Rules stymie heat pumps

The temperature could hit 90 degrees today, but Carol Frink already was steaming when she learned that the heat pump she paid a $7,300 deposit for couldn't be installed this week because of a change in the way Olympia processes permits.

"They can't finish the job because the city won't let them," she said of installers.

City officials said they have issued permits more slowly for heating and air-conditioning systems since April because they are more closely scrutinizing how much noise the devices make.

The change has affected several residents looking to install heating or air-conditioning systems and prompted a meeting Thursday between the city and contractors who install the appliances.

Change considered

The City Council's land-use committee will consider changes to the city's noise regulations Monday that could affect where heat pumps could be placed, as well as ways to make them less noisy.

Solutions include requirements for where to place outdoor appliances, noise blankets, noise walls and special fan blades, said Keith Stahley, the city's director of community planning and development.

Delays

Tom Hill, the city's permits and inspections manager, acknowledged that some permits have been delayed but said they are being issued.

"The long and short of it is that we're in a better position now to begin to release some of the applications for these heating and cooling units that have been kind of stuck in a circle for a little bit," Hill said.

He said the city had delayed issuing three permits for heating or cooling systems but finally had done so. He said three other permits have yet to be issued. Hill said the city hasn't received an application for a permit for Frink's heat pump, but it's possible a contractor could have requested one.

The delays started because of a resident's complaint more than a year ago about a neighbor's heat pump. The city hadn't received a noise complaint about a heat pump before, said Hill, who has been a city employee for more than 20 years.

The complaint, which hasn't been resolved, prompted city leaders to enforce the city's noise law, which states that heat pumps can't emit noise that could be measured at 55 decibels in a neighbor's yard during the day and 45 decibels in the evening, Stahley said.

Meeting requirements

Further complicating things, "there aren't any standard market-provided ... heat pump, heating and cooling systems that meet the requirements," Stahley said.

"There isn't a whole house system we're aware of that is compliant coming out of the box," he added.

It's unclear how many units are in violation. The city only responds to complaints about noise, Hill said.

Stahley said most heat pumps emit 70 to 72 decibels and would have to be 40 to 50 feet from a property line to be in compliance.

But what about residents such as Rose Ann Penney, who said her lot is only 40 feet wide?

Penney said she recently learned that the air-conditioning unit she requested from Sunset Air in Lacey couldn't be installed because of the city's scrutiny.

"I was really surprised," she told the council Tuesday.

Stahley acknowledged that such situations will have to be addressed as the city encourages denser development.

Representatives of the building and contracting industries were confident that a solution is near, but they would not be specific.

Brian Fluetsch, president of Sunset Air, said the "issues have been pretty well resolved" in Thursday's meeting with the city.

Will Stakelin, government affairs director for the Olympia Master Builders, agreed.

"I think the good news is there's going to be a resolution to this in the very near future," he said.

But Frink said she's without cooling during the hottest weather yet this year.

"I blame thoroughly the city of Olympia," she said. "They've just shot themselves in the belly."