My neighbor has a compressor

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user123

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I need some education on the use dive compressors. I recently bought a house where my neighbor fills dive tanks for 3-4 hours a day, everyday. I'm getting tired of the noise, but I want to do the neighborly thing and approach him with a win-win solution. I believe he has no store front or dive shop - he meets up with clients out at the various beaches. This is his livelihood, this is how he feeds his family so I respect that, but the sound from his home-based business is driving me mad! I need ideas to engineer out the most bothersome noise. It's not the compressor running that bothers me, but the clanging of steel tanks, and the periodic whistle of the condensate blowdown valve. Are there rubber sleeves I can buy for him to wrap his tanks ? And is there an OEM muffler/ sound diffuser for the blowoff piping? For the guys who have home compressors and use them on a daily basis, what are you doing to lower the noise level for your neighbors? I plan on approaching him with engineering solutions, offering to pay for the equipment ,etc. but if he tells me to mind my own business, then I'll be forced to seek legal counsel, and we all know how that ends up.

Sorry for the long first post, but I need some peace and quiet.........
 
I would first contact the previous owner of your house to see if they had already been down this road with your neighbor. It could save you some trouble and bad attitude from your new neighbor......I bet you got a great deal on the new house!
 
you can get slip on nets for tanks that reduce the clang, in the US the most common are plastic ones and they are a PITA mostly, in Europe a actual net type is used and they rock.

The condensate blow off normally drains into a plastic container, wrapping the container in towels really makes it MUCH less noisy. You'll still hear it but it is worlds better.
 
Thanks for the replies....

@smorneau--- the previous owner had died and that's what brought the house on the market. Talking to our other neighbors about this one neighbor, they all say he's loud, doesn't manage his dogs etc. so I know I need to be extra careful in dealing with him.

@cerich--- good idea about the netting. About the blowoff piping, it exits the rear of his garage and terminates on the outside in his backyard. It blowdowns approx. every 5 minutes...is this a function of time, or level in the condensate trap?

Is it too much to ask that he does this with the garage doors closed? Is there some regulation that requires the incoming air comes from the outside of the workspace?
 
I don't know where your located, but here is a little general information and maybe a bit of advice.

I can't really help from the other side of this concern as I have no close neighbors.

As to your question about the open garage door, when filling scuba tanks it is important that the fill air be as clean as possible, ideally the intake should be ducted to the outdoors, elevated and well away from any potential contamination. It is possible he does not have a ducted intake and therefore keeps the door open to get fresh / cool air into the compressor. This leads into the next point compressor filters last longer when used in air with lower levels of moisture (this is a matter of total moisture in the air not relative humidity), in most places the air is driest at night. As to the tanks clanging this is most likely the tanks hitting each other when he moves them about or putting them down on concrete or other hard floor. A simple rubber floor mat may go a long way in reducing this, the same goes for any type of tank storage rack, wood, PVC pipe, or something more professional as long as it keeps the tanks from hitting each other they will be much quieter. As to the auto drains I suspect there is some product to keep them quiet since there are so many dive shops that have compressors in the back room.

My advice is approach the guy reasonably, explain things much as you have here, offer to buy him some rubber mats, maybe even the material to duct his intake (it does take surprisingly large ducting as compressors do not like operating with any amount of intake restriction, for a typical mid sized compressor this might be 4-6 inch PVC drain pipe if ducted 20-30 feet, longer runs need bigger pipe)

Ike
 
Yes, it would also drive me batty. But in reality I am surprised its allowed by the local ordinance, here you are not allowed to operate a commercial business in a residential area, you may apply to get a license to run a small office based business, but the local ordinace would close down something of this nature fairly quickly were someone to complain.

Anyway, there's some good suggestions here already, route the air intake outside and close at least some of the doors, rubber mats, you can get silencers for the Automatic condensate drain but they are quite expensive, so you will probably not want to go there, unfortunately yes it would be very irritating to me as well and I am not sure I would be so accomodating,... I hope it gets sorted soon.
 
Check with zoning and see what the property is zoned for. There could be state and local rules governing home businesses or if you live under an HOA, they may have rules regarding noise and/or home businesses. However, you may find that he is well within his legal rights, so you might not be able to do anything through the legal system.

Craig
 
This is an easy fix just have him insulate around the compressor wall room and run a hose from his oil and mositure seperator into a bucket coverd by a wooden box this will silence that air gushing noise.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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