How to prevent a generator from making lots of noise?

Question

My parents put a freezer in my bedroom, and it's freezering away all day and all night, 24/7, and it's driving me to the brink of insanity.

Is there anything I can do to 'mask' the noise of the freezer? It's kind of like a generator but a little bit louder (loud enough to be noticeable). It's just this horrible monotone noise that goes on all the time in my room, I hate it. What can I do to mask the noise of the freezer?

Or for a more general question, how do you mask the noise a generator makes?

Thanks!

Answer 1

There's really no practical way to attenuate the noise from this kind of source. There is no frequency to selectively absorb. You have a broad-band source of noise.

You'll have some success with a room divider made with a sound absorbing material which can enclose four sides around the freezer. You cannot seal it because it needs adequate ventilation for the compressor to work without overheating and burning out. You also should leave some space around the sides. Leave no vertical gaps between the panels or the noise will be able to propagate through.

Additionally, vibration isolation will stop noise from being conducted by the floor. Acoustic tiles suspended from the ceiling will further dampen the noise.

These techniques can reduce the level by half (about 3db) to to 1/16 (9 db)

All this will make getting into the freezer problematic.

This alone may not be enough for you. You might have to investigate ear plugs or some other device that you wear.

Can the freezer be relocated to a porch, balcony, or shelter out of the living area proper?

Least desirable might be to wait until you're so tired you could sleep through it, become used to the noise, or relocate away from it entirely.

Answer 2

I've suffered a similar problem on holiday - a large cool box running all night and keeping me awake. I came up with a workable solution which may be of help here.

First, you definitely need to follow the advice of niels nielsen and make sure there is as little dust as possible on the cooling coils so the freezer is getting as cold as it can. If the door leaks, fix it. Make sure the air flow around the coils is adequate to allow them to cool. This may mean moving it away from the wall a little, many freezers are kept too close to the wall and are overworking as a result.

If the thermostat on the freezer can be adjusted, turn it as COLD as it can go during the day when you aren't using the room.

Before you go to bed, cover the freezer in as much insulation as you can lay your hands on; towels, blankets, quilts etc. Turn the thermostat as WARM as it can go. The compressor will go off and should stay off for a number of hours.

Obviously, if you live somewhere where it gets to be 35 degrees overnight, this won't gain you very much, but the colder the ambient temperature, the more you will gain.

Answer 3

I'd have a long talk with parents --- sort of either relocate the freezer, or I'll relocate me out of the house. They say you can pick your friends but not your family, but for heaven's sake, what parent would want to inflict this upon their kid unless they wanted the kid to clear out.

Answer 4

If you're under 18 call child protective services. If you're 18 or older get a job and save money until you can move out. Then on the day you move out, unplug it.