Why is my ac unit so loud
Air Conditioner Noisy and Loud
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hey guys jay here with word of advice tv
in many of my videos i've been seeing
comments about noisy air conditioners
and people have been asking what can
cause all those different noises on air
conditioners so i sat down and started
making a list and it's actually quite a
few things in fact the list that i made
i'm sure it's not extensive it doesn't
cover everything but i came up with 14
things that can cause an air conditioner
to be noisy it's a pretty big list so
let's just jump right in in no
particular order reason number one is a
fan motor that is going bad so if the
bearings inside of a fan motor are
starting to go bad oftentimes it's going
to start squealing super loud there's
going to be a grinding noise kind of
like a metal on metal sound it sounds
really bad so whenever the air
conditioner is running this fan will
always be making that noise the best way
to deal with this noise problem is to
simply replace the fan motor now if
that's not an option for you or maybe
you don't wish to replace it because
it's running fine just making a
horrendous noise what you could do is
oil the motor most modern air
conditioners are going to have a
permanently oiled condenser fan motor
but some of them still do have those
plugs little oil plugs that you can take
out and squirt oil into but if your
motor does not have those little oil
plugs what you could do is take the
motor out by taking this whole top piece
off
flipping it over
and oiling it straight at the shaft
basically where the shaft comes into the
motor you can just squirt oil right into
there usually i use a zoom spout oiler
with a little spout that comes out with
turbine oil and that works great it can
quiet it down for a couple weeks maybe a
couple months and sometimes i've had it
where it went for years without any
problems and without any noises if you
would like to see an example of how this
top piece comes off i have a video of
how i replaced the condenser fan motor
on this unit so you can check that video
out to see how i flipped this thing over
and how you would oil it right at that
spot where the shaft comes into the
motor reason number two is a cracked or
broken fan blade i've seen it quite a
few times where there's a crack in the
fan blade and that thing makes a whole
ton of noise and it's sometimes really
hard to see it's just a hairline crack
but as it's spinning really fast that
crack opens up and that makes quite the
racket and with time usually what
happens is that whole blade will break
off so sometimes i'll come out to a unit
where there's a noise complaint and i'll
look from on top and i could see that
for example there's supposed to be four
fan blades but there's only three
and then the fourth one is laying on the
floor somewhere the solution to this one
is pretty obvious and you simply have to
replace that fan blade if you're not
sure how to go about ordering the right
part for your air conditioner i do have
a video where i explain how to order
hvac parts reason number three is a
noisy contactor
usually it's going to be a really loud
buzzing sound that's coming from your
air conditioner and if you're hearing a
really loud buzz most of the time it's
going to be coming from this contactor
what you could try to do to confirm it
is to simply take the electrical panel
off the cover piece
and then
preferably using an insulated
screwdriver right now my power is
completely off so i can do it with this
one without worry
just tap on it
on the contactor it'll either have a
cover or just going to be a plunger just
try tapping on it
and see if that changes the buzzing
noise at all if tapping it like that
makes the noise go away and it doesn't
come back great but if the noise keeps
coming back no matter how much you tap
it then you know that the contactor the
contacts on it are probably getting
pitted you could try cleaning them but i
haven't had much luck with doing that
before
so generally if a contactor is really
loud it's buzzing and you can't make it
stop i would just replace the whole
contactor it is a pretty cheap part and
i do have a video on how to replace one
if you need it reason number four is
loose screws on the condenser grates
so the top cover it gets attached with
screws to this great cover or the guard
that's all around the condenser unit and
what i've seen sometimes is these screws
are going to be loose and as the unit is
running it vibrates and these grates
from the vibration they start to rattle
against the top cover or the shroud or
sometimes the screws are loose on the
bottom
so an easy thing to check and fix is to
simply check all these screws make sure
that none of them are loose and if they
are go ahead and tighten them down you
can use a nut driver if you don't have a
nut driver just use a ratchet wrench
with a socket and go ahead and tighten
all the screws around on your unit and
oftentimes if it's like a rattling noise
that's coming from the unit itself from
the surroundings that will be enough to
take care of it problem number five is
noise coming from the top shroud the top
cover of the air conditioner this unit
probably wouldn't have a problem like
that but some air conditioners have this
top grate
it kind of looks like a dome
and there are screws that connect it on
the outside perimeter
this fan motor is mounted right in the
middle so most likely that wouldn't be a
problem but then again if these screws
were loose it could be a problem so that
