[follies]

We have a small problem with our neighbours, we have just had to move ourselves to a different room in the house as our son outgrew the bassinette and the crib was too big to fit into the room we were sleeping in. The room we are in now was being used for storage and before that was my bedroom but is too cold for a baby to sleep in during winter as it is partially underground as we live on a sloping block but has big windows.

Unfortunately outside that window is the neighbours air con, They had used this CONSTANTLY during winter but as they had just moved in and we were trying to be nice we didn't say anything about it, it was just an annoying buzzing sound and we figured when the weather got warmer and they saw their power bill the would stop (they later mentioned that it was unexpectedly high) and they did.

However the past couple of days they have gotten home at 10pm and blasted the air con so high that it shakes our house. They do it for 30 minutes only, it wakes our baby (6 months) scaring the hell out of him and changes his sleep pattern from two blocks of 6 hours to waking every 2-3 hours.

Anyway, I have done a little research and found that this is an offense that can be fined by the EPA if they are made aware of the problem and fail to rectify it, so my question is how would you approach them about it as it is making our lives hell?

This post has been edited by follies: 30/11/2012, 04:35 PM

[Escapin]

i think you'll just have to bite the bullet and go and tell them. Maybe even ask them to turn it on and then come and stand in your son's room so they can hear the racket. Not quite sure how they could rectify the situation tho - can you get noise dampeners for air con units?

[laridae]

Knock on the door, say 'hi' and let them know that its really noisy? It may just need servicing.

[Overtherainbow]

Sorry, why is it an offense? Is it the time it's on, the proximity to your home, the noise or something else.

All of our neighbours have outside aircon. units. Most of us tried to put it away from our own bedrooms and the main sleeping areas of others. The people behind us have theirs close to our room and have it on most of the year. I have learnt to tune out to it.

[Julie3Girls]

Not sure how close the air condition is? But I wouldn't think a normal airconditioner would be THAT noisy if it was working properly?

So I'd take the good, helpful neighbour approach.

Hi X, I was wondering if you have had any problems with your air conditioner? We've noticed that it's incredibly noisy - it's actually been waking up the baby at night! I know you mentioned your electricity bill was pretty high - maybe the airconditioner needs to be serviced? Might be worth getting someone to check it out, see if there is anything wrong making it that loud. Might save you some money on your bill, and let our baby sleep at night LOL

[LookMumNoHands]

Seriously? If a neighbour asked us to turn our air con off, I'd tell them where to go.

[follies]

Sorry, why is it an offense? Is it the time it's on, the proximity to your home, the noise or something else.

All of our neighbours have outside aircon. units. Most of us tried to put it away from our own bedrooms and the main sleeping areas of others. The people behind us have theirs close to our room and have it on most of the year. I have learnt to tune out to it.

You can read about it here

[follies]

Not sure how close the air condition is? But I wouldn't think a normal airconditioner would be THAT noisy if it was working properly?

So I'd take the good, helpful neighbour approach.

Hi X, I was wondering if you have had any problems with your air conditioner? We've noticed that it's incredibly noisy - it's actually been waking up the baby at night! I know you mentioned your electricity bill was pretty high - maybe the airconditioner needs to be serviced? Might be worth getting someone to check it out, see if there is anything wrong making it that loud. Might save you some money on your bill, and let our baby sleep at night LOL

We did that during winter (except for the baby bit), it is a very old unit and out of the 5 families that have bought/rented the house in the past 10 years they are the first to use it.

[GreenEggJimmyJam...]

Not sure how close the air condition is? But I wouldn't think a normal airconditioner would be THAT noisy if it was working properly?

So I'd take the good, helpful neighbour approach.

Hi X, I was wondering if you have had any problems with your air conditioner? We've noticed that it's incredibly noisy - it's actually been waking up the baby at night! I know you mentioned your electricity bill was pretty high - maybe the airconditioner needs to be serviced? Might be worth getting someone to check it out, see if there is anything wrong making it that loud. Might save you some money on your bill, and let our baby sleep at night LOL

i like this approach. But would also add in a timeframe ie 'could you arrange to get it looked at in the next two weeks so we can get a decent night sleep?'

[Dinosaurus]

A/C shouldn't be making that much noise, so I'd also approach them with the "helpful neighbour" handshake - not only will it help you, it will help reduce their power bill to ensure it is running correctly

All the best.