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Noise limits for air conditioners, pumps and heat pumpsA guide by Dotto

Channel 2 of 4

Pool pumps, heaters and heat pump water heaters

In New South Wales a pool pump and a heat pump water heater sit in separate rows of the rules, an hour apart on weekend and public holiday evenings. Victoria puts swimming pool, spa and water pumps in its group 3.

  1. VICHours
  2. NSWHours
  3. TASHours and limits
  4. ACTDecibels
  5. SANuisance test
  6. WALimits
The desk, with this guide’s channels lit: VIC, NSW, TAS. A stop marks a set figure, an hour or a level; South Australia’s channel has none, because its test is whether the noise is a nuisance.

In New South Wales, a pool or spa pump should not be heard inside the home next door on weekends and public holidays before 8 am or after 9 pm, and on other days before 7 am or after 9 pm. A heat pump water heater is left out of that row and given its own: on weekends and public holidays it should not be heard before 8 am or after 10 pm; its weekday hours are on the NSW EPA’s page. In Victoria, pumps share group 3 with home heaters, and on weekdays that group should not be heard before 7 am or after 10 pm.

General informationDotto is not an acoustic consultant, an engineer or a noise regulator. Dotto holds no engineering registration. It does not measure, assess, test or reduce noise, and does not offer or arrange that work. This is general information, not advice. The hours below are as at the dates of EPA Victoria’s and the NSW EPA’s pages, which are linked at the foot of this page and are the place to check them.

Which row a machine sits in

Victoria’s group 3 is a mixed row. It names swimming pool, spa and water pumps, and home heaters, among them central heating, hot water systems, and a heat pump, air conditioner or split system used for heating. So in Victoria a hot water system and a pool pump keep the same hours.

New South Wales separates them. Its pump row covers swimming pool and spa pumps but expressly leaves out heat pump water heaters, which have a row of their own a little further down the NSW EPA’s table.

  1. VIC Pumps and home heaters (group 3) Weekdays: not after 10 pm or before 7 am. Weekend hours: in EPA Victoria’s row, printed below.
  2. NSW Pool and spa pumps Not after 9 pm on any day. Not before 7 am, or before 8 am on weekends and public holidays.
  3. NSW Heat pump water heater Weekends and public holidays: not after 10 pm or before 8 am. Weekday hours: on the NSW EPA’s page.
Each stop marks the evening hour from which that row says the machine should not be heard in the home next door; the morning hours are written under it. As at EPA Victoria’s page of 23 May 2025 and the NSW EPA’s page of 31 August 2026.

Two exceptions in Victoria cover every group: equipment needed in an emergency, and an air conditioner run while a Department of Health heat health warning is current. The second names air conditioners only. A council officer may still assess an air conditioner’s noise as unreasonable during such a warning.

Two exclusions in the fine print

A pump filling a header tank

Victoria’s group 3 names swimming pool, spa and water pumps with one exception written into the row itself: a pump being used to fill a header tank. EPA Victoria’s page says nothing more about that case.

A heat pump water heater in NSW

On weekends and public holidays the NSW pump row ends at 9 pm and the heat pump water heater row at 10 pm, so a heat pump water heater is read off its own row, not the pump row. On the NSW EPA’s list of noisy household equipment the two appear together, as pool pumps or heat pump water heaters.

One Saturday evening, as an example

An example, not a real caseIn New South Wales, a pool pump and a heat pump water heater both start on timers at 9.30 pm on a Saturday, and both can be heard in a bedroom next door.

The pump is inside its restricted time, which began at 9 pm. The water heater is not yet, because its row runs to 10 pm. By 10.15 pm both are inside their restricted times.

After a warning in New South Wales

A council officer or NSW Police can warn a person who runs noisy equipment in the restricted times, and pool pumps or heat pump water heaters are on the NSW EPA’s list of that equipment.

A fine of $400, or $800 for a corporation, may be imposed on anyone who “continues to make noise up to 40 days after being warned”.

The penalty for breaching the legislation is given separately, at $400 if an individual breaches it and $800 if a corporation does, and a court can order up to $5500 against an individual or $11,000 against a corporation. Those figures are as at the NSW EPA’s page of 31 August 2026.

A council has a further step for household machines. Under section 264 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act, it can serve a noise control notice covering noise from animals and from household appliances; the notice can confine the noisy activity to certain times or days, and if it is ignored the council can fine or prosecute.

Tasmania

Tasmania’s Regulations count pumps, and heating and cooling devices, among the common sources given prohibited hours. They also set noise emission limits for fixed equipment such as heat pumps, which EPA Tasmania says are relatively easy to measure. The 2026 Regulations note the penalties for prescribed offences. EPA Tasmania’s table of prohibited times lists pumps only within mobile machinery and portable equipment, and the page gives no emission limits, so this guide gives no Tasmanian figures for these machines.

What each row turns on

  • The machine. In Victoria a pool pump and a heater share group 3; in NSW they do not.
  • The day. Victoria splits weekdays from weekends and public holidays; NSW splits weekends and public holidays from “any other day”.
  • The room next door. Victoria’s test is a habitable room, meaning any room except a kitchen, pantry, bathroom, toilet, laundry or storage area. The NSW table counts a residential room, and leaves out a garage, a storage area, a bathroom, a laundry, a toilet and a pantry.
  • The page’s date. EPA Victoria’s page is dated 23 May 2025 and the NSW EPA’s 31 August 2026.