Ideas for reducing equipment noise

[Lenny]

Hi All,

I want to hide my pool equipment and reduce the noise, if possible, since the equipment is fairly close to the pool. My heater can also be heard easily from my neighbor's deck.

I'm planning to build a fairly short block wall, just to make things level since the ground is sloped, and then a redwood fence on top of that. The top of the fence will be at least a foot above the top of the filter.

I'm also thinking about putting some kind of outdoor sound insulation on the back of the fence to try to absorb some of the sound.

Has anyone tried something like this? I'm wondering how effective this would be in reducing the sound and also what type of insulation might work. I took a look on the net but didn't find much so far. Any advice?

Also, if anyone has any pics of a nice fence design that would be great.

Thanks,
Lenny

[mshumack]

My heater can also be heard easily from my neighbor's deck.

Make sure you provide the proper spacing around the heater for servicing (removing heater grid, etc) and to allow radiant heat to escape. If the noise is mainly from the exhaust (like mine) you may be able to just add an extension exhaust stack (I assume you have a gas heater and not a heat pump) to divert some of the noise. I think a block wall alone will add enough sound insulation you souldn't need anything else. There is a high temp insulating material used to cover the inside of van/motor home engine covers that can be purchased cheaply by the roll at places like JC Whitney catelog if you want to go to the extra trouble. It looks like a foil covered roll of fiberglass insulation.
Good luck