Depending on the location of your outdoor (condensing) unit and the floorplan of your home, a noisy unit may destroy the peace and quiet of your garden and may even be a sound nuisance when you're indoors. The sound level of outdoor units is measured in bels (similar to decibels), on a scale from 0 (barely perceptible) to 13 (the loudest). Most air conditioners operate at 8 to 9 bels. The quietest units operate at 6.8 bels. This may not sound like a wide range, until you learn that a 9-bel unit is 10 times louder than an 8-bel unit. In other words, one 9-bel unit makes as much noise as 10 8-bel units put together.

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