How loud is your air conditioning?

[pjug]

The wather forecast is for warm weather this weekend so I put in AC this morning. I have an old house and we just have window units. Last year I replaced some old ones with Midea U shape that allow the window to go down between the control side and the compressor. It works really well to lower the noise and really I only hear the fan. So now the AC does not completely ruin listening to music, whereas before the AC was just too loud.

The 10000 BTU unit has a spec of 42 dBA. This is also what I measure at about 1 meter with the fan on low. Near the center of the room where I sit for listening to music, at various fan level I measure:

Fan Low: 38dBA
Fan Medium: 42 dBA
Fan High: 45 dBA
[edit: with AC off it is 35dBA right now, although it gets a good bit quieter in winter esp with a blanket of snow]
How does this compare with central air that some of you have?

 

[BDWoody]

The wather forecast is for warm weather this weekend so I put in AC this morning. I have an old house and we just have window units. Last year I replaced some old ones with Midea U shape that allow the window to go down between the control side and the compressor. It works really well to lower the noise and really I only hear the fan. So now the AC does not completely ruin listening to music, whereas before the AC was just too loud.

The 10000 BTU unit has a spec of 42 dBA. This is also what I measure at about 1 meter with the fan on low. Near the center of the room where I sit for listening to music, at various fan level I measure:

Fan Low: 38dBA
Fan Medium: 42 dBA
Fan High: 45 dBA

How does this compare with central air that some of you have?

That seems pretty quiet.

Once the Cicadas have disappeared for another 17 years I'll give mine a measure.

Right now, the sound of Horny Cicadas is pretty much dominating everything else. It's like something out of a sci-fi movie, but so much better because it's real!

I'll be able to measure this in about a month...

Sorry for the OT post, but I was going to take a measurement and realized how futile it would be...

 

[pjug]

How loud do the cicadas measure? I remember taking GRE exams (I think that's what it was) in Baltimore a couple cicada cycles ago and they were everywhere. I guess we don't get the mass emergence here in NH. Nothing like the mid atlantic states anyway.

 

[BDWoody]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wl...ups-can-drown-out-a-low-flying-plane/36143570

The noise Brood X cicadas make is loud and distinct. In large groups, the sound can reach as high as 100 decibels, which is equivalent to a motorcycle, low-flying plane or lawn mower starting.

The sound of a group of cicadas is often compared to the sound of electricity.

 

[Ron Texas]

The AC here runs from April through October. I don't hear it anymore. Even when it is off, ambient noise levels here in the city are high enough to make the pursuit of a 120 dB SINAD reproduction chain futile.

 

[pjug]

The AC here runs from April through October. I don't hear it anymore. Even when it is off, ambient noise levels here in the city are high enough to make the pursuit of a 120 dB SINAD reproduction chain futile.

We don't have cicadas or a lot of city noise (we hear mowers now and then) but birds are pretty loud in the morning. Chirping of birds does not interfere with my enjoying music, though. I guess crows or ravens would ruin it.

 

[Ron Texas]

We don't have cicadas or a lot of city noise (we hear mowers now and then) but birds are pretty loud in the morning. Chirping of birds does not interfere with my enjoying music, though. I guess crows or ravens would ruin it.

Leaf blowers are the bane of my existence.

 

[holbob]

I find if I'm gentle and focused and the wife has insisted it is too cold for the window to be open, I can keep the squeak of the window opening to less than 10 dB

 

[Bear123]

I just measured 53 dB in my living room with my 12,000 BTU window unit running about 15 feet behind me.

46 dB when it switched off.

 

[Andysu]

You doing it wrong. Get out the microphone and use the RTA to see what shape the frequency is. Then stop the RTA and you have a rough frequency response of the AC, then you can each post cos, they are all each, going to be different.
I'd take one of my Invertor, Cool but it isn't anywhere near 40dB it is bit high but I care that it cools the room down. But not going to stick the extractor out the window now cos amazing so far it has been cool weather, I hope till October by then temperature be slowing dropping.

Video of it in use last 2019 and that doesn't sound quiet now. As long as it cools the room down.

If I can recall I did do an RTA that would mask a movie soundtrack so, no, it ain't quiet.

