying all round. 

Ours is noticeably louder at night as the temp drops and then hits the zero degree mark this time of year. But then it is 9 years old but the bearings were passed as good at its last service.

Next doors bearings are going and that is twice as loud as ours but haven't done any readings from the 6-7m it is away from one end of the house.

I suspect if you are actively listening for noise you will find it.

Heat pump noise is more akin to white noise, if white noise sets off your issues then upgraded windows will be your cheapest option (cheaper than moving)

Just to balance one of the replies above we run our heat pump 24/7, not because we left it like that after install but because it's the most efficient way for our lifestyle. Just so you don't think after 60 installs none will run at night.

I do however wonder if a number of heat pumps from the same manufacturer making the same noise at the same frequency will create an unwanted side effect. One for the daily mail I expect.