Vaillant aroTherm 15kW ASHP - problems with council
@mbcool, 7m is a fair old distance. With our ASHP, stepping back 5m reduces sound greatly. Did your neighbour object?
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There are different ways of defining loudness and it's crucial which one is used. Sound pressure level (SPL) is what you hear and what you measure. It depends on the distance from the source and the environment. Sound power level (SWL) is a theorectical measure that depends on neither. It is not measurable but calculated from the sound pressure level.
The SPL of my Ecodan is 53 dB at 1m. It's SWL is 67 dB.
I think MCS says to use SWL but the difference between them is huge in sound terms. Also, doubling the distance from the source theoretically reduces dB by 6. So theoretically @mbcool's 49dB wouldn't even pass if it were 14m away (49-6=43). That seems harsh and would probably rule out a lot of ASHPs out there. I think it's likely that actually measuring the SPL would give a lower number than @mbcool's calculation. If it were 53 dB at 1m like my ASHP, then at 2m it would be 47, at 4 it would be 41, etc. It wouldn't be long before it was just background noise.
Quite a good write up here
https://www.parkerjonesacoustics.com/insights/articles/sound-pressure-sound-power
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