Strange buzzing/humming sound - electricial..

thisNthat

Hi All,

I have the strangest humming/buzzing sound coming from behind the wall in my sitting room since today.
My TV and satbox and router are all plugged into the sockets in this wall. It is a stud partition wall that was put up between my house and my neighbors house for sound proofing reasons.
There was a power outage today in our area and when the power came back on, after about 20 mins this loud humming/buzzing sound could be heard from behind the wall in our sitting room.
I thought it might be the adjoining neighbors at first but as I tripped each switch on the fuse box I found the one for the sockets in that room and when the sockets went off on the trip switch the noise stopped.
There are two double sockets in the wall and I took them both off and checked the wires were not loose, everything seems fine with them.
One is daisy chained off the other. I would love to know if anyone has come across something similar where there is a humming/buzzing sound behind a partition wall.
Any idea's..??
Thanks in advance

EletricMan

Sounds like a transformer.. Are they usb sockets. When you plug out what ever is plugged into the sockets does the noise stop..

TomOnBoard

While the sockets were off the wall, was the buzzing still there? Could you hear it coming from one particular socket or from elsewhere?

thisNthat

EletricMan wrote: »

Sounds like a transformer.. Are they usb sockets. When you plug out what ever is plugged into the sockets does the noise stop..

Thanks for the reply..

No USB sockets, Just 2 double sockets, one daisy chained from the other and a socket with an input for a Satellite and Terrestrial cable (Bother in the one socket).

So 3 sockets in total. When I switched all the sockets off and unplugged everything the sound was still there. It only stopped when I knocked off the trip switch on the fuse board. I have no idea about this kind of stuff so I'm interested to know why would there be a transformer behind the wall?

thisNthat

TomOnBoard wrote: »

While the sockets were off the wall, was the buzzing still there? Could you hear it coming from one particular socket or from elsewhere?

The buzzing is still there when all sockets are knocked off and everything unplugged. There used to be an old back boiler in that corner of the fireplace but it was ripped out completely when the house was done up, maybe that has something to do with it?

EletricMan

thisNthat wrote: »

Thanks for the reply..

No USB sockets, Just 2 double sockets, one daisy chained from the other and a socket with an input for a Satellite and Terrestrial cable (Bother in the one socket).

So 3 sockets in total. When I switched all the sockets off and unplugged everything the sound was still there. It only stopped when I knocked off the trip switch on the fuse board. I have no idea about this kind of stuff so I'm interested to know why would there be a transformer behind the wall?

If it were Usb sockets they would have a 12v transformer. As you unplugged everything and the noise was still happening that rules out the transformers for your broadband etc.

thisNthat

EletricMan wrote: »

If it were Usb sockets they would have a 12v transformer. As you unplugged everything and the noise was still happening that rules out the transformers for your broadband etc.

As I was saying to TomOnBoard in the previous post, There used to be an old back boiler in that corner of the fireplace but it was ripped out completely when the house was done up, maybe that has something to do with it?

keithdub

I'm a electrician my self it could be a lose connection or worse still a joint in the wall witch is making the sound. leave it off and get someone in to look at it for you

thisNthat

keithdub wrote: »

I'm a electrician my self it could be a lose connection or worse still a joint in the wall witch is making the sound. leave it off and get someone in to look at it for you

Ok, I did check the connections to all sockets and they all seem fine,
Just wondering what do you mean by it could be "a joint in the wall witch is making the sound"?

TomOnBoard

At this stage,I'd be calling in a pro myself.. And I do know something about electricity...

In the meantime, use the old upturned tumbler against your ear and the wall trick to home in on the sound...
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-woman-eavesdropper-using-a-glass-tumbler-to-listen-through-a-wall-33739816.html

Is there a dimmer light switch anywhere near?

thisNthat

TomOnBoard wrote: »

At this stage,I'd be calling in a pro myself.. And I do know something about electricity...

In the meantime, use the old upturned tumbler against your ear and the wall trick to home in on the sound...
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-woman-eavesdropper-using-a-glass-tumbler-to-listen-through-a-wall-33739816.html

Is there a dimmer light switch anywhere near?

The main ceiling light is on a dimmer switch but it makes no difference to the noise when its on or off, The only thing that stops the noise is knocking off the switch for those sockets from the fuse board.
Yes I think I'll be ringing a professional on Monday.

thisNthat

Deleted.

TheBully

thisNthat wrote: »

The main ceiling light is on a dimmer switch but it makes no difference to the noise when its on or off, The only thing that stops the noise is knocking off the switch for those sockets from the fuse board.
Yes I think I'll be ringing a professional on Monday.

Any update on this?

thisNthat

TheBully wrote: »

Any update on this?

Hi TheBully,
Yes got it sorted today, The pump for the back boiler was causing the noise.
I got a friend (plumber) to have a look and he disconnected the wires from the pump and the noise stopped.
They removed the back boiler originally but left the pump, While it was disconnected from a plumbing point-of-view it was still connected electrically but not from the newly installed sockets. Don't know where exactly it's connected from and don't know why it just stared to make noise again.
Maybe it was something to do with the power outage here at the weekend because it only started making noise once the power from that came back on, a strange one.
The pump is still there but no wires going to it.
All fine now, no noise and I didn't have to rip the wall down, he just drilled a small hole with a circular hole drill and could get access to it through that.

EletricMan

Were the wires disconnected from the source.

thisNthat

EletricMan wrote: »

Were the wires disconnected from the source.

No but he separated the wires and put a connection on the end of each of the 3 wires so they wouldn't touch/short each other or anything else.