Are Heat Pumps Noisy? Siting And Planning In The High Peak, Greater Manchester, Sheffield And Leeds
You may hear one in a cold spell or a defrost, and doubling its distance from next door’s window takes about 6 dB off.
Key Takeaways
- MCS 020 a) separates the sound power a unit makes from the sound pressure that reaches next door.
- In the standard’s own example a 60 dB(A) unit 8 metres from a bedroom window comes out at 32.0 dB(A) there.
- A solid wall that hides the whole window takes 10 dB off, and hedges or trellis take nothing.
- The one-metre boundary rule went in May 2025, so a unit by the fence can be permitted development if it passes the sound calculation.
- Detached houses can have two units under permitted development, and other houses one.
In This Guide
Are heat pumps noisy enough to bother next door? In England the test happens at a spot one metre outside your neighbour’s bedroom or living room window. The standard the planning rules point to, MCS 020 a), sets a limit of 37 dB(A) at that spot, and the installer works the level out on paper before the unit goes on the wall. The version in force is Issue 1.1, dated 14 April 2025.
If the calculation passes and the unit meets the other permitted development conditions, you need no planning application. If it fails, you have four routes: move the unit, add a solid barrier, pick a model with a lower sound rating, or apply for planning permission. We run that check for the exact spot on your house before anything is fixed, on jobs across the High Peak, Greater Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds.
Heat Pump Noise In Numbers
Two Figures, One Worked Example
- Heat pump advice mixes up two decibel figures. The sound power level is the noise the unit makes at source, printed on its energy label and product sheet.
- The sound pressure level is what reaches a particular spot, such as that window next door, after distance, walls and fences have taken their share. MCS 020 a) turns the first into the second.
- Its own worked example takes a unit with a sound power of 60 dB(A), on the ground against one wall, 8 metres from a neighbour’s first-floor bedroom window, with a brick wall in between that hides part of the view.
Level At The Window In The Example
The answer comes out at 32.0 dB(A), 5 dB under the limit (MCS 020 a), Appendix A).
Two rules in the standard carry most weight:
- The installer has to use the unit’s normal sound power figure. The quieter “low noise mode” figure is not allowed in the calculation
- Every neighbouring habitable room window or door that could hear the unit counts, on all sides, because the closest one is not always the loudest
Older guides quote 42 dB(A), a figure from the previous MCS 020, which added an assumed background noise level to the sum (MCS 020 consultation response, November 2024). If a neighbour has read one of those, the test that counts is 37 dB(A) at their window with the unit’s full rating, and you can ask to see that working before you agree a spot.
The Times You Might Hear It
A unit that passes the calculation can still be audible at times. MCS’s installer guidance lists them: cold spells when the unit works harder, while it heats your hot water, during a defrost cycle, and when it needs maintenance or has a fault (MCS, Installation Guidance for Mitigating Noise from Air Source Heat Pumps, V1, September 2025).
That gives you a few practical controls:
MCS also advises telling the neighbours what to expect before the unit arrives. A word over the fence before install day costs nothing, and a well-sited unit gives them less to notice in the first place.
Siting: Where The Unit Goes
Distance
In the standard’s formula, doubling the distance to a window takes about 6 dB off the result. Moving a unit from 4 metres to 8 metres from the nearest window next door takes off a little more than a solid wall that hides part of the view, which counts for 5 dB.
Reflecting Surfaces
Sound bounces off hard surfaces within a metre of the unit, and each one raises the level at the neighbour’s window. MCS 020 a) counts the ground and walls but not plants. A unit on the ground against one wall has two reflecting surfaces; tucked into a corner it has three. A unit boxed in by more than three, such as one in a small lightwell, fails the standard outright.
Barriers
Masonry Wall Or Thick Solid Fence
A brick or masonry wall, or a solid fence at least 18 mm thick with no gaps, extending a metre or more past each side of the unit, takes 10 dB off when it blocks all view of the window and 5 dB when it hides part of it.
Thinner Solid Fence
A thinner solid fence takes 5 dB or 2.5 dB. Hedges, trellis and gappy fences count for nothing, however thick they look.
Facing And Fixings
MCS’s guidance says to face the unit away from neighbouring homes and your own habitable rooms where you can, and to avoid enclosed corners. Anti-vibration feet and flexible hose connections cut the hum travelling into the wall.
We keep the unit away from bedrooms, with siting checked against the sound calculation and the planning rules inside the design, before we promise anything. The standard asks the installer to keep one copy of the completed sound calculation and give you another, so ask for yours, whoever fits your system.
Terraces, Semis And Small Yards From Glossop To Leeds
The sums above give different answers street by street, and the type of house decides which of them bites.
Stone Terraces With Walled Yards
In Glossop, New Mills and Whaley Bridge many terraces have a small back yard with stone walls on two or three sides. Each wall within a metre of the unit counts as a reflecting surface, so a unit pushed into the corner of the yard scores worse than the same unit set out from the walls.
Semis With A Side Passage
On a semi in Stockport, Marple or south Manchester, the side passage looks like the tidy spot. It puts the unit between two walls and close to next door’s side windows, so the back garden often passes the calculation where the passage fails.
Back-To-Backs And City Terraces
A back-to-back in Leeds or a terrace in Sheffield with no yard can leave the front wall as the only option. That works at ground-floor level outside a conservation area, but inside one a wall facing the road is ruled out, and the job needs a planning application.
