Heat Pump on Flat Roof Low Frequency Noise from Detached Neighbor

Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

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People_Noise

(@people_noise)

New Member Member

Joined: 3 weeks ago

Posts: 2

Topic starter 21/11/2025 12:54 am

Hi,

I have been noticing a steady 120Hz noise inside my home coming from a heatpump on my detached neighbor’s flat roof. We do not share any structure.

The heat pump is a York PHE4B 3 ton packaged unit installed on curb on a flat roof. Neighbor did reroofing last year and that's when the issue started (heat pump is still the same and I never noticed the noise before reroofing).

I'm thinking it is likely that the vibration transmit more efficiently to the roof and roof act as speaker and reradiate to my house - if this is the case perhaps isolation helps but it seems there is no room to install pad and only thing I can think of is replacing compressor grommet?

Another path is airborne but I'm not sure if it can be powerful enough to shake and resonate with my house (closest is ~20ft) although the unit is rated at 78dB at 125hz and 73.5dBA overall in its sound performance table . if airborne is the culprit then only special acoustic enclosure can help which is expensive and maynot be able to get city approval.

for more context: I use my phone to measure 125hz, right outside window it is 58-60dBC at 125hz; inside with window closed is lower but the pure tone make it very disturbing at night when background is quiet. I Can feel faintly tiny vibration on even my interior wall (not facing outside toward unit)

Any recommendation for next steps? I was going to get some tech out to see if perhaps replacing the compressor grommet may help (unit is 12yr old and no room to lift and use vibration isolation pad) but so far everyone I talked to don't really understand what to look for and no help. Thanks in advance and any help is greatly appreciated.

This is a very stressful situation for me - affects sleep and anxiety. Any recommendation or referral of tech is welcome.

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davidnolan22

(@davidnolan22)

Reputable Member Member

Joined: 11 months ago

Posts: 135

21/11/2025 9:53 am

1) talk to your neighbour, that's unacceptable noise, and try to work through to a solution that keeps relationships and works for all

2) If 1 fails, got to environmental heath at your local council and register a noise complaint. If those figures are correct and backed up by their monitoring, you'll win.

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People_Noise

(@people_noise)

New Member Member

Joined: 3 weeks ago

Posts: 2

Topic starter 21/11/2025 9:17 pm

@davidnolan22

Yes have been communicating woth the neighbor but we are trying to identify the cause and fix. We are separate structures so thinking most likely is the vibration from unit to his new roof and roof reradiate out to my structure through air and shake my wall?

Because there is no noise issue before reroofing so I'm thinking pure airborne directly from the unit is not the main cause so the main fix is isolation of the unit or compressor grommet replacement?

ANy thoguhts would be appreciated.

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