While it’s common for an air conditioner to have minor humming when running or shutting down, it shouldn’t be too noisy that it irritates you. A noisy air conditioner means it’s running inefficiently; hence you are losing a lot of energy and incurring huge utility bills. It’s normal for older appliances to vibrate a little louder than newer models, but they shouldn’t be deafening or making strange noises.
If your air conditioner is loud, you must be wondering, why is my air conditioner so loud, right? Here are some of the common reasons as given by AC repair services providers and what you can do about it:
Your air conditioner is too big for your home.
When you turn on the air conditioner, the air sounds loud and forceful in the ducts to the extent it becomes difficult to hear what others are saying in the same room. It’s also common to notice some whistling. When you hear these noises, your air conditioner is too large hence forcing more air through the ducts than the ducts can handle.
So whenever you turn on the air conditioner, you hear a huge chunk of air going through the ducts. In some cases, this problem is accompanied by other issues such as:
- High levels of humidity in your home
- AC turning on and off more frequently
- Quick, short blasts of cold air
- Hot and cold spots throughout your house
To bring the noise to a stop, you need to replace the air conditioner with a smaller, correctly sized appliance. Ensure the replacement is made by an experienced technician who will first undertake a heat-load calculation. This is an inspection that puts plenty of factors into consideration to determine the right size of air conditioner for your house. The contractor should consider the size of your house, insulation levels, number of windows, and plenty of other factors.
Your appliance is too old and worn out.
While older appliances tend to be a little bit louder, they aren’t supposed to roar that you can’t hear the television, so if yours is making that kind of noise, you have a problem, you should fix it. If your appliance has a SEER rating of less than 10, still uses R-22, and you are experiencing high energy bills, you are better off replacing the air conditioner with a more modern appliance.
If your unit is still quite new and the air conditioner expert has inspected it and confirmed that it still has a few years to live, there are several things you can do to reduce the noise. Some of the things you can do include:
Install a mounting pad: This is a rubber pad placed between the outdoor unit and concrete base to prevent noise brought about by vibrations.
Build a sound-blocking fence: You can build a fence around your outdoor unit, and you will deflect the noise away from your home. For best results, ensure the fence is at least 3 feet away and doesn’t interfere with the unit’s airflow.
Invest in a compressor blanket: You use the blanket to cover the noisy compressor, muffling the noise.
The ducts in your home are undersized or poorly designed.
Like when you have an oversized air conditioner, when your air ducts are undersized, you hear loud, rushing sound as air rushing in the ducts. It’s also common to have hissing, whistling noises from the vents.
The reason for the noises is because undersized ducts have too many sharp angles or bends meant to increase air velocity. Air at high velocity tends to be noisy. The vents can also get noisy when the duct design pushes too much air through them.
Your ducts will have a problem if they come with accompanying issues such as stuffy air, mold growth, and doors slamming by themselves.
If your home has a faulty duct design, ask an experienced and reputable air conditioner repair services Woodbury technician to inspect the duct system. This way, they will know whether your system needs a complete redesign or a quick repair. The contractor you hire has a significant influence on the life of the appliance so ensure you hire the right one. Don’t hire the cheapest as you will most likely receive poor services.