Neighbour noisy air conditioner - condenser unit

Hello all.

We have lived in our present home for 12 months - our neighbours and their air con were here before us. We have a three bed house, and we are the first owners of this house that need to use all three bedrooms as bedrooms (the previous 2 owners had no children and 1 child respectively). Which probably explains why we are the first owners to complain.

The neighbours air con condenser unit (they have a split system) is located right outside our daughters bedroom (16 month old baby), ground mounted on their side wall - the distance between the front of the condenser unit and her window is 5 feet (1.6m). We find the noise level inside her bedroom to be entirely unsatisfactory. We have had issues with this unit since day 1, but we thought we would experience each season once before we decided what to do. We realised that they use their air con pretty much all of winter and all of summer. Council has a policy of requiring air con to be switched off at 10pm. As babies go to sleep at 6.30-7pm, this effectively means that she is exposed to the noise from the unit for 3-4 hours every night for 6 months. We find this appalling, and we wrote a letter to the neighbours expressing our concern, and indicated our desire to have the unit relocated to their rear wall. They wrote back and said they will only agree to turn off the unit at 10pm, which they have to do anyway (they used to turn it off at 11pm before our letter). We also included in our letter a quote to relocate the unit to the rear wall. We were prepared to pay half of the quote. Their letter also included a couple of "grievances" about our kitchen exhaust fan and trees.

We are thinking of increasing our offer to pay for the full cost of relocating their unit. If this does not work, then it's off to the council, and then the courts if required.

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts, similar experiences etc. that may be of assistance in this issue.

Thanks in advance.

There are laws about how close to the neighbours boundary you can put your aircon unit aren't there? Do these apply just to new installations or to existing?

Thanks for your reply.

There is a council control or law that says condenser units need to be 3m from the boundary, but I don't know if this law came in before or after they installed the unit.

Thanks.

Can you just double glaze your window to cut out the noise?

steal their gnomes!

Can I ask...does the noise bother your daughter or you more.

SuH

I don't really know whether it affects my daughter, but yes, I don't like the noise. My wife doesn't like the noise, and my seven year old son doesn't like the noise.

My issue is more that :
a. I don't know how this sort of noise affects babies long term
b. I don't want her to come to me when she can talk and tell me she can't sleep because of the noise.
c. We paid a premium to live in a quiet cul de sac to be able to enjoy piece and quiet, not to feel like we are living next to a corner milk bar.

Thanks.

double glaze?

"We find this appalling, and we wrote a letter to the neighbours expressing our concern, and indicated our desire to have the unit relocated to their rear wall."

I couldnt imagine writing a letter to one of my neighbours
dont you ever talk to them? why didnt you go and knock on the door and have a chat face to face? a letter is so impersonal IMO and not the best approach to take and it sounds like it didnt go down well. I think there are other ways to deal with it from your side first to see if you can improve things but youre already talking about legal action which I think is way too premature.

There are 5 reasons why double glazing is not an option.
1. Very expensive.
2. double glazing is not very effective against low frequency sounds.
3. The entire assembly facing the noise must be taken into consideration. No point in installing expensive double glazing into a house where there are gaps in ceiling, walls, roofs, eaves etc. A bit like turning on a heater full blast and then opening all the doors and windows.
4. It doesn't allow us to open hew window in summer if we want to.
5. And most important - if you read any of the literature and information on this topic it is very clear that the onus of responsibility ****** with the noise maker to ensure that they are not adversely affecting the amenity of others. It is not up to the victim to protect themselves from the noise. This is very clear.

Thanks

We do not find these particular neighbours very friendly - we have a good relationship with our other neighbours, and we have had good relationships with our neighbours from other houses in the past. These neighbours live behind a high wall with a locked gate that is not see through. We tried ringing their door bell in the past but received no answer, even though we could clearly see from our window that they were home. When my wife walks to the train station, she sometimes leaves at the same time as our neighbour, who always makes an effort to avoid her. Our other neighbours came to introduce themselves when we moved in. These neighbours did not. And all of this was before the air con issue. Nuff said.

and if they continue to comply with the local council regs how do you think your lot will improve?

