Tempers are heating up over air conditioner noise

Simmering alongside summer temperatures in recent years has been a rise in complaints over airconditioning noise.

With more close-quarters development in the city, bylaw officers have been responding to an increasing number of people fed up with neighbours’ air-conditioning racket, said Brad Johnson of the City of Calgary ’s community standards section.

“It is getting more common, especially with development downtown and air-conditioning being closer and closer, they’re having an effect on that, for sure,” he said, referring to noise from airconditioning systems that rise to highrise condos.

Last year, which included a summer of record-breaking heat, bylaw officers responded to 257 calls on air-conditioning noise and vibration, compared with 131 in 2012.

So far this year, there have been 144 complaints made to the city, roughly on track with last year’s number, said Johnson.

In the warmer parts of the year, bylaw officers receive 20 to 30 calls a month about noisy cooling units, he said.

Most of those revolve around nighttime annoyances, when the legal allowable decibel level after 10 p.m. is 60, or the equivalent of a nearby conversation in a restaurant or office.

“When it goes above that level, that’s when we can start looking at charges, but we always try to look at education and a better outcome,” said Johnson.

“If it affects peoples’ sleep, that’s the kind of conflict nobody wants ... People are trying to rest and they’ve got their windows open.”

But he said laying charges in such situations is “very, very rare. With warnings and education we can usually get it resolved.”

In many cases, the air-conditioning units are running improperly or they’re on a timer, which escapes the notice of its owner, said Johnson. Fines for noise violations range from $250 to $500.

Air-conditioning conflicts are a relative rarity in a city with long winters and cool summer nights, said Kathleen Ladner, co-ordinator of Community Mediation Calgary Society.

“But we have had complaints over that noise and vibrations,” she said.

By far the most common complaints received by the independent agency that seeks to resolve neighbour disputes involve trees and fences, said Ladner.

She said complaints overall would be reduced if neighbours knew each other better.

“People don’t generally know their neighbours and when issues come up, it’s harder to approach them if they don’t have a relationship to build on,” she said.

“It’s really about opening up communications.”

She said the agency, which works alongside city officials and police, manages to fully resolve 74 per cent of its mediated cases, while 23 per cent are partially resolved.