Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Mystery solved? Avenue A residents track down source of the incessant 'loud mechanical sound'

Updated 8:45 a.m.: The original resident who reached out about the noise last month said that this is "clearly not the issue we are dealing with." And: "We are fairly certain it's coming from mechanical equipment in the rear of the business at 171 Avenue A. We are in contact with them to hopefully get it resolved. Anyone else experiencing this can reach out aLongtimeLesRes@gmail.com.

Also: The sleuths do NOT live on Avenue A as previously reported.

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Late last month, a longtime East Village resident wrote in about "a loud mechanical sound" that has been driving residents along Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street a little bonkers. 

To recap the sound situation: 
Unlike most commercial AC units that cycle on and off, this sound is incessant, and it sounds like a cross between an AC unit and a refrigerator. Occasionally there is a mechanical grinding noise as well. The noise doesn't stop, is loud, and is making it impossible for us to have our windows open and is making it difficult to sleep. 
Over the weekend, some local residents who read the previous post believed that have tracked down the source of the noise — from atop 118 Avenue D in the Jacob Riis Houses at Ninth Street.
So the noise was coming from three avenues away? 

"Yes, it's crazy how this sound carries all the way over to Avenue A," one of the residents told us. 

Now to the sleuthing: 
We just kept circling around trying to find the source. We initially thought it could be coming from the East River Park construction area but when we went there, we heard it coming from inland and we just circled around, closer and closer until we found it. 

We were able to access the roof of 100 Avenue D thinking it came from there and that's where we saw the actual source — the rooftop of 118 Avenue D.

   

Now what?

"We're just not sure how to get the NYCHA to address the issue," the resident said. "We didn't contact anyone about it." (Yet!)

Given the distance from 118 Avenue D to Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street, certainly other residents must be experiencing sound issues as well — especially those who live near the Riis Houses.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

C & 10th here, never heard it.

Jose Garcia said...

11th & C: No noise(s) as described. The atmosphere over toward Avenue A must be rarified. Best, JG

Anonymous said...

Wow that is annoying, imagine living right next to it.

Anonymous said...

This is not the noise we are experiencing. It is clearly coming from the rear of 171 Avenue A. If you would like to help us resolve the issue with the business owners reach out to us at longtimelesres@gmail.com.

Anonymous said...

July 5, 2023 at 8:30 AM

Agree - not the noise we hear, which is more of a constant hum, rather than the railway crossing like sound in the vid.

Anonymous said...

A constant hum with a grinding sound and then a louder burst of griding metallic noise.

Anonymous said...

Sound travels in mysterious ways. I’m not surprised it’s far away

OlympiasEpiriot said...

Geotech engineer here who has dealt with noise level monitoring from blasting. Interesting phenomenon about "air overpressure" is that there are situations where people further from a source hear the noise better than those closer. It seems to be related to the wavelength generated by the source as well as geographic "shadows". In the case of the neighborhood, the shadows might exist due to buildings.

If I can find this info online, I'll come back and give you all a link to read the details; but, in, I believe, the Napoleonic wars, there were battles where villages close to the front but behind the lines enough that they weren't getting shelled didn't hear the battle. On the other hand, the sounds were heard clearly further back from the battle lines.

Anonymous said...

I’m on Avenue D and 5th street. There is an incessant high pitched constant whine seemingly from across the river but who really knows; very faint very annoying especially at night; we sleep with white noise or an air purifier. I have called 311 several times about it; nothing done. Anyone else aware of it?

Anonymous said...

Does it smell like maple syrup?

Anonymous said...

Zero scientific chance that those people's issue is coming from D & 9th, and they are the only people in the neighborhood to hear it.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a faulty industrial fan. I've experienced this on my building when a fan blade becomes loose and grates against the casing. If there is a restaurant or business operating, they should check their fan and tighten the screws. If it does turn out to be a fan, they should also turn it off after business hours. No reason to keep it running 24/7.

Anonymous said...

I complained to NYC EPA about a hum that is incessant, and I thought it was coming from Haven Plaza. But Avenue D could be the source as well.

Jill W said...

@2:11 PM
best laugh all week

Brian said...

This is why most people move out of NYC, especially Manhattan. I think I heard over 50% of New Yorker City dwellers were not born in the U.S. The turnover in residency is astounding. I don't know for sure the percentage. Anyway...the noise pollution, the air pollution, the trash, the high rents/utilities/taxi/food prices. Noise from other tenants, siren/sirens/andmoresirens, dogs barking left alone in apartemnts. And nobody cares, the likelihood that you could get that noise shut down is close to nil. I once sold my coop and moved because the next door restaurant would not fix their exhaust fan or turn it off after they closed for the night. New York crushes the little guy with a million cuts.