{"id":114722,"date":"2026-08-15T07:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/?p=114722"},"modified":"2026-08-15T07:21:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:21:22","slug":"quieting-my-loud-air-conditioner-condenser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/quieting-my-loud-air-conditioner-condenser\/","title":{"rendered":"Quieting my loud air conditioner condenser"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have two condensers: one is nice and quiet and the other is insanely loud. I thought it was just the compressor itself and so I put a sound blanket around it. I was sad that it didn&#8217;t seem to make much difference. So then I thought maybe it was the fan motor bearings and replaced the fan motor for $145. Here are the results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Fixing a loud air conditioner condenser with a sound blanket and then a fan motor replacement\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KilmS7YNbQo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The blanket installation was pretty easy. You just unbolt and lift off the fan and then slap it on there. I used a utility knife to make some cuts around the coolant pipes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doing the fan motor was pretty easy too. Same thing but you unhook the fan wires from the capacitor and circuit board and then pull them through the conduit. Then you pry off the round plastic cover with a flatheat screwdriver and unbolt the fan motor. The fan blade comes off with a socket wrench. The replacement motor I got had the exact same color coded wires so that was easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260815_100928-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Old A\/C fan motor\" class=\"wp-image-114724\" srcset=\"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260815_100928-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260815_100928-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260815_100928-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260815_100928-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260815_100928.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Old A\/C fan motor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hardest part by far was fishing the wires back through the conduit. I used my fiberglass fishing rods to push a piece of twine through and then tied it to the wires and yanked them through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I replaced the capacitor while I was at it for good measure while I was in there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260813_170540-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Top of old capacitor\" class=\"wp-image-114725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260813_170540-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260813_170540-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260813_170540-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260813_170540-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/20260813_170540.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Top of old capacitor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The motor noise is totally gone. The compressor noise is still louder than the other unit but it&#8217;s substantially better. Overall I&#8217;m happy now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have two condensers: one is nice and quiet and the other is insanely loud. I thought it was just the compressor itself and so I put a sound blanket around it. I was sad that it didn&#8217;t seem to make much difference. So then I thought maybe it was the fan motor bearings and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/quieting-my-loud-air-conditioner-condenser\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Quieting my loud air conditioner condenser<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housework"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114728,"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114722\/revisions\/114728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partofthething.com\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}