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Original poster

Noise pollution from restaurant next door - extractor fan running overnight

76 replies

QueenStromba · 13/12/2015 17:49

We can hear the extractor fan from the restaurant next door in every room of the flat - it's kind of like living in an airplane but quieter. It's always bothered me but I figured it was just part of living in a town centre. Recently though they've been running the fans all night rather than just 8.30am to 11pm. I get to sleep by listening to audio books to drown the noise out but if I wake up in the night I can't do that without waking DH up and so end up laying there awake until I either fall asleep from exhaustion or give up and get up. I have a health condition which is worsened by lack of sleep (probably fibromyalgia but I don't have a firm diagnosis yet) so losing out on a chunk of sleep a couple of times a week is starting to really damage my health and have a massive effect on my life.

I did go in to talk to them last week but I assumed that they had been just forgetting to turn the fan off so I was thrown when they told me that they needed it on because they were cooking overnight. I'm going to go back and talk to the general manager and want to try and work this out amicably but I'd like to know where I stand legally in case they try to fob me off. It's not very loud but can be heard over traffic noise during the day and sounds a lot louder a night when there is no other noise. If I can't get any joy from the restaurant are the council likely to do something about it?

OP posts:
wowfudge · 04/01/2016 19:02

I found the wax earplugs uncomfortable as I didn't like the feel of them. The foam ones you squash into a small cylinder to put in are much more pleasant imo.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 04/01/2016 19:06

The foam ones hurt my ears, I seem to remember wearing the wax ones for swimming as a kid and being ok with them.

OP posts:
Original poster
QueenStromba · 05/01/2016 09:49

Fan went off at 10.30 and isn't back on yet. It normally comes on at 8/8.30 so I assume that means they're trying to fix it.

OP posts:
Original poster
QueenStromba · 05/01/2016 10:30

Or maybe the fan is on... I think they might have fixed it!!!!

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tribpot · 05/01/2016 10:48

OMG! That would be fantastic. How do you verify it's on, open the windows and lean right out to see if you can hear it? Go round and say "is the fan on?"?

Original poster
QueenStromba · 05/01/2016 11:00

I'm thinking wander past at lunchtime and see if there are any customers. Their aircon is certainly on, now that the fan is sorted/off I can hear that quite clearly in the sitting room - presumably that was being left on all night too and has taken a battering.

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Original poster
QueenStromba · 05/01/2016 11:07

Celebrated too soon - fans just turned on and then off again. So not fixed but presumably being fixed.

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tribpot · 05/01/2016 12:25

Well, still good news. Further bottle of champers will be required if this bastard thing actually gets fixed today Grin

Original poster
QueenStromba · 05/01/2016 13:24

It's back on now. It's definitely quieter although I hope they're not finished with it.

OP posts:
BorisIsBack · 05/01/2016 14:10

Dh works for t' council and has an app on his phone to measure sound pollution. Maybe you need to get something to keep a record of noise pollution so you can keep the management and EH aware of the ongoing noise? So they can't say it's fixed and fine when it might not be

Original poster
QueenStromba · 05/01/2016 20:08

And it's louder again - it got suddenly louder half an hour ago as if they switched it back to 747 mode.

OP posts:
tribpot · 05/01/2016 20:20

Sigh. A call to Head of Ops or wait to see if it goes off at 10:30? At least EH heard it whilst it was in 747 mode. Hmm.

Choughed · 05/01/2016 22:25

Call them. And get angry.

Fuckitfay · 05/01/2016 22:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 06/01/2016 10:15

General manager phoned me last night and said that they replaced the inverter which was broken so meant that the fan was running full pelt all the time. I told him it was quieter during the day but had suddenly got louder at 7.30 - he didn't seem massively concerned but then he never does. The engineer is apparently not expected back although he did mumble something about them maybe being able to turn the fan speed down a bit more. It's going full pelt this morning - I'm going to see if it gets any quieter this afternoon and give head of ops a call.

GM also said that the timer was fixed and that fan was timed to go off 45 minutes after closing time which is 10.00pm during the week (9.00pm on Sundays and 11.00pm on Friday and Saturday) and that he'd instructed his staff not to leave until it had turned off just to be sure. It went off at 10.44 so presumably the timer at least works now.

