How Loud Is Air Conditioning? | What Is Silent Mode?

As technology has moved forward, we ask more of our advanced systems, including innovative features and practical requirements. This includes making sure your technology doesn’t distract or irritate, which is where a noisy system may let you down.

If you need a quiet home office to be able to focus, or if noise at night keeps you awake, then you’ll need your air conditioning unit to be as quiet as possible! So just how loud is air conditioning? In this blog, we answer just that!

What Is a Decibel Rating?

A decibel (dB) is used to measure noise. The louder a sound, the higher the decibel level. On average, our indoor air conditioners will make 19-50 decibels of sound, whilst the corresponding outdoor unit will make about 46-50 decibels of sound.

For context, a fridge humming will make about 40dB of sound, whereas a vacuum cleaner will come in at about 70dB. Average home noises and conversational speech will be around 55 and 60 decibels, respectively.

The Inner Workings of AC – What Makes the Sound?

Sound reduction within modern air-con systems is maximized using inverter technology, which reduces energy consumption and volume. It does this by regulating the speed of the motor instead of switching it on and off when in use.

Plus, all our outdoor units come with vibration absorbency either on the bracket where it’s fixed on the wall or the feet where the unit touches the floor. This helps to further reduce any sound produced by our outdoor air conditioning units, whilst our indoor units are whisper quiet in general use. Keeping your air conditioning unit in optimum condition helps to reduce the noise output, too!

How Silent Mode Works

Most air conditioning units as standard will run at full speed. However, there is also an option for them to run at reduced capacity, on average at around 60-70% of full speed. This mode is sometimes called the quiet setting but is more often referred to as silent mode.

By reducing the fan speed of your air conditioning unit, you also reduce the sound. This mode reduces the noise level of your system to as low as possible whilst still cooling the area.

However, the cooling effect is lessened slightly in this mode and so the room may not reach the desired temperature as fast. This is simply counteracted by turning off silent mode until you’re happy with the temperature.

If you’re finding that your unit is excessively noisy, this may be a sign that there is a fault somewhere, and may potentially need repairing. Here are our 4 signs that your air conditioning unit may need repairing.

How Loud Is Air Conditioning: Units in Action

No matter what, writing is never going to demonstrate the sound of an air con unit as clearly as hearing it yourself.

If you’re curious about what exactly air conditioning sounds like, check out our videos below of one of our Mitsubishi LN systems in operation – one of our most popular models!

Indoor Unit

The operation of this unit is so quiet the nearby ticking of a clock is more noticeable!

Outdoor Unit

The soft humming from this unit is easily overshadowed by the sound of the birds.

For direct comparison with other sounds, you can also view the below video of the Mitsubishi AP in operation and find out more about its convenient features too!

How Loud Is Air Conditioning: Air Con in Action!

And there you have it! Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of how loud air conditioning is, but if not, to hear how loud our units are in-person, you can book an appointment for a tour of our newly opened showroom. A range of our commercial and domestic air conditioning units are on display and team MAC will be right there to answer any questions!

These units and more are also all available for online purchase including their complete installation– you can use our free online calculator to provide the pricing and more information about each of the models, or simply just to get a quote!