Air Conditioning - Noise Reduction ?

We have a great system - Daikin - whole house.

BUT ... condenser is located near a bedroom (used by visitors - which is not all bad ... ). It can make some noise starting up - nothing bad - but as its on the wall near the window you can hear it and it can wake you up if started early morning (by me).

Is there a way to cut the sound ? Like a muffler type device ?

Its not bad - but when everything is dead quiet you can hear it kick in.

Open to ideas.

I must say the Air/con is very good and does the whole house well.

I have exactly the same issue. I was going to experiment with build a nib wall to deflect some of the sound away from the window. thats all I cant think of.

You can buy commercial sound blankets that wrap around the compressor itself.

Can't remember any brand names but they weren't too hard to find last time I googled it.

this sounds dangerous. Are you saying they still allow airflow but block noise?

They are commercial products. They wrap around the compressor itself, not the case. No airflow involved.

I would be surprised if something from one of the big name brands does not come pre-wrapped in blanket.

As it appears this system isn't an inverter style system, the noise at start up is the compressor getting a kick in the guts to start when started DOL. It may be an option to retrofit a soft starter in place of the compressor relay to allow the compressor to ramp up gently to run speed rather than starting DOL. Please be aware that this option will require an electrician to fit and modify and you should also check with the manufacturer if the compressor in the system can be started with a soft starter without any issues.


hth

I think its just something I'll have to live with ... or the guests will ...

Which system have you got Mike.

I'm also getting a Daiken non inverter model.

Hi CK - its a Daikin Super Inverter - about 18 or so KWS I think. Does the whole house well.

Nice. Yeah I think mine will be about that

Yep - does a great job - except for the momentary noise. I was told that it is in them all. We are in a very quiet spot so that initial noise probably sounds greater than it is - when you are asleep ...

Also - had mine put on the "steps" and connected to downpipe for water. They'd initially just left it so water came out the bottom and sat against the house. And on the "slab" - which didn't really have a slope. I spoke to the Daikin bloke and he went right off - just said it was lazy not to do it properly - which he did at no expense to me.

You need it on the "steps" so as the water pipe can be fitted I think.

But - it does a great job.

My brivis 18 kw unit has been noisy for 8 years also next to a window, i noticed when it was installed they only mounted 3 of the feet on rubber blocks it has 6 to the wall bracket so it would vibrate through the wall. So today after 8 years of meaning to fix it i installed 6 rubber blocks under each mount and 6 on top of each mount so there is no contact between ac unit mounting bolts and bracket.. And now it is super quiet even the noise from outside next to unit is alot better as its not contacting any hard surface therefore all the sound is getting dampened through the mounts. check your units mounting as this may help i used 12 car shock absorber rubbers in the mounts as they are cheap and the correct size.

Regards Dean

Great advice.

Do remember too that on older units the rubber can degrade so changing it is not going to hurt.

Also depending if you live near creeks or bushland be careful of rats, they will eat that rubber up.

We found this out when we started our fire pump only to find water gushing out of the hose.

Hi Kassen1973 what you have done sounds a bit genius. Did you have a photo so I can see clearly what you done. I have an aircond near a bedroom window too,and I think I get two types of noise. One I can hear if I put my ear on the wall. I suspect this is due to the entry into the brick work isnt sealed good and the second one is coming through the window. If I could reduce it even a little it would be awesome.

Ok will see what i can do hopefully put up on Monday 5th Jan

What i used 12x Vt comm sedan or similar rear shocker rubbers from inside boot ( keep large washers as well)
Mounted 1 rubber between ac unit and bracket and one on top of ac mount then used a 5/16 or 8mm bolt through the the large washer and rubbers with nyloc nuts underneath tighten bolts so as to just compress rubbers and your done.
No need to add rubber underneath as there is no contact between bolt and ac unit.

My compressor has 6 mounts so if yours only has 4 then 8 rubbers will do.

I had a lot of noise through the brickwork and this reduced it by 90%

Hope this helps and will post pics tomorrow

BSTAR have PM'd you about photos

Thanks kassen1973.
I have attached the diagram of what you have suggested for someone like me that has a concrete slab instead of a wall bracket. I am going to think about this a bit more and try something.

http://s1119.photobucket.com/user/arbou ... ml?filters[user]=142307334&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww23 ... /AC3-1.jpg

Here are some pics of what i did to cure my ac noise hopefully link works OK.

Thanks Bstar i did already have a photo bucket account.

Cheers

For anyone looking for rubber dampers and the like, you can try Clarke Rubber.

Kassan1973 use the " Share links > IMG " tab

Stewie