Solving Heat Pump Vibration and Noise for Teign Renewables

Introduction

When vibration problems appear in residential developments, they can quickly become more than a technical inconvenience. In one AVMR project for Teign Renewables, the challenge was a background hum from heat pumps installed in homes within a village development. The hum was not subtle. It was clearly noticeable and unacceptable for the people living there.

At that stage, the client faced a difficult choice. Alternative solutions would have been far more expensive and would likely have required major redesign work. That would have meant more disruption, more time, and significantly higher cost.

The problem

The issue was structure-borne vibration. The heat pump system was transferring unwanted vibration into the building, where it manifested as an audible hum inside the homes. Problems like this are often frustrating because the equipment may appear to be functioning correctly in a narrow technical sense, while still creating a poor user experience.

For the client, the question was not whether the heat pumps worked. The question was whether the homes were comfortable, quiet, and acceptable for occupancy. That is an important distinction, because successful vibration control must be judged by the reality of the application, not just by the nominal performance of the equipment.

The heat pumps were generating structural vibration which could be felt throughout the building they served.

AVMR’s approach

AVMR treated the issue as a vibration isolation problem at source. Rather than pushing the client towards a much larger redesign, the company designed and manufactured a vibration absorption foot specifically to address the operating conditions of the installation.

The solution took some testing and refinement. That is often necessary with real-world vibration problems, because the behaviour of the full system matters more than any single component in isolation. But the engineering objective remained clear throughout: remove the vibration pathway and stop the hum from entering the homes.

The product family that emerged from this type of application is reflected in AVMR’s lightweight pedestal mount. It represents the practical side of AVMR’s design philosophy: build products around real problems, not abstract assumptions.

AVMR installed an adapted version of their lightweight pedestal mounts along with a unistrut adapters that AVMR designed for the product.

The outcome

The outcome was exactly what the client needed. After the solution was implemented, no noise could be heard or felt anymore. The intolerable background hum had been eliminated.

That result mattered for two reasons. First, it solved the immediate problem for the homes involved. Second, it avoided the need for a much more expensive and disruptive redesign. In other words, AVMR did not just supply a mount; it delivered a practical engineering solution that resolved the issue at a fraction of the likely alternative cost.

What this project shows

This project is a strong example of why vibration control should not be treated as an afterthought. A relatively focused intervention at the right point in the system can be far more effective than broad and expensive changes elsewhere.

For developers, HVAC specialists, and building services engineers, the lesson is simple: if vibration is allowed into the structure, the cost of dealing with it later can rise quickly. If it is isolated properly at source, the solution can be faster, cleaner, and far more economical.

The AVMR difference

AVMR’s role in this project was not simply to provide a product from a catalogue. It was to understand the problem, develop a fit-for-purpose solution, and work through the testing needed to achieve the right result.

That is the wider value of AVMR’s approach. The company’s products matter, but they are most powerful when supported by engineering judgment and a clear focus on solving the real issue faced by the customer.