Before we dive deeper into sound blankets and how to use them with your air conditioner, let’s go over the different types of sound you’ll be dealing with in your AC unit.

Structural Noise in an Air Conditioner

Structural noise occurs when one object makes contact with another, passing vibrational energy through the structure, which is heard as noise. For example, if your air conditioner is installed directly against your house so that the unit is touching your walls or if the unit is on a concrete slab, structural noise is part of the problem. If it is structural nose you are dealing with, you should be able to distinguish that from the other noise, and even feel the vibrational energy being transmitted with your hand. Unfortunately, sound blankets aren’t designed to help with structural noise. Instead, you should decouple your air conditioner unit from the wall.

For structural noise, your best options are to isolate the two hard surfaces from each other. We use rubber isolation pads or a heavy duty rubber mat to accomplish this goal. If you can decouple the two hard surfaces from each other, you’ll stop the structural noise.

Airborne Noise from an AC Unit

Airborne noise is any sound that travels through the air. This type of sound can transfer through the smallest gaps and cracks in a wall and can easily be heard through thin barriers. Examples of airborne noise with an air conditioner include the compressor or the fan whirring. The best way to deal with airborne noise is to add density and absorption to a structure, so sound blankets are an effective combo treatment for air conditioners needing airborne noise reduction.

STEP ONE: BUILD A FENCE OR ENCLOSURE

For a residential air conditioner, you'll want to build a fence or some kind of support structure (wooden fences are pretty common for this application). The two biggest keys for this step are to ensure that the fence is placed near the AC unit and that it is at least 50% taller than the air conditioner (we’d love to see 2x the height!). If you don’t want to enclose the unit on all side, just make sure you're okay with sound escaping in the direction of that opening.

STEP two: ENSURE the air conditioner gets proper ventilation

We talk a lot about creating “airtight” soundproofing application to prevent sound leaks. DO NOT seal off the air conditioner completely, because air conditioners need airflow to function properly. If you seal off the enclosure completely, you’ll damage the unit. We recommend adding a slanted roof to the top of the enclosure with an opening that points away from wherever you don’t want the noise to get the benefits of a roof without actually having a roof. Once you line the inside of the enclosure, any sound that does escape will head in the direction you face that opening.

STEP Three: Use Air Conditioner Sound Blankets on the Interior of the Enclosure

If you already had an enclosure or you just put up a new fence for this project, to make your fence or enclosure soundproof you can line the inside of the box with Our Quiet Quilt™ Outdoor Soundproof Blankets or Quiet Quilt™ Outdoor Acoustic Blankets. Whichever you need,ake sure to cover the entire interior of the enclosure so that as the sound is hitting as many absorptive surfaces as possible. Again, make sure you get our outdoor rated blankets, so they’ll last 15+ years in the elements. Here's a quick chart to decide which sound blanket is right for you.

COMPRESSOR Blanket PROS and CONS

You may have already heard of a sound blanket also referred to as a compressor blanket. This is a covering for the compressor inside the unit. Some AC units comes with one and some have manufacturer recommended covers. Here are a few pros and cons to decide if getting a compressor blanket is right for you: 

If you need more help soundproofing your AC unit or have any other soundproofing queries, feel free to reach out to us. Sometimes treating the exterior around the unit isn't an option, in which case we can use the interior version of these blankets to soundproof the windows. If you have more questions or want to talk options, a soundproofing expert at Second Skin is always ready to help!

Second Skin sound blankets are an easy and versatile way to reduce airborne noise. Unlike a “normal” blanket, our Quiet Quilt Soundproof Blankets include a sheet of mass loaded vinyl as a backer behind the absorptive face. MLV is effective at stopping sound transmission because it is VERY heavy, making it an excellent soundproofing material.

Our Quiet Quilt Outdoor Soundproof Blanket is incredibly dense, weighing 1.5 pounds per square foot. The grommets on the blanket make it straightforward to install and remove when needed. The product is also UV rated, waterproof, and wind load tested, so it is designed specifically for outside use.

The Quiet Quilt Soundproof Blanket has an STC rating 33 with a 2” thick absorber on the front. When we install it as an enclosure around a piece of machinery, we see a noise reduction of at least 10 decibels and can often get to 15+ with a four sided enclosure. Please keep in mind that we are talking about building an enclosure AROUND an air conditioner, not covering the sides of the unit. We do not recommend hanging blankets (or anything else!) directly on the air conditioner.

The best way to soundproof an air conditioning unit is to utilize existing fencing around the unit or to build fencing around it before lining the enclosure with sound blankets.

Soundproofing a Commercial Air Conditioner with Sound Blankets

For commercial air conditioning units, there’s typically safety fencing already around the unit. The install in this situation is extremely simple because we’ve already got a chain link fence. We’re going to utilize the existing fencing and hang the Quiet Quilt Soundproof Blankets with your contractor's recommended zip ties or wire ties from the pre-installed grommets. The results are awesome, and the sound will be greatly reduced.

Alternatively, you could consider hanging one of our high-performing MLV rolls!