Strange Noise in House

[bernardgreen]

It may be a natural underground water course, or a man made one. Are you on a hill with a stream that disappears under ground somewhere higher up the hill ? Builders of estates will sometimes "bury" quite large streams in under ground culverts to gain space for an extra house or a road.

A natural water course is more likely to be noisy as it will have turns and drops creating turbulance unlike a man made one which ( should ) be straight and be without turbulance.

 

[m0t]

It could be 'The Hum'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

 

[Crystalclear]

It could be 'The Hum'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

Ideally this is what people would point to...but I was hoping no one would mention the Hum!

The Hum, if it was 'real' would be picked up by electronics devices ages ago, I say.

 

[Dave54]

We used to live in a small rural hamlet. Very quiet. Sometimes at night we could hear a vibrating sort of "running" noise. It turned out to be someone about a mile away with a generator.

Could be a pump running somewhere nearby?

 

[Crystalclear]

Some useful information...

http://www.salford.ac.uk/computing-...ow-frequency-noise/frequently-asked-questions


Where can I find out more about LFN?

The reports we published for Defra are available free as a download from the Defra website on LFN or from the University of Salford Institutional Repository (USIR).

On the same website you will find an excellent review of published research on Low Frequency Noise and its Effects’, written by Geoff Leventhall, a world authority on the subject.

If you have questions about LFN by all means email me. I’m afraid I can’t get into personal correspondence because I get more enquiries about LFN than I can cope with. However, I will read your email, and if you raise any issues that are not answered already I will try to add the question and answer to this list within a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately I don’t usually have time to respond to phone calls, but again if you leave a brief message with your question I will try to answer it on these pages.

Contact Prof. Andy Moorhouse
+44 (0) 161 295 5490

 

[jj4091]

To rule out noises being introduced from your services hold a screwdriver handle to your ear & hold the tip of the blade against your incoming gas & water pipes & electricity cable. If it is coming from any of them it will be a lot louder & clearer.

 

[Mattatooi]

tinnitus?

 

[Crystalclear]

No.1 the small repetitive lines you see, is the clock ticking 5mtrs away.
No.2 is dropping a paper clip on the carpet with the ipad in my hand, sitting on a sofa, in a quite room.

If you have an iPhone I'd suggest getting an app called Spectrumview.

 

[Mattatooi]

ipad mic isnt exactly the best reference mic. but i guess its something lol

 

[Mealor_1]

Thanks for the replies.
I do have a tank in the attic, which I also thought was the cause. I turned off the water to the house and drained the system, so there was no pressure behind the ball valve, but this didn't cure the issue. I've even had Welsh Water out to check the water main and it is clear.
There is a sewerage works a couple of miles away. I did try parking up nesr it to see I could rule this out, but unfortunately the extra noise from traffic meant I couldn't say either way whether this was the cause.

 

[Crystalclear]

Just a thought...

How far are the wind turbines from your house?

Only constant machinery that comes to mind HAS to be the turbines, right?

 

[Dave54]

Crystalclear saying about the graph showing the clock tick reminded me that we have a wall clock with a replacement battery movement with a sweep second hand, rather than a tick. The rumble it makes is very low and deceptive, as until you are right against it, the sound source seems to 'move'.

 

[Mealor_1]

Wind turbines are off the coast, so probably close to 10 miles away.
I will have to check clocks, not sure we have a large enough one but you never know!
I have considered if it could somehow be the house alarm, but I've been in the loft listening through the wall by it and it's silent.

 

[Mattatooi]

All I can see in my head of you is Saul from Battle Star Galactica. If you ever seen it, you will get it. If not... move along then... lol

 

[Dave54]

I've been thinking. . . A rare occurance!
Do you have one of those rotating wind driven cowls on the chimney?
Otherwise I keep coming back to water (or sewage) pump(s). They like to "hide them away", so they could be anywhere.

The clock is a wooden wall clock which I made years ago, the movement was just a standard ticking one, most clocks use the same movement. When it packed up, I got another from eBay, but it was the "sweep" type with continuous movement. Sometime after, having forgotten all about it, I could hear something running last thing at night, thought it was the fridge, until I heard the fridge stop. Very faint, slightly rumbly "running" noise from the clock.