is one thing you could check to make
sure these screws or bolts are tight
but mostly what i'm talking about here
is one of those dome shaped ones that
have the screws on the outside
and sometimes that top grate or shroud
once again is going to rattle from the
vibration and just hit on the cabinet of
the air conditioner on the top cover and
that rattle could get pretty loud the
easiest solution to this is to simply
take a pair of pliers find the spot that
is hitting the cabinet and just bend it
a little bit bend it upwards and problem
solved if that's not enough what you
could do is put a washer between the
bolt
and that shroud to just raise it a
little bit so it's not making contact or
the easiest solution yet i've seen
people simply take a big brick and put
it right on top of their air conditioner
and that seems to work just great they
say they've had it like that for five or
ten years and they don't care that
there's a brick on top of their unit
noise problem number six is a loud
compressor now i do want to point out
that some scroll compressors are loud
when they start and when they turn off
sometimes they come off with like a big
click and a rattle and that seems to be
normal for those scroll compressors they
they operate like that and every time
they turn off they sound like that
mostly what i'm talking about here is if
the compressor is noisy while the unit
is running it could be a variety of
different sounds like a grinding or a
clanking or screeching and if this noise
problem is accompanied with your ac not
cooling the house then most likely that
compressor is shot the pistons inside
the compressor may be broken maybe
there's something wrong with the valves
or if it's a scroll compressor the
scrolls are grinding against each other
all of that is bad signs and you
probably will have to call out an hvac
technician to take a look replacing
compressors is really expensive so most
of the time people end up getting a
whole new unit if it's the compressor
that's bad and i actually had this down
as number six and seven so my points
were if it's making a noise when it's
starting and shutting off that's normal
especially if your air conditioner is
working just fine cooling the house no
problems you're just irritated about the
noise and number seven was if it's noisy
all the time that's usually a bad sign
turn it off call a technician but if
your unit is running a little loud and
there's nothing wrong with it there is
one thing you could do and that's to put
on a sound blanket on the compressor and
that can reduce the noise that that
compressor gives off up to 50
so those things really do work by the
way i have had people tell me that they
don't know the difference they can't
tell if it's the fan motor or the
compressor that is making the sound it's
very easy to isolate that problem and
here let me show you quick how you would
do it for example on this unit right
here i have the power completely off
right now
what you would do is look at the
condenser fan motor from the top and see
if you can see what wires are coming out
of it if you can't that's okay you
should be able to find them and trace
them from inside the electrical section
as well in my case the wires that come
out of the fan motor are these three
right here so what i would do with the
power completely off is disconnect all
the wires that are coming from the fan
so i would disconnect this wire right
here
this one from the capacitor and this one
from the capacitor then make sure that
the wire connectors are not touching
anything metal just leave them hanging
out like this or even better yet you can
just put some black electrical tape
around it to make sure they don't touch
and short anything out so once you have
all the wires from the fan motor
disconnected go ahead and turn the power
back onto your air conditioner and see
if it's still making that horrendous
noise
if the air conditioner stops making the
noise whatever noise it was making with
the condenser fan motor disconnected
well then of course you know that the
problem is in the condenser fan motor
and you can do the same thing with the
compressor just trace what wires come
from the compressor
and then go ahead and disconnect those
wires and only let the fan motor run and
see if it's still making that noise or
you can disconnect both of them and then
set your thermostat to cooling and that
should pull in the plunger on the
contactor so if you're not sure if the
buzzing noise or whatever sound is
coming from the contactor or not that is
one thing you could do as well or even
easier yet would be to turn off the
power to the condenser unit outside but
turn the thermostat on to cooling and
you can do that simply by following the
electric whip and turn the power off at
the disconnect or you could also turn
the power off at the breaker panel
inside the house that way the only thing
that is energized outside at the
condenser unit would be the contactor
coil right over here but everything else
the high voltage side will be turned off
and reason number eight is if your air
conditioner is running and while it's
running sometimes you hear it rapidly do
like a double click sound like click
click click click click click but the
unit does keep running as it's doing
that usually what is causing this is the
thermostat maybe there's a loose wire in
the thermostat you could take the
thermostat off the base and just gently
tug on each of the wires see if any of
them are loose and if they are tighten
them down and another thing that i've
seen a few times before are weak
