Our IT people have installed some new gear in a server cabinet, housed behind a door but which has vents in it – required to keep a reasonable air flow on the equipment. The problem is that there is now a constant ‘hum’ reported by office workers sitting close to the door – 2 metres away. The readings on a calibrated noise meter are 55dB at the desk closest to the cabinet (background elsewehere in the office is 45 - 50dB). The equipment cannot be relocated apparently. Office space is at a premium.
If we can’t relocate either the kit or the people we could purchase acoustic screens and panels for the door – anyone got any experience of these and do you think that they would be effective in this situation.
Any other suggestions or ideas would be gratefully received.

Check to see if the units can be stood on rubber mats or the fans replaced with quieter ones. I am not sure that acoustic screens will work over such a short distance. You could try to rotate the equipment so that the noise 'points away' from the doors. Also, is the equipment set up such that the fans only run when required and not all of the time?

Some good ideas people, thank you. And as far as it being a stress problem - don't I know it!! Email inbox is full from people shooting off emails in all directions - stress levels are very definitley rising in that particular office.

It depends upon the kit. We has a very high end specification kit for modelling and our IT chaps specified increased cooling resulting in fan noise. A noise attenuation cabinet was also made, but to no avail. Eventually, we had to relocate it inside another room. There may be quiter fans etc, but iy is not a good idea to place such units in offices, especially open plan offices. I did undertake some information research atthat time and found that:-


1) BS8233:1999 –“Code of practice for sound insulation and noise reduction for buildings” recommends 40-45dB LAeq for private offices and small conference rooms, and 45-50dB LAeq for open-plan offices.

2) “Level of noise data”: ASHRAE Handbook, HVAC Applications, Chapter 43, Table 2.Admissible Maximum Levels of Noise:-

Office Buildings
25-35 Executive and private offices
25-35 Conference rooms
25 (max) Teleconference rooms
30-40 Open plan offices
40-45 Circulation and public lobbies
40-50 Research, extensive telephone use, speech communication
35-45 Group teaching
25-35 Churches, mosques, synagogues

Laboratories (with fume hoods)
45-55 Testing/research, minimal speech communication

The values and ranges are based on judgement and experience, not on quantitative evaluations of human reactions. They represent general limits of acceptability for typical building occupancies. Higher or lower values may be appropriate and should be based on a careful analysis of economics, space usage, and user needs. They are not intended to serve by themselves as a basis for a contractual requirement


3) Australian Standard, AS 2107: Acoustics – Recommended Design Sound Levels and Reverberation Times for Building Interiors.
For open plan offices the recommended levels are 40-45dB(A)


There is interesting information from HP, in the form of “HP PCs and Acoustic Noise- Background information on PC noise, and its effect and measurement”
http://www.quietpc.com/download/hp_white_paper.pdf