Mysterious noise - solve this if you can!

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For several weeks I've been plagued by an intermittent noise in and around my bathroom. It's been difficult to pinpoint but at different times it has sounded like an electrical hum, or a fan or motor running at low speed. I've investigated the obvious candidates like my extractor fan by isolating them, without success in identifying the culprit.

If I isolate one of the downstairs electrical circuits, the noise disappears and returns when power is restored. Most recently, it seems to emanate from the bath! Pressing in the side panel changes the nature of the sound. The plumber who installed the bath has no idea what's going on, but before I start dismantling the bath and ripping up floors I thought I'd ask here.
 
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Does it happen when you switch something on? Do you have a shower pump fitted anywhere? Do you have any appliances such as a heating pump in close proximity/touching any pipework? Does it only happen during the day time or does it happen at night when you are in bed?
There are a multitude of possible causes so very hard to give any guidance with so little information.
 
Thanks for replying Conny.

Does it happen when you switch something on? Not so far as I can tell.
Do you have a shower pump fitted anywhere? Yes, but in the airing cupboard several feet away and activated by water flow.
Do you have any appliances such as a heating pump in close proximity/touching any pipework? The pump is in the boiler, situated in the utility room over twenty feet away.
Does it only happen during the day time or does it happen at night when you are in bed? Seems random.
 
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Would it be wise to start there then?
 
Sorry - not quite with you there. If I isolate power to the bathroom generally, or the bathroom extractor fan specifically - no effect. By isolating the sockets for the three downstairs rooms the noise disappears so I conclude that the power supply for "whatever" comes off that circuit, and that the noise is electrically generated, rather than some water-based effect. It still doesn't give me a clue as to what might be the source of the noise though.
 
You isolate downstairs sockets and noise stops, then I’d be looking at the sockets first or anything that might be spurred off, such as the pump perhaps?
 
Is there a mirror with lights and demister on that circuit?
Sound can travel far from its source, especially if you have cavity walls.
Trust me, I know (y)
 
Electric Toothbrush plugged into the shaver socket in the bathroom?
 
Fridge/freezer, obviously.





Or: test systematically and not according to convenience or ease of access. Any "downstairs circuit" labelling may or may not be accurate. Determine precisely which sockets/appliances/gadgets/fans/lights/whatever are no longer live when the circuit breaker you have identified as relevant is switched off. Then reconnect one by one.
 
Standard fault description definition applies...
You used the word 'intermittent', meaning 'not always'.

If you don't want to do the tracing work yourself, then you'll need to pay someone else to do it for you. Information similar to that below will help to reduce the time, effort, and cost in finding your 'hum'.

When does it occur?
When doesn't it occur?
Keep a diary so you have real data to work from rather that what you think you remember from last week.

This thread reminds me that I still have a old phone plugged into a charger in a hidden socket in the house of a kno*head I once worked for...it's after midnight now and he's sure to be in bed...must give it a call.:sneaky::mrgreen:
 
Went to a job once, customer was complaining of a humming noise from the airing cupboard. We traced it to a rather large 'toy' that had somehow managed to turn itself on, in an adjacent cupboard. Not sure which was more pink, her or the toy.
 

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