Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Mar 28, 2013 12:34 am We bought a Schweigen 90cm Isodrive 1600mm undermounted rangehood about 9 monthes ago and only installed 3 months ago as we are very slowly for the new house.The motor was installed as wall mounted and all installation carried by a licensed electrican. As soon as we started using this rangehood, our neighbour complained for the noise level of this rangehood. Finally the council involved and sent us a letter and notice. The rangehood was requested to immediately remove as it does not comply with local council requirements and Australian Standard.We also got a big fine about this. We tried to find a solution with Harvey Norman(where we bought the rangehood) and Schweigen Appliances to either exchange or refund. After many many phone calls, we have been told there must be a problem with our installation. They don't take any responsibility if the rangehood was not installed by their recommended installer. Then, we required their recommended installer to check it and he said there was nothing wrong for installation. This motor was extremely noisy and loud. The only thing he can do is to relocate the motor 2 to 3 meters higher and he quoted us $1600 for this a couple hours job. However, our neighbour are refused as the rangehood still face to their bedroom. Harvey Norman and Schweigen all refused to do anything and very very bad service. We have stopped using this rangehood for two months now and tried to find a solution. Our neighbour has instructed their solicitor to take this matter to Court seeking legal remedy and damages against us. It was a nightmare to choose this rangehood. Re: Schweigen rangehood 2Mar 28, 2013 9:59 am Sounds to me like the real nightmare is your neighbour. Do they occupy their bedroom all day? Do you run your rangehood when they are sleeeping? They want damages for what? We have a Schweigen rangehhod, 1600 isodrive, in our alfresco and yes while you can hear it when you're outside it's no noisier than an air conditioner. Sounds to me like your neighbours need to get a life. Re: Schweigen rangehood 3Mar 28, 2013 11:01 am the neighbours from hell. I feel for you. because we are happy with our neighbours that's why will never move unless something 'unpleasant' happens in the neighbourhood. I would prefer to live in a prettier neighbourhood but the risk to have a neighbour like yours is too high. Re: Schweigen rangehood 4Mar 28, 2013 11:25 am Hi skbsydney, I'm surprised that your council upheld their complaint. Does that mean I can complain about the noise of all the airconditioners we are surrounded by that make a hell of a racket at night-time when we are trying to sleep! What about lawnmowers, building noise from the lots behind us, parties? Can't you make noise between certain hours? Have you seen a lawyer about this? I wouldn't have thought raising the motor higher would make any difference though; doesn't the schweigen make less noise inside the house precisely because the motor is higher up than other models? Raising the motor would just increase the noise level outside. Good luck with this. Re: Schweigen rangehood 6Mar 28, 2013 11:39 am Liliana doesn't the schweigen make less noise inside the house precisely because the motor is higher up than other models? No, they make less noise than other rangehoods because the motor is external to the kitchen, so all the noise is outside. Re: Schweigen rangehood 8Mar 28, 2013 12:05 pm I do find the isodrive really noisy. The first time I turned it on, I was shocked by how loud it was, it sounds like hearing jet engine from distance. Lucky me I'm in a corner lot, the isodrive is facing the lane way and neighbour's garage, no complaint so far. As for the neighbour's complaint, unless you do cooking at mid night, can't see how that effects them, and the council's action puzzled me. All my neighbour's evaporative coolings make a much louder noise, on a hot day, my street sounds like a busy airport. Built: Modified H3nl3y S0h0 Q1 in Melbourne :- Never again Re: Schweigen rangehood 9Mar 28, 2013 12:13 pm Liliana Well precisely. So moving the motor up is not going to make any difference to the noise level outside. Yes it will because it's at ear level now, moving it up higher will decrease the ear level dB. Re: Schweigen rangehood 10Apr 04, 2013 6:20 pm The neighbour is from hell and they complaint with everything. However, the isodrive motor is really noisy. We haven't used much of this rangehood as we have another outside kitchen. We are still required to remove