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There have been posts in the past, regarding mini-splits and how loud/quiet they are. I'm thinking about changing out my air handler to a quieter one and I'm trying to figure out if it will be worth it. I believe that a couple of people have mentioned their Mitsubishi units are very quiet. Could someone use say a sound level meter app on their phone and let me know what they read about 15 feet from the unit? Mine is about 43dB which I find irritating. Thank-you.
Follow Ups:
why dont you contact some companies and explain to them what you are wanting? I am sure they will gladly come out, and might be able to offer you some suggestions.
That is a good suggestion, applicable to a sane, rational person. I on the other hand very very rarely hire anyone to do anything. I selected and installed this unit, after looking at dB and other specs. At the time the 40dB was acceptable because it was used where I was working and the work related equipment was above 40dB. What changed is that I am now about 95% retired so the other equipment is mainly off.
And what I would anticipate hearing from an HVAC company is that they would not advise mating a air handler/evaporator with another brand condenser because of compatibility issues, invalidating warranty etc. All things that I don't really care about. Meaning I choose to deal with things like that myself.
I tried to measure mine, a 26 SEER Fujitsu, and can only say that it's less than 50db as my old meter only goes down to a 60db setting and the needle never moved from the -10 level. My guess is that it's in the 40-45db level when running.
I also installed some Panasonic units with ceiling handlers for my wife's studio which work differently and they are nearly silent as they run more like a ceiling fan. On the down side, they don't move as much air as quickly if the room is hot. OTOH, they maintain temperatures quite well.
The other down side is that they are harder to install because ours were 24"x24" requiring that we cut the ceiling joist after reinforcing it. Then, to attach them with threaded rods required building a frame to support the installation.
-Rod
Thank-you, I knew they offered ceiling mount, but hadn't any experience with them. I see there are wall mount units that spec 30db low setting fan noise. Since I have a wall mount already, I will probably just look to replace the air handler.
Yeah, changing over to a ceiling mount would be a major project. Looking around, Mitsubishi has units that claim as little as 19db noise levels or a maximum of 43db. I always leave mine on auto, but I switched it over to the lowest fan setting and it was hard to hear at all 5 feet away.
This one is so efficent at 24.6 SEER, it might be better to replace the whole unit as it's likely twice as cheap to run as your old condenser.
-Rod
Thank-you, replacing the condenser is a good suggestion. It just isn't as much of a factor as it normally would be. I live in AZ with a lot of sunshine. A while back I got on a green kick and installed photo voltaics. The result is the difference in energy costs would be negligible. I also appreciate the unit suggestion, I'm hoping to find an air handler under 30dB.
my background SPL from my referigerator in my listening area where the air conditioner is is about 50 DB when the air conditioner is turned off according to an SPL app. Turning on the Fujitsu air conditioner to high after compressor kicked in brought the background SPL to 63 DB. So about 13 DB on high. on low brought it to 55 DB, so 5 DB extra on low.
Thanks BH, if you wouldn't mind spending a bit more time on this, could you check when refrigerator compressor is not running? Thank-you.
I turned off the circuit to my referigerator. No other noise in the house, 51 on low air conditioner setting, 62 on high.-edit-
background SPL without anything on is 48
Edits: 07/15/17
Thank-you BH, that is helpful.
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