Editor:
I sympathize with your correspondent Ms. Fortin re: loud heat pumps. Unfortunately, it’s our heat pump that is loud. When we built green 14 years ago, we used recycled and locally sourced materials, rainwater capture, extra insulation and, yes, a heat pump.
About 85 per cent of the time our ageing heat pump just hums quietly. About 10 per cent of the time its humming is louder. But about 5 per cent of the time it bangs away irritatingly – only in the coldest weather, for some reason, when we need it most. I cross my fingers constantly, hoping my neighbours are not disturbed.
Two different firms on the Coast have been unable to find or fix the problem; their advice, though, is that it is still functioning properly and does not need replacement.
Our solution is often to simply turn the pump off at night to avoid any potential disturbance of our neighbours’ sleep. In the recent cold snap by morning the house was 16º – pretty chilly. Another solution would be pump replacement, but who has $6,000+ handy and unused? A visit to this brand’s website promises that our pump’s successor would have “quiet operation with less than 54 decibels, quieter than a dishwasher.” In fact, the first listed benefit/feature of all this manufacturer’s models is “quiet operation.”
So I guess I have two points to make; firstly, manufacturers are very aware of the volume issue and are (they promise) addressing it. Secondly, these issues are often a question of triage: do we suffer the frustrations of the sound sometimes associated with heat pumps, or do we continue to contribute to global warming with our gas furnace?
I would hope that a conversation between Ms. Fortin and her neighbour would be possible so that, perhaps, some sound-baffling (eg a small wall?) might be possible.
Yours,
Doug Baker, Hopkins
