Fuse Board Noise

[jam00]

Hi

Our fuse board makes a buzzing noise every so often, I think this is something to with the supply to the storage heaters in our house, when I pull back the fuse marked as the "contactor supply" the noise go straight away , its a 5amp fuse.

Any help would be super

Kind Regards

 

[bernardgreen]

The buzz is almost certainly coming from the contactor that switches the power to the storage heaters. The contactor is a switch that can safely switch the very large current that storage heaters take. It's switch contacts are closed when a very small current flows through the coil of an AC electro-magnetic which pull the contacts together. The magnetic field is not continuous but like AC current changes direction 100 times a second. Some loose bits of metal will vibrate as a result.

In almost all cases the noise is harmless but if it gets louder or there is any sign of heat in the contactor then a full check and maybe replacement should be considered.