Any electricians in the house?

[REV2XHEART]

I have a 2 year old house and i have always had this problem. my lights will buzz when i turn them on. i replaced two of them with LED bulbs in my computer room as i like the light better for in that room which got rid of the problem but I in no way want to replace all of the bulbs until they are burnt out.

Another strange thing i notice is that there is a buzzing sound coming from my speakers as well. Like if you turn on the amp but dont play music and turn up the volume its very evident. its more annoying to me than the bulbs. Some people have told me to get a "power cleaner" for the stereo but i never needed it in my old house.

only other "electrical" thing i have noticed is that i must have a bad breaker as the few times i vacuum there are like 2 or 3 plugins on the top floor that will always blow but only when i try to vaccum which single guy is not that often!

could they all be related? any hints or guesses of what might be wrong?

 

[Med1ogre]

I'm not a electrician..
As far as the AV equipment goes it sounds like you have a ground loop.
I would start by unplugging individual devices to locate what's causing the hum.
Example- Unplug the bluray player does it go away etc.. keep going, even narrowing it down to just unplugging Hdmi cables
You can run a chassis ground on the back of each device linking them to each other so they share ground.
Is your sub on the same breaker but a different plug?
Could even be a fridge plugged in that's on the same breaker giving a 60hz hum
The vacuum I have no idea.. get a dyson

 

[sledn]

only other "electrical" thing- the ARC fault breakers that are required on new home receptacles don't like brushed motors (arcs). Bathroom and counter plugs will not be on these breakers usually.

 

[jhurkot]

I have a 2 year old house and i have always had this problem. my lights will buzz when i turn them on. i replaced two of them with LED bulbs in my computer room as i like the light better for in that room which got rid of the problem but I in no way want to replace all of the bulbs until they are burnt out.

Another strange thing i notice is that there is a buzzing sound coming from my speakers as well. Like if you turn on the amp but dont play music and turn up the volume its very evident. its more annoying to me than the bulbs. Some people have told me to get a "power cleaner" for the stereo but i never needed it in my old house.

only other "electrical" thing i have noticed is that i must have a bad breaker as the few times i vacuum there are like 2 or 3 plugins on the top floor that will always blow but only when i try to vaccum which single guy is not that often!

could they all be related? any hints or guesses of what might be wrong?

Turn up the music until you can't hear the light bulbs. Do the speakers sound bad when there is music playing?

 

[team dirt]

Talked to one of my electrician and he said if you have the fluorescent bulbs that’s the issue. Especially if they are on dimmers.

 

[The big greasy]

Talked to one of my electrician and he said if you have the fluorescent bulbs that’s the issue. Especially if they are on dimmers.

X2, the garage has them and they humm big time, without dimmers.

 

[bobsledder]

like 2 or 3 plugins on the top floor that will always blow but only when i try to vaccum

are those in bedrooms? does the breaker have a test button on it? Some appliances, during their normal operation, have been known to trip an AFCI, by its sensitivity to electronic devices. There may not be anything wrong with the appliance or breaker.

 

[ferniesnow]

Arc fault breakers are a royal pain in the arse.

 

[Cdnfireman]

Try plugging the vacuum in on other plugs that Are on a different breaker. If the different breaker trips then it’s likely the motor in the vacuum causing the AFCI to trip. If you have any compact flourescent bulbs in your house, get rid of them. They often cause induced interference in the neutral and are a fire hazard as well.

 

[FernieHawk]

Try plugging the vacuum in on other plugs that Are on a different breaker. If the different breaker trips then it’s likely the motor in the vacuum causing the AFCI to trip. If you have any compact flourescent bulbs in your house, get rid of them. They often cause induced interference in the neutral and are a fire hazard as well.

But how can that be? David Suzuki highly endorsed CFL's...they gotta be good.

 

[X-it]

Anything that drunk Suzuki endorses is always a failure.

 

[X-it]

My son had to get rid of some light recepitcals because they hummed all the time, no noise after that, my 120 plugs were blowing because i cheaped and never bought good ones, never had a problem after installing some quality ones.

 

[REV2XHEART]

i dont think i have any flurecent bulbs in the house not even in the garage

i live in one of those townhouse condos and i asked my neighbor and he says he doesnt have any humming.

vacuum only trips a couple of plug ins upstairs. main floor and a few plugins upstairs seem fine with it

yes the breaker does have a test button on it

no dimmers in the house anywhere

as far as the stero i unplugged everything and each way i get the buzzing. i cut my speaker cables alittle shorter to make sure the ends werent bad, i changed my speaker ends to actual connectors and tried that still nothing, i tried plugging the stereo into various outlets with and without a surge protector. Haha yeah if i crank it i cant hear it anymore with music playing but sometimes you dont want a youtube video audio cranked. i have it plugged info my computer which i have had all along.

my last ditch effort i was thinking about buying one of these. kinda worried it would be a good amount of cash out that wouldnt fix the problem though

powerplant

 

[Caper11]

The Humm in your stereo has me curious, what type of stereo is it? Possible ground loop problem?


LED lights on dimmers can produce a Humm or buzz when the dimmer and the lights are not compatible.

 

[bobsledder]

Nothing wrong with your breaker is my opinion. Sounds like you have plugged vacuum into an AFCI circuit.

Stereo buzzing? I have one of those and figure it is just a cheap unit. Bought a hi end unit for my theatre room and don't have that issue with it.

Bulbs you replace with LED were incandescent? Some times if the connection to centre pin in socket is loose it can buzz a bit.

 

[ABMax24]

Can you confirm if the existing bulbs were LED or incandescent?

There are some cheap LED bulbs that make a humming noise when on, LED bulbs on dimmers can also buzz, especially when not made for use with dimmers.

 

[kanedog]

It could be a loose connection on the neutral or ground in the meter base. Call the power company to check for connections in the meter base. You can lie and say you have flickering lights and dim power sometimes. They will check the power coming in and the meter connections.
If the power company says their side is aok, then an electrician can check and retighten the panel neutrals and grounds while you listen for the hum. It can happen on new builds as human electricians do make mistakes.
It would make sense cuz the electrical would work fine until more load is added. The neutral balances the load between the two hot legs so there would be more load on the neutral and the loose connection could start to act up. No guarantees, just like im an a-hole. Everyone has one! Hahaha

 

[Tchetek]

Is stereo on the same circuit as the vacuum?

 

[REV2XHEART]

i guess stereo is on the same circuit i havent tried the exact same plug in on both.

previous bulbs were incandencent and when replaced with LED buzzing went away but not in speakers

stereo is of pretty good quality. bought at a pro store just one of their cheaper setups as companred to some of the insane setups they had. Never had this problem in my last place

no dimmers here

thanks Kanedog, that gives me a good place to start!

 

[Tchetek]

You try plugging stereo into separate circuit with a cord? ….