 

[ThePracticalPeasant]

I have a forced air HVAC system.
Gas burner / 2 ton AC unit.
Cover is still on the condensor, but using the first free dB meter I could install:

Ambient, everything that makes noise off (fans in electronics, lights that hum, etc): 40dB average, 50dB max.
Actual every day ambient, normal stuff on: 44dB average, 54dB max (a car went by on the street).
Forced air (furnace, including the burner) on high: 51dB average, 55dB max.

 

[restorer-john]

Leaf blowers are the bane of my existence.

I use mine only when I mow the grass to clean up, and only for as shorter time as possible. We live on acreage in the bush. There's a guy somewhere in the valley who uses his leaf blower for what seems like hours each time he does the garden. I don't how how he does it.

And no excuses for leaf blowers, chainsaws or chippers on a Sunday morning- should be jailable offence.

 

[RayDunzl]

Central Air here.

A little spike in the noise floor occurs at 18Hz shows when it is on.

I don't hear anything it does. Maybe I could hear it when the house is otherwise silent. Anyway, not something I notice, ever, from the music room, even though it is open to the middle of the house..

I'm in the middle house showing me, the air handler in the garage, and outdoor compressor locations. The (noisy old) compressor is 50 feet away in a straight line.

And the two neighbor houses, which each have two compressor units (two story), but they are both on the other side of those houses.

Behind is a golf course, so, pretty quiet there.

 

[pjug]

I just measured 53 dB in my living room with my 12,000 BTU window unit running about 15 feet behind me.

46 dB when it switched off.

I have a forced air HVAC system.
Gas burner / 2 ton AC unit.
Cover is still on the condensor, but using the first free dB meter I could install:

Ambient, everything that makes noise off (fans in electronics, lights that hum, etc): 40dB average, 50dB max.
Actual every day ambient, normal stuff on: 44dB average, 54dB max (a car went by on the street).
Forced air (furnace, including the burner) on high: 51dB average, 55dB max.

Are you measuring dBA? I measured dBA since that was how the AC unit was specified. With dBC and dBZ it was a bout 10dB or so higher.

 

[ThePracticalPeasant]

Are you measuring dBA? I measured dBA since that was how the AC unit was specified. With dBC and dBZ it was a bout 10dB or so higher.

Wasn't aware of the difference until just now - the app was set to dBZ

 

[Bear123]

Are you measuring dBA? I measured dBA since that was how the AC unit was specified. With dBC and dBZ it was a bout 10dB or so higher.

ya dB(A) on Niosh app on iphone.

 

[pjug]

You doing it wrong. Get out the microphone and use the RTA to see what shape the frequency is. Then stop the RTA and you have a rough frequency response of the AC, then you can each post cos, they are all each, going to be different.
I'd take one of my Invertor, Cool but it isn't anywhere near 40dB it is bit high but I care that it cools the room down. But not going to stick the extractor out the window now cos amazing so far it has been cool weather, I hope till October by then temperature be slowing dropping.

Video of it in use last 2019 and that doesn't sound quiet now. As long as it cools the room down.

If I can recall I did do an RTA that would mask a movie soundtrack so, no, it ain't quiet.

OK I will measure with RTA. For some reason my Umik-1 won't connect at the moment. It seems like a bad cable, maybe.

Edit: Here is RTA measurement, AC off and AC on with fan on high. What I hear is just fan noise no matter the setting I don't hear the hum of the compressor. Medium and low fan noise presumably would chart in between roughly in proportion to the dBA measurements I made. Is this better than comparing dBA measurements with calibrated mics?

 

[pjug]

Central Air here.

A little spike in the noise floor occurs at 18Hz shows when it is on.

I don't hear anything it does. Maybe I could hear it when the house is otherwise silent. Anyway, not something I notice, ever, from the music room, even though it is open to the middle of the house..

I'm in the middle house showing me, the air handler in the garage, and outdoor compressor locations. The (noisy old) compressor is 50 feet away in a straight line.

And the two neighbor houses, which each have two compressor units (two story), but they are both on the other side of those houses.

Behind is a golf course, so, pretty quiet there.

View attachment 131414

Nice that your AC is essentially silent. I really thought I was going to have to get a split unit to have any hope of enjoying music in hot weather, but the Midea units are pretty good.

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

Air conditioning - we open the windows in the UK, it may or may not be noisy, depends on the wind...mind you, the sound of the rain...

 

[Andysu]

OK I will measure with RTA. For some reason my Umik-1 won't connect at the moment. It seems like a bad cable, maybe.

That is obvious when using a spanner. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-open-umik-to-change-gain.19667/