A ducted heat pump is the outdoor half of a whole-house system: one unit that cools in summer and heats in winter through your existing ducts. Our quietest central air conditioners guide ranks these outdoor units mostly on their cooling figures, because that is what most makers lead with. But in much of the country a heat pump heats for more months than it cools, and it heats hardest at night, when the house and the street are quietest.
So this guide reads the other row. Carrier, Bryant, Trane, Goodman and Daikin print separate heating figures, all AHRI 270 sound power in dBA, per size. We compare only heating with heating, minimum with minimum and full output with full output, at the same size. Lennox and Rheem do not say which mode their figures describe, so they sit in their own group.
Our picks are listed above, with full specifications for each.
Why the heating row matters
The heating figure is not always the cooling figure. In Trane's handbook, the 2 ton 20 TruComfort heat pump rates "52/64" dBA in cooling and "51/71" in heating, minimum and maximum. At low speed the modes are a point apart. At full output, heating is seven dBA louder. Goodman's GZV9S rates 71 at full cooling and 75 in heating at 2 tons.
It does not always go that way. Carrier's cold climate 27VNA1 rates 69 at nominal cooling and 65 at nominal heating. Carrier's Performance 19 rates 67 in both modes at 2 tons. A unit that wins on cooling may not win on heating, so if the heat runs from October to April, the heating row is the one to read.
All of these are AHRI 270 sound power in dBA, from each maker's own data sheet, in heating mode.
Minimum speed: Trane 5TWV0 51; Carrier 27VNA3 and Trane 5TWV8 54; Carrier 27VNA0 56; Carrier 27VPA9 57.
Full heat: Carrier 27VNA3 64; Carrier 27VPA9 67; Trane 5TWV0 and Carrier 27VNA0 71; Trane 5TWV8 74.
Carrier defines its full-heat point as "maximum speed operating at 95°F in cooling and 47°F in heating". Trane labels its pair "(Min/Max)". Goodman's GZV7S rates 70 in normal heating at 2 tons, but Goodman does not say at what speed, so it is not slotted into either list.
Minimum speed, 3 tons: Carrier 27VNA0 54; Carrier 27VNA3 and Trane 5TWV0 55; Trane 5TWV8 56; Carrier 27VPA9 59.
Full heat, 3 tons: Carrier 27VNA3 68; Carrier 27VPA9 69; Carrier 27VNA0 72; Trane 5TWV0 74; Trane 5TWV8 76.
At 4 tons and up, the cold climate Carrier 27VNA1 stands out. It is a single 4.5 ton size, between the 4 and 5 ton units, and rates 65 at full heat. The 4 ton figures run from 68 for the 27VNA3 to 76 for the Trane 5TWV8; the 5 ton figures from 70 for the Performance 19 to 76 for the Trane 5TWV8. Size changes the number more than brand does, so compare models at the size your load calculation asks for.
What you hear on a winter night
The figure that matters most in winter is the one at low speed, because a variable speed heat pump spends most heating hours there, holding the house steady. On the coldest nights it climbs toward full output. Carrier's owner's manual says so plainly: "In winter, the system will operate at higher speeds as it gets colder outside to maintain its heating performance. The higher speed produces a higher sound." It adds that you may hear "a slight 'purr' at start-up and shut down."
None of the makers prints a figure below 47°F. That is the AHRI heating rating point, not a January night. Treat the full-heat figure as the closest guide to a cold night, and expect the unit to sit near it for long stretches when it is well below freezing. Our explainer on heat pump noise covers why the compressor and fan speed up as the air gets colder.
AHRI 270 figures are sound power, the total sound the unit radiates, not what you hear at your window. Our sound power vs sound pressure explainer covers the difference. Every 10 dBA sounds roughly twice as loud, so the Trane 5TWV0 at full heat, 71, should sound roughly twice as loud as it does at minimum, 51, before distance and walls take their share.
Defrost: the sound the tables leave out
In freezing, damp weather the outdoor coil frosts, and a heat pump reverses itself for a few minutes to melt it. Carrier's owner's manual describes what that sounds like: "During defrost, you may see steam rising from the outdoor unit or notice the fan has stopped running - both of which are normal. At the beginning and end of the defrost cycle, you may hear a 'whoosh' sound coming from the unit." Daikin lists an "Intelligent Defrost Mode" on the DH7VS, and Trane lists "Enhanced Defrost Technology" on its low profile heat pumps, but neither document we read describes the sound.
So a few times on a cold, wet night you may hear the fan stop, a whoosh in the lines and then the fan start again. By Carrier's manual that is normal, not a fault. A unit beside a bedroom will make it more noticeable; one set back from the house will not.
Snow, ice and placement
Carrier's manual says heat pumps "installed in areas expecting snow are elevated with support feet", and that in heavy snow and ice, build-up on the top and fan blade can cause "excessive vibration". Carrier's data sheet lists support feet and a snow stand as accessories. A unit sitting in a drift, or with ice on its fan, will not match its rating.