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tribpot · 06/01/2016 16:51

So is it back up to the same volume as 19:30 last night now? i.e. whatever they did did sod all?

I get the impression it did at least turn off when it was meant to last night? 11:45 is very late and must surely still breach their planning regs - even Madonna had to stop playing earlier than that in Manchester when she was late on and she is, well, Madonna.

Head of Ops should now have spoken to EH, so would be interesting to see how they get on. Sounds to me like the fan needs replacing and the restaurant are too tight to do it (that said, is it their responsibility or the leaseholders? Do they own the building? I think this has been discussed up thread but I'm losing my grip on reality having had two Nurofen Extras whilst writing a presentation for a bid tomorrow - have a feeling this might go like a scene from Ab Fab).

Original poster
QueenStromba · 07/01/2016 18:49

Yeah, it's about the same as it was before they 'fixed it' and has been at a consistent level when it's been on since 7.30pm on Tuesday. There's also a new intermittent electrical hum which I think is coming from them but I can't be sure. The fan went off at about the right time again last night so at least the timer seems to be fixed. I agree that 11.45 is really late (we go to bed at about 9 because of my fibro) but I'd be ok with that if the fan was at least as quiet as it was Tuesday daytime. We listen to audio books until I fall asleep which masks the noise a bit and it never really bothered me that much until they started leaving it on 24/7 and knackered it.

I've not called head of ops yet because I overdid it the last few days and am paying the price now. I've been mostly resting today so will hopefully feel up to it tomorrow.

Hope your presentation went well tribpot.

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tribpot · 07/01/2016 20:06

It was a bit of an arse-clencher not because of my slides but because I realised half way through we were talking at cross-purposes and there was no way to signal 'abort! abort!' to my colleagues as we were on video conference, ha ha. Well, it will all come out in the wash.

The new noise is a particularly unwelcome development. The local management clear don't give a monkey's about sorting this out. I wonder what they've told Head of Ops. When you do speak to him, I would make sure you explain that you've over-spent on energy in the last few days because of this issue (he may wonder otherwise why you've taken a few days to get back to him - but it also underlines the point that this noise pollution is affecting your physical health).

tribpot · 09/01/2016 08:12

All been quiet on Fanwatch for a few days .. but has all been quiet with the fan?

Original poster
QueenStromba · 09/01/2016 15:32

The fan has been off every night this week but is still loud. DH just phoned Head of Ops about the fact that it is still loud and he said he'll have the engineer out early next week. He did ask if we'd told GM and DH said we did but he didn't seem bothered.

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tribpot · 09/01/2016 16:38

Okay so better in that you can get some sleep (at night) but ideally you need to be able to catch up with sleep whenever you can. It sounds like EH will also have told them it's too noisy, can you follow up with EH to see if they plan to do more than just accept the restaurant's word for it that they've now had the fan looked at.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 18/01/2016 19:11

GM just phoned me. Apparently they did a lot of work today and lowered the noise by 10dB. It might be a tiny bit quieter. Sigh.

OP posts:
SugarDiabetes · 19/01/2016 22:07

How was it last night?

Original poster
QueenStromba · 20/01/2016 20:46

The timer is definitely fixed - it goes off at bang on 44 minutes after closing time. It's still pretty loud but I think it is a bit quieter than it was. It's definitely bothering me less during the day now but that could just be because it's not keeping me awake at night any more. I would definitely like it quieter though since it goes off at nearly midnight on Friday and Saturday which is way past my bedtime.

GM messaged me today to say that they have an acoustic engineer coming on Monday who would like to come to the flat and listen to the noise. This seems like a very good sign to me - it's the first time they've asked to come and hear the noise themselves. I think it's mostly an airflow from their vent issue at this point which they wouldn't necessarily hear from their property.

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Annonymous9 · 21/09/2023 05:06

I live above a shop with their big box fans underneath my bedroom window and it's off during the day but on during the night it vibrates my wall and can feel it vibrating my floor too its soo annoying environmental health said that its part of living above a commercial premises and unfortunately nothing they can do, so I kind of use it as white noise now to get to sleep.