Advice Needed, pls - house humming and vibrating 3 years now - What is it?

richardc1983

The op has said that its likened to the hum a fridge compressor makes. I personally think this is some kind of mechanical noise somewhere as the op says it is a constant noise, if this was aircraft or trains it would be a noise that comes and goes. This has got to be something to do with the utilities, possibly it could be a pump or something underground of somesort somewhere that is used for pumping sewage around. U said its worse when its been raining?

tomstickland

After reading this thread the first time I did a google search and there's a town somewhere that has been experiencing an overnight noise and they are trying to investigate. So it does happen.

Honokohau

I haven't read all of the posts so I don't know if this is relevant to you (maybe you tried this already). We had a low frequency vibration in the house for the past month (that only I coud hear) and finally today, I think we've tracked it down. Our water softner has a bypass mode so we turned it to that mode so that water would no longer be diverted through the softner. Suddenly, no more noise. We took it off bypass and soon, I heard the noise again. We'll probably have to replace the softner and hope we don't have the same problem with the new one. Good luck.

nick.simpson19

This thread is truely amazing read!

When pipe work is banging togeather it can seriously make a loud noise and a hum! All though you say its not your pipework that is knocking!

I know you keep pestering your neighbours but ask them if they had there central heating replaced within the last 3 years since you heard the noise? Sometimes all it can be is a low pressurised system and air in the pipes!

What about pumps next door? Power shower?

Ide have the floors up if i was you replacing all the pipe clips on the pipes! Ensuring no pipes are touching etc. even put some sort of rubber type thing between them.

I could not live with this noise and i bet you after 3 years your nearly dead from sleep deprevation!!!

Anyway keep us informed!

tattoed_bum

just a mad thought but could it be some sort of insect problem is the property stone or brick built are the chimneys clear ,a 1930s house will probably have chimneys in every room could there be some sort of insect nest in the chimney that would echo thoughout the house

nick.simpson19

tattoed_bum wrote: »

just a mad thought but could it be some sort of insect problem is the property stone or brick built are the chimneys clear ,a 1930s house will probably have chimneys in every room could there be some sort of insect nest in the chimney that would echo thoughout the house

that is a very good point!

Surrey_house_hum

Hi, I just wondered if you ever found out the source of that hum? I moved into my house 2 years ago and am being driven NUTS by the constant humming. Like yourselves I have spent a lot of time and money trying to track down the source but I am convinced it is not coming from my house as I turned off the mains and still can hear it. I believe it is the noise and vibration from the sub-station over the road. I can indeed hear the noise when I stand outside my front door (early hours of the morning) and the same noise comes from the sub-station (which you can hear outside the fence at all hours) but the electricity board just keep insisting that there is nothing wrong with it!

My health has been deteriorating due to the disruption to sleep (e.g dizzy spells, extreme fatigue). I can hear it 24 hours a day but it is worse at night when there is less noise from other things. Ear plugs don't seem to help because it seems to vibrate through the bed and into my head. it's not tinnitus as I have had my hearing checked and I do not hear it when I am away from the house. I have to put on music of thunderstorms and rain etc to drown it out but it has to be on very loud otherwise I can still hear it!! My poor brain doesn't get a rest.

The council only brought over a noise meter to check for loud noise (eg parties etc.) but I believe they are supposed to use a Low Frequency Analyser as recommended by government guidelines. I hope you got your hum fixed - I think my only solution is to move but I feel too ill to do so!

Dunworkin

Having read this whole thread, a) I'm intrigued, and b) you have my sympathies.

You and others hear/feel the noise, and you didn't hear it when you were away. So it's not you.

The noise is still there if you switch off the mains - so that rules out your electrics and electrical devices.

The secret probably lies in your original post:

As a result the water people repaired leaks and replaced the meter at another house in the street - they thought this would solve our problem - the sound did change after this but we have been assured that water is not the cause of the problem.

Which says to me:

1) The water supplier originally thought that they could be the cause, took action, and are now distancing themselves

2) This action resulted in a change to the noise, which strongly suggests the water supply is the prime suspect

3) If that is so, and the pipes are transmitting the vibration, then shutting the internal or external stopcocks would make no difference to the trainsmission of vibrations through the pipes.

4) People's tolerance of/sensitivity to noise frequencies varies enormously, so it's quite possible your neighbours would not hear the same vibrations. And/or the characteristics of your plumbing system could amplify any externally induced vibrations in your house.

So, if I were a betting man, I'd put money on the water supply being the cause. Get yourself a stethoscope (you can get them for a couple of quid on eBay) and place it against the water pipes. At the very least it would eliminate the plumbing from the equation,

One other suggestion. Have you tried opening a tap and leaving it running. Does that change the noise?

I sincerely hope this helps! Please keep us all posted on progress.

TimBuckTeeth

Surrey_house_hum wrote: »

Hi, I just wondered if you ever found out the source of that hum? I moved into my house 2 years ago and am being driven NUTS by the constant humming. Like yourselves I have spent a lot of time and money trying to track down the source but I am convinced it is not coming from my house as I turned off the mains and still can hear it. I believe it is the noise and vibration from the sub-station over the road. I can indeed hear the noise when I stand outside my front door (early hours of the morning) and the same noise comes from the sub-station (which you can hear outside the fence at all hours) but the electricity board just keep insisting that there is nothing wrong with it!

My health has been deteriorating due to the disruption to sleep (e.g dizzy spells, extreme fatigue). I can hear it 24 hours a day but it is worse at night when there is less noise from other things. Ear plugs don't seem to help because it seems to vibrate through the bed and into my head. it's not tinnitus as I have had my hearing checked and I do not hear it when I am away from the house. I have to put on music of thunderstorms and rain etc to drown it out but it has to be on very loud otherwise I can still hear it!! My poor brain doesn't get a rest.

The council only brought over a noise meter to check for loud noise (eg parties etc.) but they are supposed to (by Government guidelines) have special low frequency analysers specifically for low level hums. I suspect that it is not in their interest to do so as it would mean a lot of electricity sub-stations having to be shut down which would mean less property being developed and councils wouldn't like that. I hope you got your hum fixed - I think my only solution is to move but I feel too ill to do so!

It is almost certainly the substation in your case. Unfortunately they can make a noise when working correctly as there is a lot of power going through them, the electricity company will not do anything if it is not faulty.
The noise level is probably quite low (although I understand still very annoying) so environmental health probably will not be able to do anything.
Moving might be the best option if you can not live with it.
Sorry I can't offer some more positive advice.

Bungarm2001

Interesting thread.

I do feel really sorry for the OP his and his familys life must be hell at the moment.

I'm inclined to go along with the substation theory. Reason why is when we were kids, we lived in a flat right next door to a permanent funfair where my Dad worked on all the substations and giant generators that worked the rides. He was an electrician on the 'big' stuff.

One or two of the big generators were very near the flats, and even to this day I can remember the humming through the night that reverberated through the building. The fact that the flats (3 stories high) had wrought iron fire escapes probably helped the noise spread throughout the building. (In your case it could be underground pipes?)

Unlike yourself tho, it didn't keep me/us awake...just the opposite in fact. When we moved and the humming was no longer there, we couldn't sleep prpoperly for months.

Sorry I'm not much help...just wanted to say we had something similar years ago and what caused it so you don't feel you are going totally bonkers.