Distance of air heat pump from neighbor's house, fan too close

Hello,

maybe you can help me. Our neighbors to the left also have an air-to-water heat pump for their house. And when I thought our pump was big, I really did not expect the thing that is now standing next to us.

Our neighbors are building a fairly large house including a granny flat, so the pump is probably sized larger. So far so good. They are entitled to that.

However, the pump was built directly on our property boundary (right behind their garage). The fan is directed towards our property. Apart from the fact that our son's nursery is right above that, the fan will soon blow onto our terrace at a distance of 3 meters.

So far the thing has not been running yet, so I don't know how loud the pump is. Our pump already hums more than I thought, so I have little hope that our neighbors' system is much quieter.

Isn't there a minimum distance for heat pumps to the neighbor's house? Do I have to accept the placement of the fan directly facing our property? (Our fan is half facing our house so that we don't disturb any neighbors with it).

Thank you very much,

Julia

Hello Julia,

yes, you probably have to

The pumps are subjected to the TA Lärm due to a lack of regulations, although this is not industrial noise but ambient noise. It is noise caused by a private person and their air heat pump.
Air heat pumps do not require approval or acceptance and may be installed anywhere as they are considered ancillary installations.
Unfortunately, the affected and disturbed neighbors are then burdened with the proof and have to spend a lot of money on noise assessments, lawyers, and court costs, although noise protection measures are by far not as expensive as a court case. Not every suffering neighbor can afford this. Although the noise problem has meanwhile also reached the BMU and the state environmental authorities, they have unfortunately not yet responded. However, this is urgently necessary, as there will be more and more of these pumps. If action is not taken now, we will no longer be able to get this type of noise under control later. Therefore, action must be taken now, and retroactively for all those who are already confronted with a wrongly placed and/or too loud pump.
If the pumps disturb the neighbors, it is, besides the wrong location choice, due to the long running times, too loud pumps, the often buzzing noises, the air circulation noises, the loud defrost noises, and the fact that when disturbed, there is no peace even on Sundays and public holidays and one feels disturbed even in summer because the pump owner has placed the pump on or very close to the terrace, so that one does not even want to open a window at night because the pump also runs in summer, in the worst case even to cool the house of the pump owner. Therefore, the pumps should be installed so that the neighbor does not even notice that an air heat pump has been installed. ... Source: laerm-Luftwärmepumpen.de ...

I hope that the neighbors did not knowingly place them so that their noise is nice and far away from themselves (in the sense of after me the deluge, no matter what happens to the neighbors).
Maybe they were not aware of it?
You can probably do something about the noise, but who wants to immediately come with a lawyer?!
Try to catch them and talk to them... maybe there is a compromise for long-term neighborly peace to turn the unit a bit... of course, this will not reduce the noise, but certain noise guidelines must be observed.

Good luck
Best regards Yvonne

.. that they asked us at the beginning of last year if we minded them building an air-to-air heat pump. ...

But that already implies a bit of intent, even though they seem to know the problems?!

Could the neighbors not adjust the air heat pump so that it blows towards the garage wall?

Good evening Yvonne, good evening Julia,

yes, you probably have to

That is not quite correct.

"For these installations, no immissions control permit or acceptance is usually required; instead, neighborhood and civil law provisions (Building Code §§ 906 and 1004) apply. The installations may only be constructed and operated in such a way that no significant disadvantages or impairments arise from them."

Source: LFU Bavaria

It is therefore correct that mutual consideration is required. I would kindly address the neighbor—if your concerns, Julia, prove to be true—and talk to him about the noise situation. If he remains uncooperative, refer to the above §§ of the Building Code and then see what happens.

Rhenish greetings

If it is directly on the property boundary, you can build a wall (up to 1.20 [Genrhmigungsfrei]?) directly in front of the blower. Then the neighbors are forced to relocate the thing. Simple stone walls can be built cheaply by yourself. But that should of course only be plan B. Plan is rather [Epis Vorschlag].