Detached Houses With Room To Spare
Out on the edge of Hayfield or Chinley, distance does most of the work: a detached house has room to put the unit well away from any neighbour’s window, and it can take two units under permitted development.
At the survey our lead engineer tries each possible spot against the sum, so you see the trade-off between the neat spot and the quiet one before the design is fixed.
Space Around The Unit
The clear air the unit needs around it comes from the manufacturer’s manual for the exact model, so the space around a possible spot is part of the survey.
The old rule that kept a unit at least a metre from the boundary went in May 2025. A unit near the fence line can now be permitted development if it passes the sound calculation, and a solid boundary wall can count as a barrier in that sum. On a narrow plot that opens up spots the old rule shut, and we check them against the clearances your model needs.
Planning Permission: The Rules In England Since May 2025
New permitted development rules for air source heat pumps came into force in England on 29 May 2025 (SI 2025/560, amending GPDO Schedule 2, Part 14, Class G). A heat pump on a house needs no planning application if it meets these conditions:
- Up to two units on a detached house, and one on any other house or block of flats
- An outdoor unit no larger than 1.5 cubic metres on a house, or 0.6 cubic metres on flats
- The unit passes the MCS 020 a) sound calculation
- It does not sit on a pitched roof, or within a metre of the edge of a flat roof
- Outside conservation areas and World Heritage Sites, it does not go on a wall that fronts a highway above ground-floor level
- It is not used solely for cooling
The unit also has to be sited to limit its effect on the look of the building and the area, and removed once it is no longer needed. Listed buildings and scheduled monuments fall outside these rules, so a listed home needs a planning application and, where the work affects its character, listed building consent.
Conservation Areas And The National Park
Ruled Out In A Conservation Area
Inside a conservation area, the unit cannot go on a wall or roof that fronts a highway, or anywhere nearer to a highway than the part of the house closest to it.
Where That Points The Unit
In practice that points the unit to the back of the house or a side wall away from the road.
The Peak District National Park Authority lists air source heat pumps among the devices that may not need planning permission, and asks owners of listed buildings or homes in conservation areas to contact it first (PDNPA, Planning questions and answers). The park boundary runs through the High Peak, so two addresses a mile apart can sit under different authorities: the National Park Authority inside it, High Peak Borough Council outside. A council can also remove permitted development rights for an area with an Article 4 direction, and a lawful development certificate gives a binding answer when the position is unclear (GOV.UK, When is permission required?).
Councils Beyond The High Peak
Each Greater Manchester borough decides for its own homes, Stockport, Tameside and Manchester among them, and Sheffield City Council and Leeds City Council decide in those cities, each with its own conservation areas and any Article 4 directions. For a house in Chinley, Marple or Crookes, we check the authority and any conservation area before the design fixes a position, so you don’t find out after the unit is on the wall.
If A Neighbour Complains About The Noise
A council has to look into a complaint about noise that may be a statutory nuisance, meaning noise that interferes unreasonably and substantially with the use of a home. If the council finds one, it serves an abatement notice that makes whoever is responsible stop or restrict the noise (GOV.UK, Noise nuisances: how councils deal with complaints). Before it gets that far, four steps help:
If a fixing we fitted has worked loose, our two-year workmanship guarantee covers putting it right, and our Heat Pump Care Plans put you ahead of non-plan customers for a visit, where availability allows. If running costs are your other worry, our heat pump costs guide works through the install price and the bills.
The fixed quote that follows also sets out what the system will cost to run, and our heat pump installation page has the full install process.
Questions About Neighbours, Boundaries And Quiet Mode
Will my neighbours in a High Peak terrace hear the heat pump?
They may hear it at times, most likely in cold weather, during a defrost or while it heats hot water. For permitted development, the calculated level at their nearest window has to come out at 37 dB(A) or lower, using the unit’s full sound rating.
Can a heat pump go next to the boundary fence in Stockport or Manchester?
Yes, in England since 29 May 2025. The one-metre rule no longer applies, but the unit still has to pass the sound calculation, and a neighbour’s window close to the fence makes that harder.
Can I have two heat pumps on a detached house in Hayfield or Chinley?
Yes. MCS 020 a) has a separate calculation that adds the two units’ sound together at each window, so the pair has to pass as a pair.
Does quiet mode get a heat pump through the noise rules in Sheffield or Leeds?
No. The calculation uses the unit’s normal sound power, so the siting has to pass without quiet mode.
Do I need planning permission for a heat pump in the Peak District National Park?
Often not, if the unit meets the permitted development conditions above. The National Park Authority asks owners of listed buildings and homes in conservation areas to contact it first, and we check which authority covers your address at the survey.
Sources
- MCS 020 a), Appendix A
- MCS 020 consultation response, November 2024
- MCS, Installation Guidance for Mitigating Noise from Air Source Heat Pumps, V1, September 2025
- SI 2025/560, amending GPDO Schedule 2, Part 14, Class G
- PDNPA, Planning questions and answers
- GOV.UK, When is permission required?
- GOV.UK, Noise nuisances: how councils deal with complaints
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Find The Right Spot Before Anything Gets Fixed
At the free design survey our lead engineer measures the house and looks at where the outdoor unit can go, with siting checked against the sound calculation and the planning rules before anything goes on a wall.