This is hard to answer, as I don't know when some of the council controls were introduced. They certainly don't comply with the 3 meter rule, and their unit would certainly have a noise level higher than 5dba above the ambient noise level. It is also possible that the unit would be producing "offensive nose" under the POEO Act, which is the law in NSW.

If it's currently not affecting your childs sleep, surely they are used to it and it wont be a problem even when your child can talk. If the child is so young I would have thought more noise now would be more annoying to sleep than in a few years when they can re-settle themself

I'm not an expert but my experiences with my son would suggest otherwise. He spent the first few years of his life growing up on a busy street. Now he can't stand any noise in his room.

seen this?

Most councils will have a clear policy on the acceptable noise level. You need to:

1) Find out exactly what the acceptable aircon noise level is in your area
2) What action council can take if your neighbour's unit is too noisey
3) Ask council for the specifics on how the noise level should be measured so it can be an "official" reading.

If the level is too high then your neighbour will get fined / have to mount the unit on rubber / build an acoustic enclosure / acoutically treat the fence / relocate the unit

If the level is within acceptable limits then you'll need to look at treatments on your side: better fence / double glazing / acoustically treated walls

here's an example PDF from a council in QLD. It's a pretty standard document and most councils have a variation of this:
http://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/resources/953.pdf

Thanks CabinFever and Serge

I am aware of the various NSW departments and the various guidelines, controls etc. that exist. I've been doing a fair bit of research and talking to various people over the last 2 or 3 weeks.

Thanks

Sorry to jump right in here without introducing myself, but sitting in front of my computer at 1:00am looking for answers & came across this topic.
I can give some advice here, but as you will probably gather, It don't always work.
You should try & contact your neighbour, (council will encourage this) If they won't answer the door, then a note in the letter box.
I went through a couple of six packs with mine when we were still on talking terms & he still ran his air con 24/7.
Contact your local council, in NSW the rule for air cons is 10pm to 7am & 10 to 8 Sundays. That applies to all air cons, something they don't tell you when you buy one, but Council only deal with the noisy ones & most these days are not that noisy.
Council get their funding from a state government organisation called DECC (Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water)
they provide the funding to councils, you can download a PDF doc from there about noise problems, gives you a guide of who to contact. Don't bother with the police as it says, as their not interested. In our case, we share a common rear & dividing wall with our neighbour & the air con compressor is mounted on the wall at the rear, so we get vibration as well as noise & his compressor is situated right next to our bedroom (within 3 meters) Because next door has not had its final inspection, there is nothing council can do with regard to its location, the 3 meter rule has been around for ages & the distance is also dependent on the power output of the unit.
They will in most cases, either come & listen to the unit or in our case, set up a noise monitor in the area of the house most affected, like your bedroom, The recordings it makes are time & date stamped, so the know when its being used. If council come out, they will get the owner/renter to run the air con, insist that its run a maximum output. Ok, now there is a DB rating to what they consider loud, but (& this is where it gets interesting) the noise does not have to be at that DB rating, it only has to be intrusive. They will then issue a warning letter, then if it goes on, they will issue a noise abatement notice (28 days) If they continue after that, then initially they get hit with a $300 fine (& it goes up each time they don't comply). According to DECC, council has the option of making them move the compressor, sound proof it in some way or issue a notice that the air con not be used during the mentioned times (If non compliance continues). Interestingly none of these options ever mentioned by council.
Seems like a way out eh! well, here I am 2 years later & the guy still runs his air con ( & yes he has been fined, once). Every time he does not comply, I have to get a Stat Dec signed by a JP & send it in to council who basically do SFA, if the neighbour complies for a period of a few months, then the process starts all over again.
The air con this guy has is a large old rumbling type that you see mounted on the wall of offices or shops. I would not have a problem if it was not so damn loud & I don't have a problem with people wanting to stay cool or warm. We designed our place for passive cooling, don't work if you have to close windows & doors to block noise.

I think it's unrealistic to ask your neighbour to turn his aircon off early because your DD goes to bed at 6.30pm. He is well within his rights to run it until curfew. After then, deal with council.

The way you approached the "problem", i.e. attacked them, possibly has a lot to do with their response. They may have gotten on well with the old neighbours and are finding you the problem.

Sorry it's not what you want to hear.

Judie