Intermittent humming...diagnosis?

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West Lothian
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Hey. Before i ask my question and describe my problem, the following info is probably useful: It's a repo'd house - was empty for a year and no contact with the previous occupants.

Upstairs of house is bare floorboards and easily accessible. We have 6 radiators - 3 upstairs and 3 downstairs. They are on microbore pipe (teed off from 22mm pipe feed and teed back to 22mm pipe return) and two get hot upstairs and only one hot downstairs. The water pump is new and the hot water works fine.

Upstairs we have nothing plugged into the plug sockets and the pump/thermostat/diverter valve hard wired in.

Downstairs we have the boiler, the oven and hob wired in on plugs, the washing machine wired in on a plug and the boiler and function controls for the heating/water are also hard wired. We have a computer plugged in and the fridge-freezer plugged in.

Ok - when we first moved in, the house was completely empty and all services shut off. We got everything working and up and running fine. Water and electric work fine, and a device my old man gave me which plugs into the sockets and tells you whether they are working is showing that all sockets are working perfectly.

On the third day we were here we were lying on the bed (after i'd put it together) about 6pm, and this weird buzzing noise started happening. It was difficult to locate, but it appeared to be coming from the floor under our bedroom. I went downstairs and i could still hear it there. I then turned everything electrical off and it was still going, and then it suddenly stopped after about 5 minutes.

Not heard anything since, and the above happened on Sunday.

This morning, i was woken up at about 9am by the same noise, albeit a little bit louder. I got the floorboards up in our room and i can see a big bunch of wires coming through the floor from the consumer unit which is under the room in the hallway by the front door. Water pipes are running alongside the main electrical wires and although the sound was difficult to pinpoint it appeared to be coming from that general area.

There is still a tiny bit of air in my heating system i would presume, as the system is only warming 3 out of 6 radiators, i don't know whether this makes a difference.

Again the sound just randomly stopped after about 5 minutes.

This isn't a huge concern it's just doing my head in not knowing what it is. Can cables hold charge even when the consumer unit is completely switched off, hence the sound not stopping when i powered off? Or is it more likely to be pipes? I thought this was the best place to ask as the sound sounds like a loud version of a humming dimmer switch or something.

Thanks in advance for any help. ALSO - just me in the house last night and this morning. No appliances were on before i heard this sound today.

The house downstairs has old pipe work for a back boiler, but it's run by a normal combi boiler now. Don't think it had storage heaters.

The set up is Boiler > Cylinder > Tank in loft.

I think it could be a plumbing issue because the pipes are not clipped down anywhere, but i don't get why it would be random? I heated the heating up last night and am consistently using the water (both hot and cold) and i've only heard it twice. It happened this morning 9 hours after the last tap etc was opened. Very confused, but although i didn't turn the mains off this morning, the first time it happened i did and it was still there, but maybe 2 or 3 minutes later it stopped.
 
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The next time it happens flush the toilet and wait to see if the humming stops, then run a hot tap if the noise stops then it will be a ballcock either in the toilet cistern or the cold water tank in the loft.
 
Faulty Ball valve in the cistern in the loft can cause vibration that can transmit through pipes. Also is the house detatched? If its not it may be your neighbours problem.
 
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I would suggest lifting some boards to have a look.
I would suggest reading my post properly:

I got the floorboards up in our room and i can see a big bunch of wires coming through the floor from the consumer unit which is under the room in the hallway by the front door. Water pipes are running alongside the main electrical wires and although the sound was difficult to pinpoint it appeared to be coming from that general area.
 
The next time it happens flush the toilet and wait to see if the humming stops, then run a hot tap if the noise stops then it will be a ballcock either in the toilet cistern or the cold water tank in the loft.
Hmm but why would it happen after 9+ hours of nothing on and nothing opened/flushed in the house??

Next time it happens i will try flushing though.
 
Faulty Ball valve in the cistern in the loft can cause vibration that can transmit through pipes. Also is the house detatched? If its not it may be your neighbours problem.

We're an end terrace. What do you mean 'faulty'? I've been in the loft and the tanks are filling normally ie stopping when they get to near-horizontal and filling normally otherwise.
 
I would suggest he was only trying to help you
Yeh i know he was but telling me to lift boards when i clearly stated i've already lifted them shows that someone's not paying attention. On these kinds of forums posters are often berated for not giving enough information. I give lots and the other guy either ignored it or didn't read my post properly. Was just saying, not trying to be rude.
 
Well, I'll try and be helpful..

When you here the buzzing/vibrating, start by turning off your cold mains' then progress to turn off your central heating (ie pump) and carry out a process of elimination.
 
Well, I'll try and be helpful..

When you here the buzzing/vibrating, start by turning off your cold mains' then progress to turn off your central heating (ie pump) and carry out a process of elimination.
Thanks.

Don't know if it makes a difference or not but the boiler wasn't on this morning. No heating or water on when it happened.
 

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