batteries on the thermostat and they
were causing the unit outside to short
cycle like that just to rapidly turn on
and off and sometimes it would be so
fast that the unit would actually keep
running so two practical things you
could try doing to fix that if you're
hearing that on your unit is check for
loose wires at the thermostat itself and
also at the furnace control board
there's also a thermostat strip over
there and replace the batteries on your
thermostat and reason number nine is
bubbling sounds sometimes this can be
caused by a plugged up drain or a
partially plugged condensate drain so
the drain pan which sits on the bottom
of the evaporator coil usually water
gathers up in there and then it goes
down the drain port and into the drain
hose or the pipe depending on what kind
of setup you have if that drain port or
pipe is partially plugged the water is
going to start to pool up and you're
going to get like this gargle sound as
it kind of gargles or bubbles into that
pipe so if you're hearing a noise like
that you could try cleaning that
constant drain line out and hopefully
that will solve your noise issue another
thing that can kind of cause that
bubbling or gurgling sound is the
refrigeration lines so if you're inside
by your furnace typically it's going to
be by the furnace by the metering device
and you're hearing a bubbling sound
inside of the refrigerant pipes wherever
they're coming in from typically what
that means is that there's some small
air bubbles trapped inside of the
refrigeration systems so as the
refrigerant is flowing through the pipes
it's making that little bubbly noise if
your unit is working just fine and
you're not having any problems i would
just ignore it because fixing something
like that will become pretty expensive
because they have to pull all the
refrigerant out vacuum the unit and put
new refrigerants in and number 10
rattling noises inside these can come in
many variations and forms and honestly
you just have to track it down just
listen to the noise and see if you could
narrow it down where's that noise coming
from i can give you a few different
examples one call i went on the lady was
saying that her furnace is making a
really loud rattling sound and when i
came down there there was a metal
picture frame leaning on the side of the
furnace so whenever the furnace blower
motor would come on with the air
conditioner the furnace would start to
vibrate a little bit and that would
cause that metal picture frame to rattle
so all i had to do was remove that metal
picture frame and problem solved another
time i had a piece of insulation from
the bottom of the furnace come undone
just one corner and every time the
blower motor comes on you would just
hear that thing flapping away really
fast just
they thought something was really wrong
but really it was just that thing so i
secured it back down with just some tape
and everything was good another similar
example is when the bottom of the
furnace it was like a thin piece of
sheet metal underneath that insulation
it had come undone like a few of the
corners i guess with time with rust and
whatever else they came undone every
time the blower motor came on there was
a rattle with this one i cheated a
little bit i simply took a piece of 2x4
and shoved it in between the blower
motor housing and the bottom of the
furnace and noise was gone and last
example the noise was coming from
ductwork so once again customer calls me
out because of a noise complaint i come
out there and i just start listening so
i narrowed it down to the ductwork and i
found a patch of sheet metal i guess
they opened up the ductwork at one point
that they had put on there and taped and
with time that tape came undone every
time the blower motor came on it would
start to rattle as the patch the piece
of sheet metal and the ductwork was
hitting each other so i peeled the old
tape off put a new piece of sheet metal
tape on and everything was good so long
story short if the noise is coming from
inside the house when the air
conditioner is running try to narrow
down where exactly that noise is coming
from and oftentimes fixing it will be
pretty easy and number 11 is whistling
noises inside the house if you're
hearing this by the furnace most likely
it's either a very very dirty furnace
filter try replacing it or just take it
out and see if that changes the noise or
maybe the a coil the evaporator coil
that sits on top of the furnace is
frozen over if there's a bunch of ice
there then the air is struggling to get
past it and that's what makes that
whistling sound almost like you crack a
window open and you hear that whistling
sound similar to that an easy way to
find out if your coil is frozen and not
is to simply go outside and there's a
good chance that the line one of the
refrigerant lines the suction line the
bigger one is going to have some ice
over it and maybe if you look inside of
the unit you're going to see some icing
on the pipes inside and the compressor
itself if you see any ice outside that
means the unit inside is completely
frozen over and if you're wondering what
could cause that i have another video
called eight reasons why your air
conditioner is freezing up so take a
look at that and one more thing that
could cause a whistle is blocked off
return drills so if you have big returns
in the house and you have a couch in
front of it or something else a shelf
placed right in front of it that could
cause it to be whistling and actually
really those things should not be
blocked at all so if you have anything
