Finding where surge is coming from

[Spoonaltap]

Ok I've been putting it off like an idiot but theres been a loud popping/banging sound coming from around the kitchen area (I think), now I know that it's an electrical surge but I don't want to get an electrician in until I can find the problem cos sometimes it doesn't do it for days.

Is there something I can use to locate the problem?

It's not the lighting circuit cos I unplugged that fused and waited till it happened again, I then unplugged everything in the kitchen apart from fridge/freezer and it's still doing it.

My house needs rewired and I'm saving for it but need to sort this. Can anyone help?

 

[ricicle]

Don't put off the inevitable - your life could depend on it. If you are not competant to isolate safely and check for damaged cables, loose connections then you will need a competant electrician to sort it for you.

 

[stillp]

How do you know it's an electrical problem?

 

[Spoonaltap]

Yeah I intend on getting an electrician over but would like to have a rough idea where it is so he can sort the problem quicker.

I think it's an electrical problem, when the popping sound happens the lights dim aswell a wee bit if they are on. It happened when I was in my kitchen and the sound was quite loud, the only thing I can think that it could be is the fridge/freezer. It's only a year old tho but don't know how to test it without turning it off?

 

[stillp]

How often does this pop happen? You could unplug your fridge-freezer for a few hours, as long as you don't open it the temperature inside won't change much.

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

How often does the popping sound occur?

If its quite frequent, why not just turn off the F/F for a while to prove/disprove it as the cause?

It takes quite a while for a fully loaded freezer to allow its contents to thaw, so knocking it off for 4 or 5 hours isn't going to cause a huge problem

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

lol, snap

 

[stillp]

Great minds think alike!

 

[Spoonaltap]

Ok cheers guy I'll give it a go, happens about once a day.

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

just a thought, does it look like your F/F needs defrosting?

My little old beer fridge makes a odd sort of clunking sound (probably from t he compressor) when the ice box is solid. Defrosting it stops the noise. I don't know why, but it works.

The only hassle is the trauma of warm beer

 

[radioredcat]

Thermal cutouts fridges/freezers make a loud pop when they operate which means the compressor is over temp so it either wants defrosting or the condenser could need cleaning.

Also the thermostat could be stuck on which means the freezer runs all the time until it goes over temp and cuts out i had the same problem with my old freezer.

Andy

 

[imroberts]

Do you have a frost free fridge freezer?

These can be known to make odd cracking and banging sounds, on occasion very loudly. It might not actually be anything to worry about

 

[Spoonaltap]

Yeah it's a frost free one, I've been working or sleeping until now so turned it off a couple of hours ago maybe an hour and just got a double bang but can't tell where the hell it's coming from.

This happened once before and the electrician couldn't figure it out until it was happening so don't really want to pay someone to sit and listen, all he did was cut the wire. If I could find it, isolate it and do the same than I would as the whole place will be getting rewired when I've saved enough.

 

[crystal ball]

Been to two jobs where there was a popping/banging in the kitchen

first one was caused by the plumber bashing a nail through the cooker cable which was shorting and clearing and not blowing the 3036 fuse, in the process all the surrounding cables in the same hole had melted together

Second builder had jointed cooker cable with chock blocks and plastered into wall gradually worked loose over the years, you could see the arcing behind the plaster, dug out a charred cable and rewired

 

[Spoonaltap]

I lost power to the cooker plug and a few other plugs not long ago, running oven off a normal plug the now. This house is full of dodgy wiring which I don't understand cos even if you're not qualified whats the point in doing a crap job. I've got an understanding of electrics and do car electrics a fair bit which I know is very different but the crap I've come across in this house is ridiculous. I think my best option is tracing the wiring back and seeing.