West Bloomfield, MI Noise from Specific Sources: HVAC & Mechanical Noise (2026)

Section 15-141(d)(10) exempts the operation of customary, lawfully installed appliances and equipment such as furnaces, hot water heaters, refrigerators, exhaust fans, air conditioning units, pool pumps, and other such devices from the numeric decibel limits set in subsection (c): 85 dBA between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. and 75 dBA overnight. Unlike the construction, delivery, lawn-service and generator exceptions in the same subsection, this one carries no time-of-day window and no duration cap: a central air conditioner or pool pump can run continuously, day or night, without violating the Township's baseline noise standard, as long as the unit is customary and was lawfully installed, meaning it complies with whatever building and mechanical permits the Township required at installation.

An unusual or improperly installed unit, such as an oversized commercial condenser retrofitted into a residential yard without permits, would fall outside the plain language of customary, lawfully installed equipment and could be measured against the flat decibel caps instead. The exception sits within Section 15-141, Chapter 15, Article V, Offenses Against Public Peace, last amended by Ordinance No. C-755, Section 1, adopted September 12, 2011. Because the Code sets no separate fine for this subsection, a dispute over whether equipment truly qualifies as customary and lawfully installed, and any resulting citation, defaults to the general misdemeanor penalty in Section 1-10(a).