View Full Version : Is your heat pump quiet or noisy?
adl6009
05-07-2006, 11:24 PM
Who makes the quietest? Which one should I stay away from? Since my filter is set up near my patio I would like to find a heat pump that is fairly quiet. My neighbor had a rheem a/c unit installed, the first season was ok. But after that I guess something went bad and it makes noise like you would't believe. I would like to avoid a similiar fate. Thanks
MarkC
05-08-2006, 07:54 AM
The biggest noise with the heat pump in my opinion is the fan. Can you shield the patio with some noise barrier. We have a small 4ft section of vinyl fencing that does a nice job with the noise. I have a Heat Siphon 3.25SX scroll compressor. It's not all that noisy but I would not want to sit next to it.
adl6009
05-09-2006, 11:29 PM
I was hoping to find out if any one brand was better than all the others regarding noiose.
Poolsean
05-11-2006, 07:03 PM
Things to look for. Scroll compressors are much quieter than reciprocal (piston) compressors. As mentioned, the fan is making most of the noise, so a slower rpm fan would be quieter.
You'll be hard pressed to find any comparison data on Heat Pumps as the heat pump manufacturers are not all readily willing to do this. A few years ago, Aqua Cal, a sister company of AutoPilot, tried to get the manufacturers to get together to form a standard in the industry, PHPMA (Pool Heat Pump Manufacturers Association). We were successful in getting some to participate for a few years, then having all but two drop out (Aqua Cal being one). You may still be able to google some information on the PHPMA tests.
Hope this helps,
adl6009
05-11-2006, 07:44 PM
It is very difficult to get reliable test data about these heat pumps. I like to research the stuff I buy and will try to get a good product for my money. Many industries try to prevent this (beds + luggage come to mind right away). So I figured I'd ask around about who was happy with their heat pumps. In fact maybe thats the way I should have phrased the question.
The biggest noise with the heat pump in my opinion is the fan. Can you shield the patio with some noise barrier. We have a small 4ft section of vinyl fencing that does a nice job with the noise. I have a Heat Siphon 3.25SX scroll compressor. It's not all that noisy but I would not want to sit next to it.
I have the same one as MarkC. I bought one with a scroll compressor too because it is quieter, more efficient, and has less moving parts than a piston compressor. It really isn't that noisy - it's a bit quieter than a similarly sized central air compressor unit.