Neighbours heat pump

[BluLagoon]

Viewed a house today which I liked but except for the whirring hum in the garden which I assume comes from the heat pump in the newly built house next door.

It is situated about 10m from the garden fence but was loud enough to be disturbing. Can anyone tell me if they run 24 hours a day? What about in the summer?

Im not sure what you mean by hot water tanks. Do you mean the hot water cylinder? That's where the hot water is stored. We didn't have any additional hot water cylinder put in, the system just connected to our existing one which was in the airing cupboard.

Generally you'll always be advised to change your cylinder, as heat pumps require ones with bigger coils inside due to heating the water slower. Normal ones wouldn't be as efficient.

I'm guessing the people moaning about massive "tanks" perhaps have combi boilers so don't have cylinders.

Have you always lived in the Stone age?

If a heat pump is very noisy it’s because it hasn’t been installed correctly. The base has to be completely level. Some installers just don’t do this basic part correctly.

Indeed, I don't have a hot water tank at all - so it would be an extra inconvenience for me, especially as I live in a small house with only a single built in cupboard - so if I did have a tank I would lose that entire space.

So would it come on in the night? Or can you set it to only come on between certain hours? I only have my central heating on for a bit in the morning and evening. I don’t want to be heating my house when I’m out at work or overnight….would cost a fortune.

i saw a tiktok video recently of someone with an octopus cosy 6 heat pump installed. Absolute monstrosity in his garden. I asked about noise and he said he can’t hear it in his house. The official blurb says 52dcb . He made another video with a decibel meter and I have to say it didn’t sound loud. But I’m very noise sensitive and would worry about a hum at just the wrong pitch.

Blimey, I think I’ve just worked out what the whirring noise in my house is. Our neighbour had a heat pump installed. I’ve heard a whirring noise for months. I’ve never worked out what it was. I’ve had people out to check my boiler. I called the energy people to ask that they check the cables that run under our house. We’ve cut the power to the house and put things back on one at a time. I’ve been fearful there is something wrong and the house might burn down. Bloody heat pump from our attached neighbour.

Cost us about £5000 with Octopus and government grant paid the rest .
It will be interesting to see how much it saves us but it will also add to value of house so happy with decision.

hope you’re right. Currently I would be very put off a house with one and wouldn’t buy. Maybe my mind will change as they become more common.

If you visit the heat geek website, there’s a section which explains the rules for siting heat pumps near a boundary and when it requires planning permission and when it doesn’t

Our neighbours have two heat pumps. The first one is sited 10cm from our boundary between the houses on a paved path. When it was first installed ( without planning permission) the noise was awful. We couldn't hear the TV indoors. We complained to our neighbours and they had the installer fit rubber feet which has improved things. They now have a second one which we don't hear at all. It's noisiest when it is very cold or very hot.

I get this. Newer houses are often built with combis so just don't have the space.

Also, and speaking as an electrician who has fitted one or two, they don't work anywhere as near as well as gas/oil/electric. They fail to get water to an acceptable temperature and therefore have to run all the time to keep the heating system "hot".

Total rubbish, and yes noisy, they get noisier as they get older as the bearings on the fan and compressor wear.

With my heat pump it had been very quiet but when the temperature drops below 5 it has a defrost cycle which is much more noisy. But that noise is certainly not all day and only in very cold weather. I am going to see if mine can be adjusted though!

My next door neighbour had a heat pump installed last year and I was worried that it would be loud, but we don't even notice it (and they use it in the summer to cool down the house too, while we sit outside in our garden). Our fridge makes more noise.
The new ones aren't loud (unless they have been poorly configured or are too small/oversized for the house). They're really great if you have underfloor heating.

They are completely differently designed heating systems, they're not like the very high heat blasts you get morning and evening from a gas based system - the idea is to keep your house at a stable temperature and thus the water doesn't need to be as hot. I think you need to go on a course or something, I hope you're not advising the general public with your lack of knowledge. This is also a warning to others to go with a heat pump specialist, not just any electrician! The defrost cycle is the only noisy bit, but it doesn't last long.

I don't install the heating system, the plumbers do that, only the electrical supplies to the pump - however, if you ask the plumbers I work with they will say the same - and yes, we are all fully qualified, highly competent engineers in our fields.

We removed a GSHP (ground source) system from a large secondary school, which had been designed by the makers of the pump (the one with a bunny as its logo) because it was totally useless, and put everything back to gas.

My brother lives next door to a pub. Their beer chiller fan makes quite a noise - similar to a heat pump fan.

He made/modified some baffles/fences in his garden which made the situation better.

My HA wanted to fit one in my draughty old house, no way, I moved out rather than have one, costs more to run in electric, does not heat the house properly, no way I wanted one

@CerealPosterHere yes our heat pump comes on at night often. It's set on a cycle so it switches on if the temperature falls below 15 degrees at night and 17.5 degrees in the day. Our house is always warm as it is well insulated. I can tell when the heat pump is operating as the smart meter runs orange, bit I have often had to stand in front of the heat pump otherwise as we live near trees which disguise the sound and I simply can't hear it otherwise.

Our airing cupboard was converted with the hot water tank removed and the tank and electrics cited in that space.

Generally it's been an excellent purchase, our house is warmer, it was cheaper than a gas boiler to buy and is costing less every month to run.

They have their own sewage system? What on earth for?!

lots of homes are not on mains drainage

@CantStopBuyingSeeds Our road isn't on mains drainage, so we all have our own. Legislation means that our septic tank is rapidly becoming outdated. I'm sure the next set of enforced 'improvements' legislation about non-mains sewage will mean we will likely have to replace our 50 year old and perfectly effective septic tank with a modern sewage treatment plant + paperwork of course, if we want to sell the house. That will have a motor to aerate and turn the sewage to treat it. Next door was renovated a year or two ago and in order to sell they had to replace theirs (which was 90 years old), as it wouldn't comply with modern legislation and thus no paperwork available for the new purchasers. Nobody want to buy houses without being done up to the hilt and having bits of paper that tick the box these days.

Oh I see. I didn't know that. What a pain

They’ve fairly taken off on Scandinavia, North America, Japan etc. They’ll take off here, too.

I have one, it's outside my front door and I barely notice it. Besides, can't we tolerate even the slightest thing in order to have lower cost and low carbon energy?!