I'm not sure if its always been present and I've never noticed it
before, but for the past year I always hear a buzzing sound coming
from underneath the floor in my kitchen. It is on at all times. If I
go in the basement below the kitchen, I can hear this same buzzing
sound coming from overhead in the ceiling. It sounds like the
standard 60 Hz buzz that you get from old transformers. Its
especially obvious at night, when everything is quiet (if actually
sounds louder although I'm not sure if this is my imagination or not).
I have tried to isolate where this sound is coming from but it is
proving to be quite difficult (I have read posts on the Internet that
says that the human ear has a difficult time pinpointing the source of
a 60 Hz tone, and its true. I'll be in the basement with my head in
the ceiling, and it'll sound like the sound is right in front of me.
I'll turn my head 45 degrees and it'll sound like its right behind
me).

I have tried turning off the power to the entire house at the fuse
box, and the sound disappears. So I know that it's not coming from
the pipes (certain people have said that a toilet slowly leaking can
create this type of buzzing sound). I have also tried removing the
fuses one at a time (that is, removing one, listening for the noise,
then putting the fuse back in and removing the next fuse), and oddly
enough I have noticed that removing a particular fuse reduces the
sound by about 75% but doesn't get rid of it completely. Only
shutting down the whole power eliminates the buzzing 100%.

Is it possible for old electrical wires to make this buzzing sound?
Or would it come from something else (ex: a light fixture that has a
bad ground). I'm not sure how to go about fixing this problem. But
like I said I can isolate it to something within the kitchen floor (or
within the basement ceiling) itself.

Follow your doorbell wiring to the doorbell transformer

I'm not an electrician but it sounds like a transformer, unlikely though in
the house unless it is in an appliance,
or a open or ground problem some where.
Maybe the residents electric guys have a clue.
Good luck

Terry

"Jonny R" wrote in message
om...
I'm not sure if its always been present and I've never noticed it
before, but for the past year I always hear a buzzing sound coming
from underneath the floor in my kitchen. It is on at all times. If I
go in the basement below the kitchen, I can hear this same buzzing
sound coming from overhead in the ceiling. It sounds like the
standard 60 Hz buzz that you get from old transformers. Its
especially obvious at night, when everything is quiet (if actually
sounds louder although I'm not sure if this is my imagination or not).
I have tried to isolate where this sound is coming from but it is
proving to be quite difficult (I have read posts on the Internet that
says that the human ear has a difficult time pinpointing the source of
a 60 Hz tone, and its true. I'll be in the basement with my head in
the ceiling, and it'll sound like the sound is right in front of me.
I'll turn my head 45 degrees and it'll sound like its right behind
me).

I have tried turning off the power to the entire house at the fuse
box, and the sound disappears. So I know that it's not coming from
the pipes (certain people have said that a toilet slowly leaking can
create this type of buzzing sound). I have also tried removing the
fuses one at a time (that is, removing one, listening for the noise,
then putting the fuse back in and removing the next fuse), and oddly
enough I have noticed that removing a particular fuse reduces the
sound by about 75% but doesn't get rid of it completely. Only
shutting down the whole power eliminates the buzzing 100%.

Is it possible for old electrical wires to make this buzzing sound?
Or would it come from something else (ex: a light fixture that has a
bad ground). I'm not sure how to go about fixing this problem. But
like I said I can isolate it to something within the kitchen floor (or
within the basement ceiling) itself.

I second that vote.

"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
Follow your doorbell wiring to the doorbell transformer

Jonny R wrote:
I'm not sure if its always been present and I've never noticed it
before, but for the past year I always hear a buzzing sound coming
from underneath the floor in my kitchen. It is on at all times. If I
go in the basement below the kitchen, I can hear this same buzzing
sound coming from overhead in the ceiling. It sounds like the
standard 60 Hz buzz that you get from old transformers. Its
especially obvious at night, when everything is quiet (if actually
sounds louder although I'm not sure if this is my imagination or not).
I have tried to isolate where this sound is coming from but it is
proving to be quite difficult (I have read posts on the Internet that
says that the human ear has a difficult time pinpointing the source of
a 60 Hz tone, and its true. I'll be in the basement with my head in
the ceiling, and it'll sound like the sound is right in front of me.
I'll turn my head 45 degrees and it'll sound like its right behind
me).

