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Neighbour's noisy electric shower

  • 29-10-2015 1:31pm
    #1
    Appolonia1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12 ✭


    Hi,

    I live in a semi-detached house.
    My neighbour’s shower is very noisy, and wakes me up every morning, 2 hours before I need to get up.
    Is there anything I can do?


    More info:
    I recently moved into the house, and as part of building works, installed sound insulation on all walls connecting my house and my neighbour’s house (semi-detached).
    The sound of my neighbour’s shower can be heard all over my house, and wakes me up every morning (even through ear-plugs!). There are vibrations as well as noise (e.g. the noise is even louder in my bathroom, which is on the opposite side of my house to the neighbours house).

    My builder and I went into the neighbour’s house to have a look at their shower.
    It is a Mira Elite electric shower. It is installed on an internal stud wall.

    My builder was saying there is very little they can do – if it was a pumped shower they could insulate the pump or make sure it was properly leveled, to reduce vibrations.
    But since it is an electric shower, nothing can be done with it.

    My builder suggested I buy a new quieter electric shower for my neighbours. I would be happy to do this, if they would agree to this.

    Questions :
    • Can anyone recommend a quiet electric shower? Since it is my neighbours house, I don’t want to suggest any more complicated solution, like a power shower with a pump in the attic.
    • Since sound insulation was installed inbetween my and my neighbour’s house, should this not have blocked out the sound of the shower? Should I push back on my builder more on the quality of the sound insulation?

    Thanks for any advice.
    Appolonia


Comments

  • #2
    Sleeper12
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,279 ✭✭✭✭Sleeper12


    You can get the mira elite qt supplied and fitted for around 320 euro. This is a new shower. The pump is smaller & quieter. Mira claim 75% quieter.


  • #3
    Appolonia1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12 ✭Appolonia1


    Thanks for the suggestion of the Mira Elite QT – I’ll look into it.

    Someone else suggested a Triton T80, which is mains water fed, and doesn’t have a motor in it, and is almost silent.
    If our mains water pressure is strong enough (>1bar, I think) would this be a valid option?


  • #4
    Sleeper12
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,279 ✭✭✭✭Sleeper12


    Appolonia1 wrote:
    Someone else suggested a Triton T80, which is mains water fed, and doesn’t have a motor in it, and is almost silent. If our mains water pressure is strong enough (>1bar, I think) would this be a valid option?


    I wouldn't be happy with a t80 mains fed shower if I were the neighbour. You can test the water pressure and it could be 2 bar at the time but the pressure fluctuates throughout the day and night. When the pressure drops a safety device stops electricity going to the elements. This means no hot water. There are people in Dublin that can only shower at off peak times. For some this is 9pm to 7am. Others can only get hot water after midnight. I promise this option will be a disaster. Over 90% of calls regarding mains shower repair end up being down to the water pressure and not the shower.


  • #5
    SteeveeDee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 103 ✭✭SteeveeDee


    Not sure if any of this will help at this stage but I fear you may have gone about the "sound insulation" in the wrong way. Essentially what you want in a situation like yours is sound isolation, mass and absorbing materials will help in this matter however you best bet would have been to install resilient channels with decoupling clips and perhaps some Quietrock plasterboard with an extra layer attached with green glue. It may still be possible to do this,however it will cost money and you'll lose some space.

    You could also try to decouple (using varying methods depending on the setup) the actual shower unit form the stud wall and also decoupling the stud wall from your shared wall.

    It sounds like the noise from the shower unit is being amplified through vibration of the structure on your side and probably actually louder than if you were beside the shower yourself! Even if you get a quieter shower,you will still have a similar issue. I think your best bet overall is to work your percentages and combine different methods.

    1. New quiet shower.
    2. Decouple the vibration of the shower from your neighbours structure
    3. Failing that decouple as best you can on your side.
    4. Some extra mass added using Quietrock and Green Glue. (I can vouch for both of these products, brilliant if used correctly)


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