dimprov
New Member
I'm sure noise is a "who cares?" topic for most people. Too bad for them. Ignorance isn't always bliss. I care about getting an accurate noise measurement because I care about getting quality sleep. Yes, quality sleep. Ever wake up tired after a full nights sleep? There are many possible reasons, obviously, but one very real possible cause is environmental noise. Now, I know you tough guys will wave this off, but I'm serious. Wikipedia says threshold for noise producing sleep disturbance is 45 dB(A) or lower. You can prove it in a sleep lab. I've seen the video. It's real.
Anyway, that's why this is more than academic to me, especially in a scenario where tankless might be used for hydronic heating. I have a typical 4 bedroom house, and no matter where I put it, it could bother the sleep of someone in one of those bedrooms. Plain-vanilla tanked would be the quietest, but I'm exploring tankless alternatives for unusual reasons that I won't bore you with. I might be able to build a custom muffling enclosure, using soundproofing materials, if I used a zero-clearance closed combustion tankless. However, it's not as easy as it sounds. If you nail or screw the tankless to a framing member (in the attic say), then noise will conduct through the nails/screws, bypassing the soundproofing. You still get some benefit, but not as much as if it were fully isolated. The intake/exhaust vent pipes can also transmit/transfer noise from the tankless--not to mention the water pipes themselves. Has anyone thought this through and arrived at a solution? If necessary I'll re-invent the wheel, but I prefer not to.
David
Anyway, that's why this is more than academic to me, especially in a scenario where tankless might be used for hydronic heating. I have a typical 4 bedroom house, and no matter where I put it, it could bother the sleep of someone in one of those bedrooms. Plain-vanilla tanked would be the quietest, but I'm exploring tankless alternatives for unusual reasons that I won't bore you with. I might be able to build a custom muffling enclosure, using soundproofing materials, if I used a zero-clearance closed combustion tankless. However, it's not as easy as it sounds. If you nail or screw the tankless to a framing member (in the attic say), then noise will conduct through the nails/screws, bypassing the soundproofing. You still get some benefit, but not as much as if it were fully isolated. The intake/exhaust vent pipes can also transmit/transfer noise from the tankless--not to mention the water pipes themselves. Has anyone thought this through and arrived at a solution? If necessary I'll re-invent the wheel, but I prefer not to.
David
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