Woman furious after $460 fine for loud heat pump

A Mascouche homeowner is contesting a $460 fine after the city deemed her heat pump too noisy.

A woman from Mascouche, Que. is challenging a $460 fine after the city determined her heat pump was too loud.

Maria Filippi says she had the unit inspected and found it to be in good working order, but a complaint from a neighbour led to an inspection by the city that found it exceeded the allowable noise level.

“They did their test in one minute to assess the noise of the machine. One minute!” Filippi said.

Filippi then called her own expert to make sure her heat pump wasn’t making excessive noise.

“I got my machine tested. I got it cleaned. I got the paperwork,” she explained.

While she is concerned about more potential complaints, she doesn’t plan on replacing her heat pump, which she says works perfectly fine.

“I’m not going to change and spend $20,000, and then you’re going to come back and say it’s still not silent enough.”

Experts told CTV News that modern heat pumps are generally smaller and much quieter.

The City of Mascouche did not grant CTV News an interview but in a statement said that its noise bylaw applies to all tools, appliances and machinery that can potentially make noise.