Who is BU? Neighbour's heat pump

[ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs]

Help to resolve a dispute between DH and I.
Neighbours have installed a heat pump on the side of their house close to our boundary. It is very noisy! DH is not happy with the noise level, he has researched and regulations state should be no more than 42 dbs from our side. He's measured it as 60 dbs and 58 just outside our bedroom. He has sent an email to neighbour asking him to check it out, but no reply.

Relevant back story: We have lived in our house for 17 years, with no close neighbours (woodland). Couple of years ago the land was sold and developed. DH and I had different opinions on this- he thought having a house there was a good thing for security, I was really upset at the destruction of the trees.

Things got worse when they "accidentally" tore down our hedge (outside our fence but inside our boundary). There was then a boundary dispute, we had to pay for a land survey to resolve. Eventually "resolved" but boundary still not completely adhered when they erected fence.

So things were a bit awkward, then we had months of noisy building/ builders. Neighbours finally moved in and I was happy to let it all go for the sake of good relations. Have spoken to them briefly and all OK.

Now DH is complaining about the noise of the heat pump, where it doesn't really bother me that much and I would rather leave it. Especially as we have dogs that occasionally bark, and I'm sure we make noise of our own at times. I really don't want to be on bad terms with them- the reason we left our previous house was that our neighbours were horrible

Who's BU- DH or me? I think DH is being a bit petty, he thinks he is right to complain and that they are taking the piss! It was his idea to ask MN....

(Sorry about the essay, trying not to drip feed!!)

if you have something on your land or in your home that gives rise to a statutory noise nuisance then you have to pay to reduce that noise to an acceptable level. thats how noise nuisance works in the UK. you cause it you sort it out. its called the Polluter Pays principle.

I don't think it's normal to be crying with laughter at the op's expense, with the bitchy giggler emoji.

Erm, I said I was upset, not that I sat and wept! To go from our house being surrounded by beautiful old trees to being next door to an ugly wasteland was a bit of a shock, especially when it happened so fast

I'd personally try again to speak to them about it.
If they still don't acknowledge it and offer up a potential solution then it's time to speak to the council.
Heat pumps can be quite noisy, but this sounds excessively so.
So long as your dogs don't bark regularly/for extended periods then your neighbours are being totally unreasonable to not try to sort out the noise.

Sorry, I should have been much clearer- anyone sitting out in the country currently on oil or gas is very likely to need to move to a heat pump type solution in the next couple of decades.

Sorry, I should have been much clearer- anyone sitting out in the country currently on oil or gas is very likely to need to move to a heat pump type solution in the next couple of decades.

Most of the housing stock isn't suitable, or at least not without sustantial alteration that would cost tens of thousands of pounds, and who pays for that?

HVO, once it's more widely in use and the prices drop, is a better solution. Quite a simple conversion for oil fired systems.

I am fairly sure the noise levels of the pump will be within spec, otherwise the manufacturer will find it difficult to sell them.

Problems can come from siting. I have build stuff in the past that was very quiet initially, but when you put it in with other bits and pieces made a horrible noise. The surroundings can affect how the noise is channeled and amplified. Also the nature of the mounting, so for example a lot of things with large fans are mounted on rubber mounts to reduce the noise. So it may be that things can be done to reduce the noise, but of course all of these things cost money.

What you might find is in spring/summer the noise is worse because you have more of your windows open.

Measuring noise levels is tricky as other people have said. It's hard to figure out a measure of what is a nuisance, because different frequencies annoy different people differently. You might get something that beeps loudly every 10 minutes, and something that is a constant hum at a much lower level but continues all the time. How do you define which is the greater nuisance ?

Not the point of the thread, but I am with you about the trees.

Why is that funny?

So because it doesn't really bother you that much, you think he should leave it? 🤔

Yeah that’s too loud. We have a heat pump, it makes pretty much no noise, don’t notice it at all. Complain, it certainly shouldn’t be bothering you at all.

@TheJanuaryPinks Wow! You sound.....intelligent!

@TheJanuaryPinks You do realise that every tree in the land was felled, there'd be no fucking oxygen! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

This is not correct.

This.