Are Heat Pumps noisy?
Credit: Photo: Shutterstock; Graphic: Apartment Therapy
Some people say, “Heat pumps are noisy”!
Some wonderful advice below from Effie Evans, director of Octopus Energy’s heat pump business…
If a heat pump is functioning correctly it should be no louder than your fridge. Obviously this is a fridge sitting outside your house usually surrounded by the ground and a few walls which sounds can bounce off. So the sighting of an air source heat pump is important so that sounds don’t bounce into your neighbours patio area. Manufacturers measure sound levels in a metric called DBA, which is A-weighted decibel. DBA gives more value to the frequencies that a human ear can detect. 10DBA is like the Grand Canyon at night, no animal noises, no wind and no road noise. So very quiet and eerie. Your fridge will be about 40 DBA. A hairdryer about 90DBA and a chainsaw is going to be over 100DBA. So a correctly functioning heat pump should be operating about the 40DBA level similar to a fridge. If it needs to heat a lot of hot water that DBA rating will increase but often still quieter than may indoor household appliances. Generally speaking if a heat pump is fitted in the correct location externally and is functioning correctly then the noise should be negligible.
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