I am a new home owner and I am starting to understand why my Dad got
frustrated all those years when something broke in the house. I have
just bought a townhome here in Houston. The compressor units are
mounted on the roof. When the AC starts, there is a loud humming noise
(i assume it is the compressor starting up) for about 15 seconds and
then it drowns out. It cools fine and works great other than the
noise. My neighbor is complaining to me saying it creates to much
noise. What causes this loud hum when it starts? I know that there is
always going to be some kind of hum, when it starts, but this is out of
the ordinary. Any suggestions or tips are appreciated. Thanks.

Joseph

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On 26 Jul 2005 21:12:00 -0700, "J-Man" wrote:

I am a new home owner and I am starting to understand why my Dad got
frustrated all those years when something broke in the house. I
have just bought a townhome here in Houston. The compressor units
are
mounted on the roof. When the AC starts, there is a loud humming
noise (i assume it is the compressor starting up) for about 15
seconds and then it drowns out. It cools fine and works great other
than the
noise. My neighbor is complaining to me saying it creates to much
noise. What causes this loud hum when it starts? I know that there
is always going to be some kind of hum, when it starts, but this is
out of the ordinary. Any suggestions or tips are appreciated.
Thanks.

Joseph

Some compressors are just a little bit noisier than others, even
among specimens of the same model.

Or it could be vibration in the lines. It damps out as headpressure
builds up. If so, something up there could be missing or broken.

It even could be a problem with the installation, and can still be
fixed, but will probably require opening the system, and that
requires a pro...

If it's an older townhome, maybe the neighbors got nowhere
complaining to the previous owner, but now that you moved in...
food for thought...


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--
-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

"J-Man" wrote in message
ups.com...
I am a new home owner and I am starting to understand why my Dad got
frustrated all those years when something broke in the house. I have
just bought a townhome here in Houston. The compressor units are
mounted on the roof. When the AC starts, there is a loud humming noise
(i assume it is the compressor starting up) for about 15 seconds and
then it drowns out. It cools fine and works great other than the
noise. My neighbor is complaining to me saying it creates to much
noise. What causes this loud hum when it starts? I know that there is
always going to be some kind of hum, when it starts, but this is out of
the ordinary. Any suggestions or tips are appreciated. Thanks.


Suggest let him pay to inspect and fix it, if its indeed broken........

--

SVL

In alt.home.repair on 26 Jul 2005 21:12:00 -0700 "J-Man"
posted:

I am a new home owner and I am starting to understand why my Dad got
frustrated all those years when something broke in the house. I have
just bought a townhome here in Houston. The compressor units are
mounted on the roof. When the AC starts, there is a loud humming noise
(i assume it is the compressor starting up) for about 15 seconds and
then it drowns out.

I'm not sure what you mean. Drowns out what? AFAIK, "drowns out"
must be followed by another noise. The first noise is louder than the
second and drowns the second noise out so that the second noise can't
be heard.

Maybe you mean it fades out?


It cools fine and works great other than the
noise. My neighbor is complaining to me saying it creates to much
noise. What causes this loud hum when it starts? I know that there is
always going to be some kind of hum, when it starts, but this is out of
the ordinary. Any suggestions or tips are appreciated. Thanks.

Joseph


Meirman
--
If emailing, please let me know whether
or not you are posting the same letter.
Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

It happened to me when the idiot A/C guy over charged the system. Get a pro
to check it out. IF that is the case, eventually the compressor will die
causing a much bigger repair bill. As far as I could tell the idiot did not
compensate for ambient temperature when he filled the system during the last
service call (it was a cold day).


"J-Man" wrote in message
ups.com...
I am a new home owner and I am starting to understand why my Dad got
frustrated all those years when something broke in the house. I have
just bought a townhome here in Houston. The compressor units are
mounted on the roof. When the AC starts, there is a loud humming noise
(i assume it is the compressor starting up) for about 15 seconds and
then it drowns out. It cools fine and works great other than the
noise. My neighbor is complaining to me saying it creates to much
noise. What causes this loud hum when it starts? I know that there is
always going to be some kind of hum, when it starts, but this is out of
the ordinary. Any suggestions or tips are appreciated. Thanks.

Joseph

The First loud hum fades out to a low hum.

Thanks, I will have an AC guy check it out.

wrote:

On 26 Jul 2005 21:12:00 -0700, "J-Man" wrote:

I am a new home owner and I am starting to understand why my Dad got
frustrated all those years when something broke in the house. I have
just bought a townhome here in Houston. The compressor units are
mounted on the roof. When the AC starts, there is a loud humming noise
(i assume it is the compressor starting up) for about 15 seconds and
then it drowns out. It cools fine and works great other than the
noise. My neighbor is complaining to me saying it creates to much
noise. What causes this loud hum when it starts? I know that there is
always going to be some kind of hum, when it starts, but this is out of
the ordinary. Any suggestions or tips are appreciated. Thanks.

Joseph

One other thing to check is the wiring. Is the gauge heavy enough for
the starting load? I used to work at a place where the actual wiring
in the walls would hum when the AC started. You could hear it
throughout the whole building. There was a repair guy there one day
and I asked him about that. As soon as he heard it, he said the
wiring is too small for the load. He checked, and it was too small.
His method of explaining the hum was because the wires were in steel
conduit and the load actually made the wires heat and vibrate in the
pipe. The sound was eerie. They rewired it a few days later and I
never heard that again.

And if the wires are too small you have a safety issue.