Neighbours heatpump

[user1471503652]

Had a letter through the door from planning about our adjoined neighbour (semi detached) installing a heatpump and seeking planning permission due to it being less than the 1m distance from the boundary.

He did knock and mentioned this would be coming through recently so it's not a surprise, I thought it was because it would be a few cm off the 1m from our wall.

However looking at the plans he's asking for it to be installed 35-40cm from our extension wall (we have a single rear extension and they do not)

Does anyone have any experience of heatpumps noise or vibration etc coming from a neighbours heatpump? Just trying to ascertain whether I should be concerned or not.

They are semi detached. They have an entire wall they can put it on that's nowhere near their attached neighbors house!

Solar panels are another topic worth discussing

Heat pumps and solar panels

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just very stubborn and resistant to change, unwilling to make change

But I just can't accept spending a lot money on installing these things in my home

I really can't see any benefits for myself

On the other hand, I have an EV, and indeed saved me lot of money on fuel costs

Here in Nz heatpumps are the norm.

Old ones sound like a plane taking off

New ones are whisper quiet. Ours is brand new and you have to be standing right next to it to hear it and it doesn't create a 'hum' type frequency

In any case surely it won't be running at full whack overnight?

If its pptentially noisy the Planners / Environmental Health can condition it to require a noise impact assessment. Your neighbour will need to get an acoustic consultant to do this and if required they will specify a soundproof enclosure for it. Talk to your local authority to see if they can put this condition on it. That's what planning permission is for!

The neighbours down our lane have one. I can hear it from the end of their drive (which is just over the length of one car ) when I walk past. It must be worse for their neighbour who is only a car width away. I don’t know if it is on all the time?

A new Mitsubishi one will be absolutely fine. I can stand next to ours and not hear it. The older models are much noisier.

Out of interest do NZers panic when their neighbour talks about installing a heatpump?
I bet they don’t bat an eyelid

that said, if older ones are very noisy surely there have been neighbourly disputes about such things in the past

the vast majority of Brits are very resistant to any kind of change, that is very clear

Well seeing as this is the chosen energy efficient measure for heating from the government going forward (unless they make breakthroughs with hydrogen) then you’d better get used to the noise as soon you’ll be surrounded by them.

I can guarantee that in Estonia and Finland (and I most likely Sweden too) the heat pumps will be of secondary popularity to all the wood burning heating systems.
Rurally, those Northern wooded countries burn wood. In the cities they have "centralised heating" - no private heating or hot water boilers at all and in some countries private gas boilers are illegal. The heat (hot water) is pumped to the radiators and water pipes from a centralised boiler house that burns organic material. All pipes are insulated underground to minimise the heat loss from house-to house.

It's such a different way of living Ooop North. The heat-pump people don't live in individually heated terraced housing in the cities. Take my relatives - they live in a large detached self-build in a forest just outside the capital. They are considering a heat-pump just to avoid having to shovel wood into a huge industrial burner on a frozen morning. The sauna would stay wood burning though 😁 And the fireplaces would stay.

Hence I don't trust any climate/green data - there's always more to the story and the numbers are easily twisted to suit individual needs.

We are now looking to sell our home after the (detached) neighbours installed one last year. It’s so intrusively noisy and made living here hell.
The near constant buzzing/humming noise is a nightmare, clicks on/off at all times day and night even in these warmer months.
The noise we suffer with is similar to a loud tumble dryer, combined with a stronger almost pulsing sound. I agree with a previous poster saying it sounds like a vehicle on the drive.
We contacted environmental health/local council for help but as they measure in DB’s the low frequency noise was hardly picked up after a week of the sound equipment - although the guy did say an unusual low hertz sound was noted. They did mention they have had several similar complaints but not much help overall, plus they said they could only prevent the noise between the hours of 11pm-7am, so that would solve the day noise.
It’s pretty much left us with no choice, we’ve had to stay in hotels and with relatives when it gets too much as the noise prevents sleep even with earplugs.
The neighbours say they hear nothing, and outside in the garden you only notice a low whirring from the machine - but in the house I now spend most of my time in the best rated noise cancelling headphones currys had to offer.
I won’t even look at a house on rightmove if I can see another house close to it as I dread the thought of moving house and it happens again.

i lived in a detached house - about 2 metres from my neighbours. the problem with these pumps is that i could not hear the pump but could feel vibrations from the floors and underneath the bed and chairs. i could also feel the fan of the heat exchanger which was in the attic space of their roof cutting the air especially at night - i would definitely object - let them position is the other side of their property

i spoke to the council about noise from a church near me who had heat pump heating and we could hear the pump at night - the council do not seem very clued up on heat pumps but they did visit and something was done to soundproof it or they changed the system as it is much better now.
i asked that they turn if off between 12 and 7am as no one lives there but apparently that is not possible. i feel for clemmie 4 because is does ruin the quality of your life. as she says you cannot hear it outside or in their property but the noise seems to travel to other houses

With majority renewable energy, the grid is 63% renewable as I write
https://grid.iamkate.com/

For those of us on renewable tariffs it's entirely renewable, for others you can check your bill for the mix.

Ask the council to condition the planning permission with a Noise Impact Assessment by an acoustic consultant. They will specify an acoustic enclosure if necessary.

neighbours one was awful - i could feel it rather than hear it - seem to consume the whole house with vibration especially if you are sensitive to noise. what was quite at night - turns into unwanted noise and vibration at night - making your quality of life deteriorate

i could feel the fan and vibrations across the floor from my neighbours heat pump under the bed not noise but the sensation from the fan cutting the air
awful feels like, it goes through your body.

do not have it so close to your property

Mine's fine. It's sited under my bedroom window, yet I struggle to hear it. And I'm pretty sensitive to that kind of noise.

They do make noise, some more than others. They are noisier in confined spaces that is sure. They blow hot air in the summer and cold air in the winter, so be aware of that.

Ask them to put it on the roof if possible. Tell them you do not want it close to your house. The nerve of them !

My parents have one. The vibration goes up the wall and into the bedroom and is horribly noisy. It's probably faulty but the engineer can't find what's wrong with it. It's not noisy outside though. It doesn't normally run overnight, but starts as soon as someone has a shower in the morning.

I would imagine that NZ is like Australia, where all heating and cooling devices are on the outside of the house, though ours used to have a hot water cylinder under the stairs.

I think you're dependent on neighbours knowing how noisy their systems are and doing something about it.

My personal hates are noisy pool pumps and any evaporative cooling system.

This and they sound loud. Very noisy if you sit outside in the summer.

Can they move it away from you? Explain why

If you say no they may get a hot tub to spite you.

I have a vailliant heat pump it's incredibly quiet and doesn't vibrate. I have to stand right by it to hear it if I want to check it's working.

The people down the road from us have one in their garden. You can hear it from the road a few metres away, I wouldn't want one like that next to me.

I wonder what effect your extension has had on them? I’d maybe think about that when you respond.

when your boiler packs up in x years, you’ll need to install a heat pump. Again, have a think about that.