Riffing off the earlier post about heat pumps in cold weather (https://lemmy.world/post/10270502), how much noise does your heat pump make?
We’re sandwiched between houses with traditional AC units and in the summer the noise level from each is oppressive. Would I be producing the same amount of noise, year round, if I install a heat pump?
EDIT: the AC units to either side of us are old (at least 10 years) and probably cheaper models. Maybe newer/better ones are quieter?
13 year old heat pump owner here. It sounds like a normal AC running outside. It gets a bit loud in certain moments when it runs some exhaust cycle - not sure of the term for it - but that just happen sporadically here and there and lasts no longer than a few seconds.
The “exhaust cycle” is defrost. When running in winter heat pump mode the outside coils will freeze over and must be periodically defrosted by warming them back up, else the system will stop moving heat effectively.
Varies by heat pump but some simply have a valve that self recirculates the refrigerant without entering the house, as all the compressor power turns into heat work to melt the ice, and is also why they get noisier.