Placement matters more than a few dBA of rating. A quiet unit on a pad under a bedroom window can be louder in that bedroom than a louder unit around the corner. Shut windows help in winter, but the outdoor unit works hardest on exactly the nights when the street is quietest. Our quiet yard explainer covers how outdoor machines carry to the neighbors, and our quiet bedroom page covers the room on the other side of the wall.
Quiet modes: what they cost in heat
Goodman and Daikin print the clearest quiet mode tables we found. On the GZV7S and its Daikin twin, the DH7VS, heating quiet mode has three levels. At 2 tons: LV.1 rates 67 dBA sound power with a "~5%" capacity decrease, LV.2 64 with "~15%", and LV.3 59 with "~40%". At 3 tons, LV.3 rates 57 with "~50%".
That is a real drop from the normal heating figures of 70 and 72. But half the heat on a cold night means the backup heat, electric strips or a furnace, makes up the rest. Quiet mode makes sense on a mild night or late in the evening, not on a sub-freezing one.
The "as low as 45dBA" both brands advertise is quiet mode sound pressure, "determined at a distance of 3 [ft]". It is not comparable with any sound power figure on this page. Carrier's page for the Infinity 23 mentions a Quiet Mode too, but its product data prints no quiet mode figure.
Cold ratings, in the makers' words
We note cold capability only as each maker states it. Carrier says the 27VNA1 "achieves 100% heating capacity down to 5°F" and operates in heating "down to -23°F"; Bryant says the same of the 291VAN. Carrier rates the 27VNA3 to heat down to -13°F, the 27VNA0 to -11°F and the 27VPA9 to -10°F. Goodman says the GZV7S keeps "Heating Capacity Maintenance (Rated 5°F/47°F) ≥ 70%". Lennox says the EL18KSLV is "ENERGY STAR® Cold Climate certified" and heats down to -22°F. Daikin's page for the DH7VS lists "Energy Star Cold Climate".
A unit that keeps its capacity in the cold relies less on backup heat, but it does so by running faster, and faster is louder. If you are heating a few rooms rather than a duct system, our cold climate mini-split guide reads the heating rows of ductless systems, whose makers print sound pressure, not AHRI 270 sound power.
Units that give no mode
Lennox prints a minimum and maximum per size with no mode. At 2 tons: EL18KSLV 54 minimum, SL22KLV 58, EL21KLV 63. Two Lennox documents disagree on the EL18KSLV maximum, 69 in its handbook and 62 in Lennox's June 2026 sound data book, so we leave its maximum out of any comparison. Lennox's web page for the EL21KLV claims both "as quiet as 55 dB" and "As low as 60 dB", against a handbook minimum of 62 or 63.
Rheem's RP19AY spec sheet prints two unlabeled rows per size, 59 and 69 at 2 tons. Its side-discharge RD18AY gives one "SOUND POWER AS LOW AS" figure per size, 61 at 2 tons and 58 at 3. Neither says cooling or heating, so neither is ranked here.
Who publishes nothing we could compare
York's site sits behind a security check, so we could not read its heat pump documents. Mitsubishi's intelli-HEAT page describes a dual fuel system that pairs its outdoor units with a furnace, with heating down to -11°F, but prints no sound figure. Trane's handbook gives its low profile heat pumps, including the 19 Multi-Speed cold climate model, a single cooling and heating figure without naming the standard, so they are left out. Trane's Resolute cold climate page prints no sound figure. We did not check Ruud's heat pump sheets separately.
The trade-offs of a quiet heat pump
- Quiet at low speed and quiet at full heat are different units. The Trane 5TWV0 leads at minimum speed; the Carrier 27VNA3 leads at full heat.
- Bigger is louder. Every model here rates higher at 5 tons than at 2. An oversized heat pump short-cycles and runs louder; a proper load calculation comes first.
- Cold capacity costs speed. Holding full output at 5°F means the compressor and fan run near maximum.
- Quiet modes cost heat. Goodman's deepest heating quiet mode gives up about 40 to 50% of capacity.
- Premium tiers. The quietest figures here belong to the top Carrier, Bryant and Trane tiers, which dealers price accordingly.
How we chose
We started from the heat pumps in our central air catalog and added the current Carrier, Bryant, Goodman, Daikin, Lennox, Rheem and Trane heat pumps whose makers publish AHRI 270 figures. We re-read each data sheet and ranked only heating figures against heating figures, at the same size and the same operating point. For ductless options, our quietest mini-splits guide and Daikin mini-split decibels page cover the wall units. No maker here publishes a price; these units are quoted and installed by dealers, so we leave prices out.
We did not measure any of these units. Every figure is the maker's own AHRI 270 rating, quoted as published with its size, mode and operating point. Carrier, Bryant and Rheem note their units were tested to AHRI 270 but are not listed with AHRI, and no maker prints a figure below 47°F, where a heat pump works hardest.
