Hum / vibration over winter... at wits end

[thrope]

Hi all,

 

Got a lot of useful help on here for a flue so thought I would ask if anyone has any ideas for this.

 

Moved into a new house last April. It's a farm / barn conversion done around 2004, around 15 other properties in the farm. Terraced, with other properties both sides. Quite rural in Ayrshire, local farming is cows + sheep.

 

There is a low level hum / vibration that I can't identify and it's driving me crazy. When on it is constant low level hum, I think its resonating with our roof because it's louder upstairs. Same volume both ends of the house. It's on constant with maybe 1second pauses randomly every 20s-1m. I don't hear it at all over the summer, both last year and this year it started within a week of now (last week of October). It tends to start after 10:30pm at night, hear it less during the day but do sometimes. I thought it used to stop earlier but this year I am still hearing it now (9:30) and later into the morning. I haven't been able to tell if it stops suddenly in the morning or winds down (getting quieter).

 

I have eliminated everything in my house by turning off the electricity at source (and having an old meter that was buzzing changed for a new silent smart meter). The usage pattern rules out any of my first thoughts (freezer compressor, bathroom extractor fan etc.).

 

I thought it might be off peak electric heating - two properties that we have a physical connection to are heated with electricity, but I have spoken to them and they say there is nothing off peak, and their off peak hours skip 12:30 - 4:30am etc. when we still hear it. Certainly this year it seems to be going a bit later in the morning, also this week when the weather is very mild, so doesn't seem to be connected to outside temperature apart from starting at the end of October.

 

One other house reports hearing it and they think it comes from a farm to the west. It's strange to me as it's impossible to hear outside, but maybe it is coming through the ground and interacting with our roof. There are no farms close by, would be 1-2km away.

 

Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be, or what I could do next? All I can think to try is eliminate a local source by asking neighbours to turn off their electricity at the meter while it is on. But this is a bit difficult because of the awkward hours its on and I'm not sure they will do it.

 

It is not loud, but it goes straight through ear plugs and I have a sensitivity to noises so it does bother me. I've contacted the council which might take some time, but I suspect if they came to measure anything it would not cross any defined noise level threshold for nuisance. We also had a problem where all our pushfit plumbing came apart - the pushfit fittings had unscrewed which the plumbers had never seen before (they are never supposed to unscrew, they are just pushed in) and I wonder if years of this low level vibration might have caused them to work loose.

 

Any thoughts of anything that it might be would be great, or things to suggest. Reading online about dairy farms the only thing I could find that would make a nuisance was an external milk chiller, but this doesn't match the winter schedule or the continuous pattern (ie not a compressor going on and off under thermostatic control).

 

If it is coming from farm or agriculture here is a satellite image, we are in the right-most hamlet of the image and all of the things to the west are farms.

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by thrope
add satellite image

[Stubby]

Do you suffer from tinnitus maybe ?  

[Woodworks]

First thought was a circulation pump as the sound can carry through the pipes but guess that cant be the case if you have tried with the electric off. No chance the central heating is on a separate circuit? 

[eggsarascal]

I know you say it’s livestock farming locally, but is there a grain store nearby? I used to live about a mile away from one and there was always a low level humming coming from it, people who lived closer used to talk of the vibration.

Edited October 31, 2022 by eggsarascal

[thrope]

13 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Do you suffer from tinnitus maybe ?  

No, its definitely real, my wife can hear it when I prompt her (but it bothers her less than me), and our neighbour in the house to the west has also heard it since they moved in - they think it is coming from the farm. They don't hear it in the mornings, but report it starting as night, not hearing outside, etc. same as us.

 

14 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

First thought was a circulation pump as the sound can carry through the pipes but guess that cant be the case if you have tried with the electric off. No chance the central heating is on a separate circuit? 

 

It's definitely not ours - the existing combi boiler failed last Christmas and have a whole new system in January with no difference to the noise. Switching off power at our fusebox cuts off everything. It could be neighbours heating, but why would a circulartion pump be on all night every night from October, it would be controlled by a thermostat and also on during the day? There is a stables attached to a larger house in the hamlet, so I did wonder if it could be something to do with heating the stables, but again not sure why it would be on all night.

 

Thanks for hte thoughts though.

[thrope]

Just now, eggsarascal said:

I know you say it’s livestock farming locally, but is there a grain store nearby? I used to live about a mile away from and there was always a low level humming coming from it, people who lived closer used to talk of the vibration.

 

Could be, would it be posssible to tell from the satellite image? There is definitely no grain growing anywhere nearby, but there could be a store for feed? This is a useful tip though thanks I know nothing about farming so had no idea what it could be.

[Peasgood]

Sounds like a store using cooler air at night to blow through whatever it is being stored, potatoes, grain etc.

 

At my last house I regularly heard loud traffic noise in the kitchen. Nearest road was a mile away and nobody else could hear it. Never did explain that one.

[Haironyourchest]

....It's on constant with maybe 1second pauses randomly every 20s-1m. I don't hear it at all over the summer, both last year and this year it started within a week of now (last week of October). It tends to start after 10:30pm at night, hear it less during the day but do sometimes. I thought it used to stop earlier but this year I am still hearing it now (9:30) and later into the morning. I haven't been able to tell if it stops suddenly in the morning or winds down....

 

 

Your neighbor in one of the attached houses is using a Hitachi MagicWand® (the mains version).

 

Given the extended duration and the commencement in the winter season, it's probable there's a commercial element, something like an OnlyFans streaming service perhaps, which kicks off when the summer job goes quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

[eggsarascal]

29 minutes ago, thrope said:

 

Could be, would it be posssible to tell from the satellite image? There is definitely no grain growing anywhere nearby, but there could be a store for feed? This is a useful tip though thanks I know nothing about farming so had no idea what it could be.

I can’t tell from that image, can you zoom in on it and post another image?

[GarethM]

Are you describing some self service ladies knocking shop with some Uber deluxe Hitachi magic wand with a poster wall of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman posters for added stimulation?.

 

If it's a farm locally nothing would be that short lived, even if it was grain conditioning fans. Maybe something like a commercial freezer, try the neighbors electric idea 1st.

 

Failing that it could be water hammer, after about 10pm water usage goes down but it shouldn't transmit for km's.