as it may cause noise later on. I don't think this makes a louder noise than air condistioning. however, the council said I can not compare the rangehood and air conditioning, council allowed air conditioning make noise but not rangehood. It sounds a little bit funny. Re: Schweigen rangehood 11Apr 20, 2013 12:31 am IANAL ..................... But IMHO, if the "Approved Schweigen installer" is prepared to put his signature to the fact that your unit is correctly installed, then you might have a good argument with Harvey Norman that the unit as sold is not fit for the job it is supposed to do. If you weren't warned about the excessive noise by HN the odds in your favour increase If you told the HN sales dude how and where you planned to install it then the product is DEFIANTLY not fit for purpose and you ARE ENTITLED to a refund. Note that with Australian Consumer Protection Law, your issues lie with HN and NOT Schweigen, and help / advice / assistance Schweigen give you is only as a courtesy on their part. P_D . Block settled 07 June 2011 Our little piece of the Interwebs on HomeOne....... viewtopic.php?f=31&t=48577&start=0 Re: Schweigen rangehood 12Apr 20, 2013 1:01 am But what noise level constitutes excessive noise for a rangehood? I would think this differs depending on the local council. I think there is an argument with council decision if noise levels are below air conditioning requirements. Any existing noise level requirements for rangehood which I doubt even exist are not valid as typically the motors are installed internal to the house so comparing to an air con is the next logical thing to do. You should also point out that unlike an air con, the rangehood is not on for an extended period of time. Skbsydney - I am curious if neighbours complained even if fan was on lowest level? Was there an acoustic engineer who measured actual sound levels at each fan level? And when you say the Schweigen product does not meet Aus standards what standards are you referring to? Re: Schweigen rangehood 13Apr 20, 2013 6:18 pm I very much doubt that a rangehood manufactured in Oz doesn't meet Oz standards. What was the fine for? I'm fairly sure the council wouldn't fine you for a noisy rangehood. You can hear ours next door when it's on but it's no louder than an air conditioner and if the council fines you for having a noisy rangehood then they should fine anyone running their air con. You need to fight this - fair chance the neighbour has got in some councillours ear. Re: Schweigen rangehood 14May 23, 2013 3:30 pm I agree with most others on here. There is no way the rangehoods would be available for sale in Australia an Harvey Norman if they didn't meet standards. The isodrive motor on out undermount is no louder than an air conditioner, so it's definitely a case of "neighbours from hell". Good luck with it all, hope you can win one over those neighbours of yours! Re: Schweigen rangehood 15Jun 03, 2013 10:02 pm Thank you so much skbsydney for starting this topic. We always wanted a quiet rangehood and in our new house were going to install Schwaigen. I read so many forums and reviews for the last 2 years so Shweighen was on top of our list as a result of my research. And then I found your post, actually same day we were going to Harvey Norman to put an order on Schweigen. Harvey Norman had 1 unit in stock and we asked to unpack and plug-in the exterior isodrive motor into power socket to listen to it. The salesman was very surprised (it's a german motor, very quiet blah-blah-blah) but agreed to demonstrate the system to us. VERY GLAD we did. We went to HN warehouse where they unpacked the unit and pluged it in. It WAS NOISY, very noisy, we were shocked, salesman was shocked as well, everyone in a small warehouse room was shocked too. Nobody expected that much noise from such a relatively small unit and from famous "quiet" Schwaigen. "jet engine from distance" is the precise and correct description of what we heard. It was MUCH noisier than average split-system AC outside unit It was even noisier than our already noisy "Actron ESP+" ducted AC outside unit. There was no way we were going to install this on our roof, no matter how quiet it's inside - the level of outside noise is unacceptable to us and I would completely understand my neighbours if they complain. So we went Bosch instead and very happy we did. Yes it's not that efficient, yes it's not as quiet inside, but still good enough and zero potential problems with the neighbours. Thanks again skbsydney you shared your experience, I feel