stfu air conditioner!

September 4, 2010 5:20 PM

How to quiet down our AC window unit that seems to make an entire wall resonate?

The unit is loud enough as it is, but when I go into the room next to where the window unit is located, it's even worse because (I presume) of how the wall resonates. We're in an older bungalow-esque sort of apartment in Los Angeles. It's not what I'd call a super sturdy building. Is there some sort of foam or something I can place around the unit to absorb these vibrations? There are gaps of a few inches on each side of the unit (filled in with that accordion plastic stuff) and I can adjust the window height.

posted by mandymanwasregistered to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

There is foam made for sealing window gaps such as made by sashes when you put a window unit under one of them. (I use this to keep out bats and bees and such, as well as the energy efficiency aspect.) It's about 2" on a side and you can buy it in various multi-foot lengths. Mashing that in where the AC touches the window might help some.

You might get the most benefit, though, from some type of cloth wall hanging on the wall opposite the AC (in the same room). That would deaden some of the noise vibration before it even gets to the wall.
posted by dhartung at 5:35 PM on September 4, 2010

The vibration comes from the bottom, most likely, where the unit sits and connects to the structure. Try putting a foam matte under it, not a foam rubber packing material, more like the foam a diving suit would be made of. Try a rubberized doormat, cut to fit, lift the unit, slip it under.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:26 PM on September 4, 2010

You want to isolate(/absorb) the vibrations at the point they're being transmitted into the wall. The typical way to isolate vibrations in an automobile is to prevent direct non-compressible material contact. That's a generic way of saying "use rubber between hard things".
posted by TheNewWazoo at 9:27 PM on September 4, 2010

Response by poster: I think I found the perfect use for my old yoga mat! I shall give this a try.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:28 AM on September 5, 2010