ᐅ Sound barrier wall for neighbor’s heat pump

Nordlys schrieb:
I’ll say something uncomfortable now. I’m putting myself in the neighbor’s shoes. They built a house. They were sold this air-to-water heat pump thing, and they like it. They probably complied with all regulations. Now there’s some garden landscaping and a hedge left to do... and then the original poster comes along complaining about the pump. It hums. Like an insect. They want to enclose it or move it... are they crazy? The neighbor thinks. I did everything right, and now they’re making a fuss about the noise. Everyone around here has one of these.

If I owned an air-to-water heat pump, I’d probably do nothing and think, neighbor, calm down, every kitchen exhaust vent in the wall is louder. People will have to get used to the pumps. By the way, the beloved wood stove isn’t exactly free of disturbance either. A poorly adjusted spotlight with a motion sensor and a nocturnal cat can also be annoying... Life isn’t clinically clean. Our new neighbor has those things too. It just hums a little... Karsten

If this is not a problem, then why not place it near your own terrace instead of exactly on the opposite side?

Sorry, that’s unbelievable nonsense what you’re saying. I wish you cold drafts and constant buzzing just a few meters away from your terrace and balcony in an otherwise very quiet area!

I don’t blame the neighbor, but their company, which planned this so poorly. Our construction company immediately suggested an indoor installation, as did our construction supervisor, to avoid disturbing the neighbors.

By the way, the neighbor is reasonable and wants to work out a solution with us.

In any case, I’m also planning to build a wall along the property line at least 1.80 meters (6 feet) high. I was thinking of two parallel wooden plank walls, with the space between filled with stones. The wood would of course be painted, with plank lengths of about 1.50 meters (5 feet) on support beams. Then we would plant vegetation. That’s the idea—would this be effective as sound insulation?

The "noise" of a heat pump is inversely proportional to the time spent outdoors.

Justmy2cents.

What qualifies as effective noise protection is not easy to determine. It largely depends on the type of "noise." In Germany, noise is measured in dB(A). Decibel is a unit of measurement, but since you can’t easily compare two amounts of noise at different frequencies, the “A-weighting” filter is used: this is a weighting of sound pressure based on a frequency curve intended to approximate the hearing sensitivity of an average person. However, firstly, this average person, like many elderly retirees, is already quite hard of hearing for such high-frequency noises, and secondly, this standard was established long before concepts like "sleep studies" or "psychoacoustics" became common. So that’s what can be measured and what kind of noise reduction protection measures are generally designed for.

Now, regarding sound itself: its propagation varies with frequency, and accordingly, sound pressure (measured in the linear direction of effect) decreases to different extents. High frequencies require less energy but are more precisely localizable: consequently, how “directional” one is faced towards them is more important for their perception. For noise protection, this means low-frequency sound is better reduced through absorption, while high-frequency sound is better controlled through diffusion.

How a wooden fence gabion would perform in this context? – I’m not sure.

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@AndreasPlü: If he is reasonable, tell him to take care of enclosing the unit properly. The closer the sound insulation is installed, the more complex the construction becomes. As a second step, I would consider looking into soundproofing on your side.

By the way, I would also check if you are even allowed to build such massive and tall boundary walls (the wood/stone gabion). There are development plans where this is not permitted.

Otherwise, you might want to search for the following:

HERAS noise protection walls for high sound insulation

ThomTek® Perilux – privacy and soundproof fence system

For the latter, I once heard a price of €400 + VAT per linear meter.

11ant schrieb:
In my opinion, for semi-detached houses it should be mandatory to use only one heating system.

Sometimes you post things where ignorance just oozes out and jumps straight at you.

Who owns the system then? Who is responsible for maintenance and replacement? There are also people who want a semi-detached house but not a homeowners’ association (HOA)....

tempic schrieb:
Sometimes you say things where your lack of knowledge clearly shows and practically jumps out of the posts at you.

Who then owns the system? Who is responsible for maintenance and replacement? There are also people who want a semi-detached house but not a condominium ownership arrangement....

Of course. Everyone wants peace and quiet, preferably with the nearest neighbor 1000m (approximately 3300 feet) away. But from a socio-political perspective, it would make sense if systems for heat generation were not overly fragmented. I agree with @11ant on this. Slightly larger systems would be more efficient.

That this also comes with its "cost" is another matter.

In the Netherlands, I know of some municipalities that mandate new buildings to connect to the local district heating plant (even if you are only building an individual single-family home). In Germany, this is mostly the case only in developer-built housing estates, larger cities, or just a few municipalities.