in front of those return grills make
sure to move them away so that return
girl has room to suck the air in from
inside that room and while you're at it
check and make sure that those return
grills are not full of dust and a bunch
of other dirt if they are that could
cause a little bit of a noise as well as
it's sucking air in through it clean all
of that up is going to make your unit
more efficient and it will reduce the
noise number 12 is hissing noise if this
is new if it's a new development where
your unit turns off and you can hear a
hiss even with the air conditioner off
is just a steady hissing noise that
usually means there's some kind of a
refrigerant leak somewhere that's a bad
sign you probably will want to call out
a technician to take a look and discover
where that leak is coming from and
hopefully get it fixed this type of
hissing noise could be heard inside or
outside for example if you're mowing
your grass and you hit a rock
and when you're done mowing your grass
as you're walking past your air
conditioner you hear a hissing noise
that's probably a bad sign but there is
one more other type of hissing noise
which is a lot louder and that happens
from the compressor so if for some
reason the condenser fan motor does not
turn on or if your coil is super dirty
the compressor is going to start to
overheat the pressures inside of it are
going to start going up and if the
pressures build up too much the
compressor has an internal pressure
relief valve that will pop open and it
will start hissing super loud if that
happens and you're standing next to the
unit when it starts hissing like that
it's really startling it's almost like
the compressor blew up or something if
something like that happens that is a
pretty serious problem i would turn
everything off immediately and just
check it
first i would check if the condenser fan
motor is good if that thing was not
running that's probably why the
compressor overheated and just take a
look at your coil if it's completely
plastered with dust and cottonwood and
whatever else clean that up real good
before you try running the unit again if
you want to check the condenser fan
motor without turning the compressor on
remember how i mentioned you can
disconnect the wires so just do that
same thing here in this situation you
would just disconnect the compressor and
turn the unit on and see if that fan
motor comes on and moving on to number
thirteen number thirteen is a pulsating
noise or a little buzzing noise inside
the house typically on the walls or
inside the walls or the ceilings what
i've seen caused this before is the
refrigerant line sets so these copper
pipes if you trace them from the unit
where they go into the wall
sometimes with time depending on what
kind of insulation they put around these
pipes that insulation will come out or
maybe wasps used it as building material
or something
and if for some reason whatever
insulation was around those pipes is
gone these pipes are gonna start rubbing
or vibrating against the wall of the
house and that vibration is going to
spread out throughout all of the wall
and maybe the ceiling so like pretty
much your whole lower floor is going to
have this little vibration sound going
all through it so one good thing to
check is to see if these pipes are
touching any part of the wall or any
wood outside and inside the house if you
have open ceilings especially so you can
see those copper pipes it's good to see
if they're touching against anything and
causing that vibration or pulsating
rattling sound
if you do discover a spot where the
pipes are touching the wall or something
else without any insulation in between
them then simply put some rubber or foam
insulation wrap it around those pipes or
just in that one spot to dampen that
noise and stop the vibration from
spreading out through everything and
number 14 the condenser base is making
noise so on this unit this would not be
relevant
but on many air conditioners they just
have a slab underneath of it and for
many of them that slab underneath it is
going to be plastic what can happen with
time is maybe the dirt gets washed away
or the rocks kind of go away from
underneath it and that pad becomes
imbalanced and once again when the unit
comes on and starts to vibrate that
might cause it to shake a little bit and
cause that pad to make a rattle noise
this problem would be really easy to
check simply go all around the air
conditioner and just press down on the
pad from all sides or try pulling it up
and see if that stops the noise if it
does all you have to do is simply lift
the pad up a little bit and shove some
dirt and rocks underneath it and
hopefully that's going to be all that is
needed to solve that noise the few times
i've encountered that just sticking some
stuff underneath the pad was all that
was needed to take care of that noise
well guys and that is all i had for you
today i hope you found this list useful
i did go through a little bit quickly
and that's because there was a lot of
stuff to cover but i know i may have
missed some stuff and if i missed
something that you know of please let us
know in the comments below thank you so
much for watching this video don't
forget to mash that like button on the
way out and i'll see you next time
and if you're still here and not in the
comments section below i got a good dad
joke for you when you're out eating a
hamburger with somebody so this is what
you say how did the hamburger introduce
his wife
he said meet
patty
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