I have a new 1800sq foot home with an unfinished basement. I have a 4-ton vertical loop (closed) geo system with a 2 stage Florida Heat Pump.  Now, I have a few questions.....When the unit is running it seems very loud. It is like a vibrating, buzzing, humming noise which is very noticeable.  I have mostly wood floors on the ground level with carpet in the bedrooms and ceramic tile in both baths. The basement is all concrete walls (duh) and are not covered with anything yet.  The stairs to the basement are open and there is not a door to close.  I dont know if the systems just seems really loud because it is echoing off the concrete walls or what. I know by not having much carpet in the living area.  Im  not getting much noise insulation.  I hope the unit is operating correctly.  Maybe someone can help me with this??

Also, it is about 25 degrees here now and the unit turns on and off frequently.  Maybe it is nothing to worry about though... The house is very well insulated except for the basement walls. All studs were caulked, spent extra for the blown-in fiberglass insulation in the walls along with extra blown-in insulation in the attic.  

I guess my concerns are the noise and quality of the heat pump.  I read on Florida Heat Pumps web-site that my unit should operate very quiet.  Hopefully someone is familiar with these heat pumps.  

Couple more questions. How do I know when the auxillary heat is in use?    Should the unit always blow at the same pace?  I felt it blow really hard once and "let off" after a few minutes to it's regular force.  Thanks for the help.....

The occasion the unit blew really hard and then backed off was probably your aux. heat. There also may be an indicator on your thermostat.
Number of cycles/hour is programmed into your thermostat by the installer.
The noise from a heat pump is generally much less than a gas or oil furnace. If that is not your experience, have the installing contractor out. If you remain unsatisfied, contact the manufacturer.
Noise will be hard to quantify and troubleshoot by blog.
Let us know what your contractor has to say.
Good luck,
Joe

Agree with all Joe wrote.

If unit is fairly newly installed and / or has always behaved this way check or have installer confirm that shipping clamps were removed from compressor.

A properly sized 2 stage unit won't run in high stage very often, at least until we get deeper into winter. High stage operation will raise blower speed and noise.

First use of auxiliary heat strips after they've been dormant for weeks or months is often accompanied by a pronounced smell as a small amount of dust / grime is burned off.

I have a FHP unit and not long after startup one of the relay coils started chattering and made a LOT of noise even though it still functioned. Maybe yours came from the same batch. Replaced the relay and now quiet.
They come w/ potted relays as a defense against ANTS which eat the laquer off of the dipped exposed coil type.

Dick

Thanks for your replies. Wish I could hear someone else's run. My sounds like a loud vibration. Not sure if it normal.

Our geo was just installed last week. Last week's weather is a little mild so the units sound like a the hum of a fridge but then this week, the temperature is cold (40 to 50 degrees) and the blow of air start to kick in and the compressor is a little noisy from the basement. The contractor said that it is normal. We are enclosing the unit and have a closet. We will also add sound insulation to help the noise. We'll see if that will help.

My unit is directly under the head of my bed. Ask me what loud sounds like. ;-) The relay noise I had was not steady but changed tone, etc. The frequency and pitch telegraphed through everything.
If you open the front door to the cabinet while it is running you can home in on the noise. Use a wooden stick as a stethoscope.
As others have said, your installer should be on the case.

Dick

Yeah, ours is under our living room. Not insulated, not enclosed. I think this is some of the problems. I will check the unit out as advised above and give the contracter a call next week. Wish I would of found this site before we built our house. I tried to do everything I could to make sure it is insulated well.

Your heat pump installation should have 1) vibration isolation pad installed under the HP. 2) compressor shipping bolts/clamps if used should be remove 3) duct flex connectors between both the supply and return duct and the HP 4) First four feet of supply air duct should be insulated. 5)
HP cabinet access panels installed.

Ground,

What is the normal unit cycles? If the temperature outside is about 48 degrees cold and windy and we set our thermostat to 70 degrees, how many starts and stops should I expect for less than 2000 SF home and 21/2 ton unit. It does that...but I hope it's normal.

Thanks,
Connie

I would shoot for no more than 3 cycles per hour.

Thank you Geodean! I think it's working that way!

It is sized correctly. 4 ton unit.  The loop pump is mounted on the floor.