Air conditioning noise survey

Air conditioning BS 4142 noise surveys are normally required in each of the following 2 situations;

1. Before you install a noisy piece of equipment
2. After a noise complaint has been made.

The point of the noise survey is to establish the actual level of the potential noise source in this case an air conditioning unit and to formulate an effective mitigation strategy.

If you have been asked to carry out a noise survey on an air conditioner, then you will need to engage a noise consultant. Sound Solution Consultants are specialists in carrying out noise surveys such as the BS4142 Noise survey. In order to ensure that your survey fills the Local Authorities requirements, we would, once engaged on the project, contact the L.A and establish the required criteria and duration of the survey.

We may then contact the manufacturer of the airconditioning unit in order to find out what noise data they have for the equipment. To carry out the necessary calculations, we would obviously need a set of drawings covering the site.

The duration of the noise survey itself, would depend on the type of source and its intended duration of operation, in the case of an air conditioning unit we would expect its operating hours to be mainly within the average working day. Background noise levels can change through the day, as well as day to day, so the survey is designed to establish the worst case scenario and establish whether this new noise source, would affect any local residents. The measurement equipment would normally be manned for the duration of the survey if the units operating hours are Monday to Friday 8am till 5pm. Otherwise the kit would probably be left over night or over a weekend however if there are no secure buildings on the site then we would probably need to arrange personnel to supervise the kit and to avoid theft or tampering. The survey must be carried out during mild weather conditions, excessive wind or precipitation will affect the results of the survey, therefore we try and avoid these conditions when arranging the survey.

Some units can also emit vibrations when mounted onto buildings and this may happen in the case of an air conditioning , during our survey, we would also look at this to see if there is any risk, if required we would offer mitigation advice to avoid the risk of vibrations affecting local residents.

Once the survey has been completed, a full report will be submitted to you to pass onto the local authority. If any mitigation measures are required then we would normally consult with you prior, to completing the report, so that you can review the options open to you.

If you are interested in completing a BS4142 Noise Survey then contact Sound Solution Consultants on 08455 212096 for a quote. For more information on the different types on surveys carried out by Sound Solution Consultants, please visit our Noise Test page.