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| Request for knowledge - Troubles at home |
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| pcprogrammer:
It is not a to modern unit, and it is no problem certainly with the big distance between the houses. That is why we live here. When we are in the Netherlands even in the south (Roermond) there is a constant background noise of traffic and industry of some scale. With near 18 million people it is very crowded. Here within a village of ~100 people most of the time it is just nature. Which can also be very loud (birds, frogs, deer, cows, wind, etc.) but also very quiet. Long time ago we went to America and flew into Las Vegas to start our trip touring that part of the states. For the first night we had a room in one of those casino hotels. Could not sleep due to the air-conditioning units on the roof. There was no quit spot in the room to be found. It might be that I'm very sensitive for noise, and even though I'm getting older my hearing is still good. Only in the top frequencies >6KHz my left ear is a bit below normal, for the rest still above. And there in lies the difference, some people are sensitive to even the smallest sound, and others can sleep with a busy highway nearby. |
| JohanH:
--- Quote from: pcprogrammer on June 08, 2022, 11:19:58 am --- And there in lies the difference, some people are sensitive to even the smallest sound, and others can sleep with a busy highway nearby. --- End quote --- In the army I remember sleeping in a ditch behind the shooting range, waiting for my turn while the other fired on! |
| IanB:
--- Quote from: tom66 on June 08, 2022, 10:48:40 am ---Most big cities in hot parts of the world have air con for apartments and houses, and besides faulty units I've never thought they were all that loud while running. --- End quote --- That's not my experience. --- Quote from: pcprogrammer on June 08, 2022, 11:19:58 am ---Could not sleep due to the air-conditioning units on the roof. There was no quit spot in the room to be found. --- End quote --- This. In hotel rooms that have one of those window mounted or wall mounted aircon units, they are usually so noisy that I cannot sleep with them running. I have a choice of a cool room with too much noise, or a quiet room that is too hot. My usual strategy is to run the thing at max all evening, then turn it off before sleeping. In residential neighborhoods with pad mounted central a/c units, they make an unmistakably loud humming and whirring noise. I can clearly hear when units in nearby houses switch on. |
| tom66:
I think what this says more than anything is perception is everything. Some people don't care whereas others the slightest sound while sleeping keeps them awake. May even be the OP's problem. When we were in Spain we stayed in a modern hotel which had central AC. The rooms all had air handlers in them. We had that on full power overnight and you could barely hear it yet the room was essentially a fridge. The worst units are the non-inverter types due to the cycling. The inverter units in my experience tend to be very quiet once they are 'up to power', and the 'ramp up time' is quite short (10-15 minutes.) Even my car has a 24,000 BTU A/C system (plugin hybrid) and on full blast pulling 2kW from the battery, it's only noticeable if you're directly in front of the fan. Otherwise, you can barely tell it is running. That is a variable-speed compressor as well. |
| CatalinaWOW:
You are aiming at some very low noise levels. Weighting is an issue but there are real practical limits. I live in a very rural setting where the tire noise of a single vehicle passing is quite obvious. But the sound pressure is in the mid 30s of dB. That residual noise is the rustling of tree leaves, insect calls and whatever. Inside the house with windows closed it is lower by a few dBs. Trying to lower noises below that is very challenging, which is why I earlier suggested masking. Use a white noise generator (or one of those "soothing" background music channels) to create a sound (or vibration) level 10 to 20 dB above your problem. Initially annoying the mind fairly quickly adapts and ignores lower level disturbances. |
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