I have tried turning off the power to the entire house at the fuse
box, and the sound disappears. So I know that it's not coming from
the pipes (certain people have said that a toilet slowly leaking can
create this type of buzzing sound). I have also tried removing the
fuses one at a time (that is, removing one, listening for the noise,
then putting the fuse back in and removing the next fuse), and oddly
enough I have noticed that removing a particular fuse reduces the
sound by about 75% but doesn't get rid of it completely. Only
shutting down the whole power eliminates the buzzing 100%.

Is it possible for old electrical wires to make this buzzing sound?
Or would it come from something else (ex: a light fixture that has a
bad ground). I'm not sure how to go about fixing this problem. But
like I said I can isolate it to something within the kitchen floor (or
within the basement ceiling) itself.

All kinds of things use transformers today. You furnance likely has
one, the doorbell, a smoke alarm, TV cable amp, it goes on and on.


--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"Doug Kanter" ) writes:
I second that vote.

"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
Follow your doorbell wiring to the doorbell transformer



You have to find a way to keep the transformer away from the wood (?) it's
fastened to right now. Maybe screw a small hook into a joist and hang the
transformer from it using say an adjustable nylon loop around the outside.

In article , Jonny R wrote:
Story about 60 Hz buzzing in the floor

Although I agree with the doorbell transformer hypothesis, I can think
of other things to check - especially since there appears to be more than
source (Jonny says shutting down a particular circuit reduces the noise by
75%).

Look for starterless fluorescent fixtures that have missing or burnt out
bulbs but are receiving power. Also, are there any fluorescent night
lights?

How about any wall transformers left plugged in - such as for a battery
charger or a charger for a cordless power tool?

Could there be more than one doorbell transformer?

Do the telephones have features powered by a transformer? (Most home
phones do not but some do and many office phones do.)

Are any appliances with transformers sitting on the floor or on
rigid furniture on the floor anywhere?
Floor vibrations can travel far and the floor may even vibrate the most
a few or possibly several feet from the source of the vibration. In
addition, acoustic standing waves may make the sound louder near a wall
or in a corner across a room from the source than at locations closer to
the source (or the part of the floor that is vibrating the most).

- Don Klipstein )

"Tom Bach" wrote in message
...
"Doug Kanter" ) writes:
I second that vote.

"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
Follow your doorbell wiring to the doorbell transformer



You have to find a way to keep the transformer away from the wood (?) it's
fastened to right now. Maybe screw a small hook into a joist and hang the
transformer from it using say an adjustable nylon loop around the outside.

or just put some rubber between it and whatever its screwed to.

randy

Look for starterless fluorescent fixtures that have missing or burnt out
bulbs but are receiving power. Also, are there any fluorescent night
lights?


Don's right here if you're thinking it's coming from the ceiling. At lot of
instant-on fluorescent fixtures will buzz if the ballast is going or even
bad lamps.

If you've got fluorescent fixtures, look at them.

Jake

Jake wrote:
Look for starterless fluorescent fixtures that have missing or burnt out
bulbs but are receiving power. Also, are there any fluorescent night
lights?



Don's right here if you're thinking it's coming from the ceiling. At lot of
instant-on fluorescent fixtures will buzz if the ballast is going or even
bad lamps.

If you've got fluorescent fixtures, look at them.

Jake


Or the 24 volt transformer used for LV in the furnace. Which may be near
or attached to the ducts which transmit the noise though the house.


Bob



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(Don Klipstein) wrote in
:
Do the telephones have features powered by a transformer? (Most
home
phones do not but some do and many office phones do.)

That was my first thought, since doorbell transformers are often either next to the service panel or near the chimes; the old phone
transformers can be just about anywhere, esp. if someone installed a "princess" phone that needed one when the house was built. My
1958 house had a phone transformer retrofitted, I'd imagine sometime in the 1960s, and it was still wired and hot when I bought the
place in 2001. My guess is that it's been a very long time since anyone had a princess phone here, as the only active phone
connection was the wall block in the kitchen.

-drl

I got fooled like this once: It was a bee's nest. Bumble
bees! A HUGE nest!
Pop


"Kiwanda" wrote in message
...
(Don Klipstein) wrote in
:
Do the telephones have features powered by a
transformer? (Most
home
phones do not but some do and many office phones do.)

That was my first thought, since doorbell transformers are
often either next to the service panel or near the chimes;
the old phone
transformers can be just about anywhere, esp. if someone
installed a "princess" phone that needed one when the house
was built. My
1958 house had a phone transformer retrofitted, I'd
imagine sometime in the 1960s, and it was still wired and
hot when I bought the
place in 2001. My guess is that it's been a very long
time since anyone had a princess phone here, as the only
active phone
connection was the wall block in the kitchen.

-drl