[Scott Dorsey]

wrote:
Problem:
Our house in the city shares a common wall with our neighbor. At the
back of the house, our dryer vent is positioned about 8 feet from
this
common wall. Nothing is wrong with the dryer according to a repair-
person and anyone's casual observation. The vent pipe is not
obstructed at any point. The exhaust vent fan (or dryer blower?)
does
make a typical "whirring" noise which escapes from the vent and
resonates in a way which disturbs the neighbor. As crazy as it
seems,
I now believe it's a legitimate problem for them due to the
configuration of the buildings and back yard.

So, it's mostly high frequency stuff, coming out of the vent. Put a
90' corner section on the vent outside the house, and direct the vapour
and the sound in another directionl.

My idea is to build a "sound-absorbing" box (approx 2' x 2') which
simply attaches to the building, over the existing dryer vent. I
don't want to restrict air-flow in any way, so the box would have to
have to have an appropriate opening for the air to escape. I'm
envisioning a simple box [a] lined with some sort of thick, sound-
absorbing foam, [b] having a hinged door to allow any cleaning/lint
removal, and [c] having a sufficient design to allow for adequate
air- flow.

An automotive-muffler type cancellation box might be possible as well,
although that's more effective at lower frequencies. But I'd try
redirecting the flow before doing anything else. If the problem is
that the noise is all going in one direction and is effectively being
concentrated, make it go in another less harmful direction.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."