Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Sep 18, 2009 1:48 pm Next door neighbors built and installed 1 of those home vacuum cleaner systems. The thing is a pain in the backside. As well as being noisy it emits a sort of a low lvl vibration which goes through our whole house. Not real keen on telling him to quieten the thing down as they are just new, same as their house. I know this is a useless post, maybe i am not alone? Daryl Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 4Sep 20, 2009 11:52 pm I went to an inbuilt vacuum cleaner shop and listened to the model that was standard for the house I'm having built. It was very loud! After listening to other models, I paid a little extra to upgrade to a quieter and slightly stronger model. A muffler? The whole unit seemed to be transmitting the noise from the motor. I'm not sure that a muffler would help. Perhaps a quiet word might encourage the neighbours to be sensitive to when they use the unit. Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 7Sep 21, 2009 4:47 pm Are you talking about ducted vacuum systems...our unit is in the garage and it is so noisy, similar to a jet engine but we can't hear it much with the door shut. I might enquire about a silencer. Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 8Sep 21, 2009 5:18 pm In our old house our neighbours 2 houses up and across the road and the ducted vacuume system and it was VERY noisy, especially if they had the garage door up. This actually put me off getting one in our house ... it really did sound like a jet engine. I am going the 2 vacuume cleaner option .. one left permanently upstairs and one for downstairs. I sympathise with you, hopefully your neighbours will realise how noisy it is and perhaps vacuume at reasonable hours. I think because the main motor is usually in garages the noise carries as it only has the thin garage door to buffer it. It's probably a lot quieter in the house for the person using the system and they are probably totally unaware ... If there is a muffler for one, what a great idea. Good luck.. Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 9Sep 21, 2009 5:22 pm Daryl Next door neighbors built and installed 1 of those home vacuum cleaner systems. The thing is a pain in the backside. As well as being noisy it emits a sort of a low lvl vibration which goes through our whole house. Not real keen on telling him to quieten the thing down as they are just new, same as their house. I know this is a useless post, maybe i am not alone? Daryl Maybe you could mention, in conversation, to your neighbour that YOU were considering a vacuum system but have realised that you don't think YOUR family would like the noise it would make in your house...maybe they will get the hint. www.themaxbuild.blogspot.com forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20717&start=300 www.leahspaperpassion.blogspot.com Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 10Sep 22, 2009 12:04 am Do what I did - go to a ducted vacuum cleaner show room and listen to the cleaners running. There was an appreciable difference between the softest and the loudest. You can also look at the specifications as the noise level is listed on them. Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 11Sep 22, 2009 12:34 pm borg hey guys, mufflers (or silencers) as they are known do exist and do offer some relief. Hmmm. I just found the product brochure for the system that Henley uses. The standard unit (Monarch 490) emits 75 dB at 3 meters and with the muffler kit this reduces to 73 dB. Now, bear in mind that a 3 dB is a barely discernible difference in sound level, paying for a 2 dB reduction is a total waste of money. I upgraded to a Monarch 550, which emits 61 dB at 3 meters. Now a 10 dB reduction is perceived as a halving in sound level, so this is really worthwhile. So, don't waste your money with a muffler kit, change to a quieter model. For the neighbour, some systems are designated to be installed internally, I suspect because of the sound level rather than any waterproofing issues. At this stage, soundproofing by enclosing with brick might be the way to improve the situation. Mounting the system so that a wall doesn't act as a giant soundboard might be helpful as well. Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 12Sep 22, 2009 12:41 pm Fiffaro borg hey guys, mufflers (or silencers) as they are known do exist and do offer some relief. Hmmm. I just found the product brochure for the system that Henley uses. The standard unit (Monarch 490) emits 75 dB at 3 meters and with the muffler kit this reduces to 73 dB. Now, bear in mind that a 3 dB is a barely discernible difference in sound level, paying for a 2 dB reduction is a total waste of money. I upgraded to a Monarch 550, which emits 61 dB at 3 meters. Now a 10 dB reduction is perceived as a halving in sound level, so this is really worthwhile. So, don't waste your money with a muffler kit, change to a quieter model. For the neighbour, some systems are designated to be installed internally, I suspect because of the sound level rather than any waterproofing issues. At this stage, soundproofing by enclosing with brick might be the way to improve the situation. Mounting the system so that a wall doesn't act as a giant soundboard might be helpful as well. mufflers only cost 20 bucks. Also 3dB is for a half power reduction. So if it were to reduce it by 3dB you will reduce the Noise/power by half. But yes it would still be loud at 73dB. Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 13Sep 22, 2009 12:45 pm jaelee In our old house our neighbours 2 houses up and across the road and the ducted vacuume system and it was VERY noisy, especially if they had the garage door up. This actually put me off getting one in our house ... it really did sound like a jet engine. I am going the 2 vacuume cleaner option .. one left permanently upstairs and one for downstairs. I sympathise with you, hopefully your neighbours will realise how noisy it is and perhaps vacuume at reasonable hours. I think because the main motor is usually in garages the noise carries as it only has the thin garage door to buffer it. It's probably a lot quieter in the house for the person using the system and they are probably totally unaware ... If there is a muffler for one, what a great idea. Good luck.. Interestingly, many vacuum cleaners are rather loud, typically up to around 73 dB. If you search them out, quieter ones can be found, but the quietest in the most recent Choice review, the Bosch Formula Pro Silence, at 62 dB, is still louder than the Monarch inbuilt series - and that is at 3 metres distance, the garage walls will further reduce that! Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 14Sep 22, 2009 12:57 pm borg Also 3dB is for a half power reduction. So if it were to reduce it by 3dB you will reduce the Noise/power by half. But yes it would still be loud at 73dB. A 3 dB reduction is a halving in power, but as our ears are not linear, it is perceived as a barely discernible difference. Some people don't notice differences until about 5 dB. For independent verification that I'm correct see any number of web sites such as: http://www.acousticsbydesign.com/acoust ... eality.htm or look at http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-levelchange.htm where you can use their calculators to see that 10 dB equates to a perception of doubling or halving of sound level. (Although the real situation is more complex, and hence more interesting than this, as a yardstick, it is worth having.) For a number of years I was a researcher at the Bionic Ear Institute - I'd be very surprised if I didn't understand something as basic as this! Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 15Sep 22, 2009 1:02 pm yes i agree that 3db reduction isnt much. But still better than nothing for 20buck. It also depends on where you are in relation to the noise. just because the measurements are done at 3m away the truth is the listener may actually be between 20 and 50 meters away. Also if the muffler changes the frequency of the sound/noise than this can yield a different result. As lower frequencies travell further than higher frequencies. I can go on. The moral of the story is for 20bucks you cant go wrong. Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 16Sep 22, 2009 1:31 pm borg yes i agree that 3db reduction isnt much. But still better than nothing for 20buck. It also depends on where you are in relation to the noise. just because the measurements are done at 3m away the truth is the listener may actually be between 20 and 50 meters away. Also if the muffler changes the frequency of the sound/noise than this can yield a different result. As lower frequencies travell further than higher frequencies. I can go on. The moral of the story is for 20bucks you cant go wrong. The moral of the story is that you'll do your 20 bucks if the result is not perceivable. (Remember, a 3 dB difference is necessary before people are able to reliably tell that there is a difference at all, with some people, and for some frequencies and SPLs more difference being required.) Mufflers don't change frequencies, although some mufflers might change the noise level at different frequencies. In this case, specific mention is made of low frequency noise, for which a plastic muffler of the size that is pictured in the brochure I have will be totally useless. Only dense, heavy objects will reduce low frequency noise levels. Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 17Sep 22, 2009 1:53 pm The Air Conditioner we have at the current rental has 65 dBA on it and it's pretty quite, the new Daikin one we are getting is 67 dBA, if our ducted Vacuum is only a bit more than that and it's in the garage I would imagine we wouldn't even hear it!
Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 18Sep 22, 2009 1:54 pm Forgetting all this talk. I bought one for 20bucks and it made a noticeable improvement. The noise went from a annoying sound to something that was much easier on the ear. Still a bit loud but much better. For those people at home- what the muffler does in this case is slow down the airflow by using an attenuator. Usually just a foam substraight. Really simple and cheap with some effect, but dont expect miracles. I guess the performance change will be different on different models. For those you are that are true engineers you will no that energy can never be distruyed rather only changed to another form of energy. In this case there are too many factors and varibles to consider. As the improvement will have a different effect at difference distances. Also you are correct with the muffler not changing frequcies. However from my expereince it just sounds like that. As the noise sound is different. Also usually the high end vacuums come in the box with a muffler. That is usually how they get the better reading. Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 19Sep 22, 2009 3:33 pm borg Also usually the high end vacuums come in the box with a muffler. That is usually how they get the better reading. Sorry, no. The vacuum I'm buying does not come with a muffler, instead, there are differences in the basic design that produces a much quieter machine. No simple, cheap add on will make up for a noisy design. This goes back to what I said earlier, having actually gone to a shop with the various cleaners set up and listened to them and talked to the staff and looked at the manufacturer's own specification. PS If the airflow is slowed, what effect does this have on the strength of the suction? Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Noisy inbuilt vacuum system. 20Sep 22, 2009 3:43 pm Fiffaro, I understand where you are coming from, but bottom line is, I don't know what decibal my vacuume cleaner is (dyson upgright), but do know that it is certainly not as noisy to my neighbours when in use as compared to a ducted vacuume system like my old neighbours had, especially if they had the garage door open.
I never complained, it's their choice and the noise is only there for as long as it takes to vacuum.. but it did sway my own decision to not have one installed in our new house due to the noise level affecting others. Suggestion to original poster is maybe just put up with it and perhaps mention the noise levels to the neighbour when the opportunity arises, could even bring in to the conversation about the mufflers. Generally speaking most people only vacuume once or twice a week and for not that long a time. If they were to do it at odd hours, or it wakes a sleeping child definately say something straight away. But it's not worth getting off on the wrong foot with them, get to know them first. They may not even realise the noise level carries across to you. As said above, we never complained to our neighbours, they were a lovely couple and we had a great neighbourly relationship. I am sure my screaming at 4 kids all day would be just as annoying to them as their vacuume system was to us (I had to shout louder to be heard over the vacuume system ) I wish you luck ... just think it could be worse, they could be a bikie gang with their revved up bikes .... 18 74731 Hi, I have a double and whenever the wind picks up I can hear alot of banging in certain areas of the house. I've had a look round and can't see any obvious issue but… 0 8930 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Thanks Chippy . Did also see a YouTube video before. Removed them . Thanks again for the advice. 2 11122 |