really sorry for your situation. I recommend everyone who considers Shweigen go and try to listen to it first (exterior motor), then make an informed decision. Personally I would consider Schweigen only on a rural block of land with no neighbours around, or in a very busy suburb where it's already very noisy 24/7. Re: Schweigen rangehood 16Jun 07, 2013 7:51 pm Sounds about right, funny thing, I'm planning on running an external motor for my range hood, except that I'll be running it with exhaust ducting (where most of your noise comes from) and will be running a variable speed motor locked so it does not go any louder than the aircon, if I need more power I'll just install a pair. Slooowwwwly getting a Manhatten 35 in Middleton Grange Re: Schweigen rangehood 17Jun 11, 2013 10:39 am Nika25 It WAS NOISY, very noisy, we were shocked, salesman was shocked as well, everyone in a small warehouse room was shocked too. Nobody expected that much noise from such a relatively small unit and from famous "quiet" Schwaigen. "jet engine from distance" is the precise and correct description of what we heard. I have the Schweigen Isodrive 650 motor for my 90cm UM1170 Undermount Rangehood and I have to disagree. Maybe you heard the Isodrive 1600 motor, which I don't know too much about, however the 650 motor is not loud at all as how you describe. When it is on it can't be heard from our backyard etc at all. It is the same as if not less noisier than an AC unit. The 1600 motor is a very very powerful motor and I wouldn't be too surprised if this is loud as it claims to have 1600m3/h suction! Only if you're a chef or round the clock cook would you need this motor. Also, you say you turned it on in a "small warehouse room"? The sound acoustic in there would have affected the noise greatly as well. I am sure it would sound much less subtle when you install it outside on a roof where there is ambient outside noise? Not a good idea to test sound inside a small warehouse room when it will be installed outside. I am very happy with my rangehood and the Isodrive motor. Powerful and very quiet in my kitchen! Re: Schweigen rangehood 18Jun 11, 2013 10:44 am What are schweigen's quoted db's at what meter for the motors? keep in mind that high frequencies are VERY directional, so if someone has their motor exit pointing up into the sky with no surfaces near the exit to bounce it back down it will be multitudes quieter than someone with it pointing up to the eve's for example where it will bounce off both the side of the house(hard brick) and the eve's (fibre cement) you're best bet would be to essentially use carpet or something to form a muffler for the exhaust of it (as mentioned in previous post) if I HAD to have mine outside I'd probably duct it up and into the roof space so I could then muffle it adequately. Slooowwwwly getting a Manhatten 35 in Middleton Grange Re: Schweigen rangehood 19Sep 23, 2019 1:54 pm rhysn I agree with most others on here. There is no way the rangehoods would be available for sale in Australia an Harvey Norman if they didn't meet standards. The isodrive motor on out undermount is no louder than an air conditioner, so it's definitely a case of "neighbours from hell". Good luck with it all, hope you can win one over those neighbours of yours! I live next door to a over 45s retirement village and have three townhouses on my boundary - all with air conditioning units. My neighbours on the other side installed an external Schweigen motor several years ago and I can assure you it is much, much louder than the air conditioning units. To be fair it was incorrectly installed, with no ducting on the wall, and is one of the bigger motors. But the noise was like a jet engine and made it impossible to spend time outside, which had been our sanctuary. I assume people considering installing a rangehood with an external motor are doing so because a) they don't like the rangehood noise and b) they don't like the cooking smells. The question is why is it ok to impose your kitchen smell and noise on your neighbours? Charcoal filters and other technology that captures the pollution on your property is a a much better option. And by the way, they they don't sell Schweigen motors in Germany. Re: Schweigen rangehood 20Sep 23, 2019 2:01 pm yep, don't disagree we specifically created a space next to our neighbours garage and toilets for anything like aircon and exhaust fans.. if you care about your neighbours you think about where what you buy and where it's placed Slooowwwwly getting a Manhatten 35 in Middleton Grange |