Durham homeowners say high school's HVAC units are too noisy: 'It's all hours'
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- An annoying constant humming noise is irritating homeowners in a Durham neighborhood. It's known the noise is coming from a nearby school, but homeowners say they can't get it to quiet down.
One of the homeowners Doug Ramsey said, "I hear it constantly, day and night." Another resident, Andrea Fiumefreddo added, "It's all hours. So pretty much any time I have the fortune of working from home two days a week, I hear it on my Zoom calls." Yes even inside her home, Fiumefreddo says they can hear the noise.
The residents who are upset with the noise live in the Fieldstone by the Eno neighborhood in Durham say this noise doesn't stop. Tom Snyder says, "I was in the backyard today mowing the grass, I could still hear it, and it's just loud."
They discovered the source of the noise was coming from the HVAC units at Riverside High School just across this tree line from their neighborhood.
Fiumefreddo says, "They've identified it as a chiller so it's cooling the school. They said it's operating normally. It hasn't happened in the seven years I've lived here until this year and I think it's probably not functioning as normally as it would."
The residents banned together and signed a petition and then contacted school officials to try and put a stop to the noise. Ramsey added, "I think it's the nighttime that bothers me the most. If you're lying awake, it just it's insidious. You can't escape it. You can't unhear it. It's like a car alarm going off down the road. It's annoying. You can't do anything about it."
They did get responses from district officials that state the school took action to try and lessen the noise, but these residents say it didn't help. Pat Jordan a homeowner says, "We love hearing the marching band and we love listening to football games on our back deck. That's great, but this is not a pleasant noise to listen to all the time. It's rather annoying."
ABC11 Troubleshooter Diane Wilson reached out to Durham Public Schools who said after receiving complaints they've added compressor covers to the HVAC units and they've also had two contractors conduct some troubleshooting and have been told that the sound is appropriate based on the size of the equipment and its outside location.
The homeowners say that is not a solution to the constant noise coming from the HVAC units. Ramsey adds, "We'd like this thing fixed. This must be a simple thing, but no one has had the will or the time or whatever have you to do it and it's affecting all of us."
The representative for DPS adds, that during high temperatures, the unit runs non-stop. As temperatures drop, we expect that the sound will decrease. These homeowners say we've had some cooler temps and the noise is still there.
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