Hum / vibration over winter... at wits end

[eggsarascal]

4 minutes ago, GarethM said:

I did almost 15 years in the pump industry, i even said it shouldn't transmit very far. 

 

We have all suggested a long variety of possible causes of the noise, including a few quite outlandish ones including Mrs Miggins at no 32 enjoying self appreciation.

Bagga.

[GarethM]

Erm, what now?

[topchippyles]

1 minute ago, eggsarascal said:

Bagga.

Not on here much these days eggs sorry about your friend I read last night.

[eggsarascal]

3 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Erm, what now?

So you know it isn’t hammer then?, if you’ve been in the water/pump industry you’d know what hammer was. 

[GarethM]

It could be water hammer, I have it at home on toilet cisterns and fast closing washing machine solenoids as older houses aren't fitted with pressure regulators to quieten the effects.

 

As demand drops in the mains, pressure increases. If you're shower is mains fed you get a better shower late at night due to a increase pressure.

[doobin]

18 hours ago, Lowestoft Firewood said:

Looks like a slurry store in that map image, could be an agitator which are often run off peak for better electric pricing. But that doesn't explain lack of noise in summer unless there is just increased other noise so less noticeable? Or no slurry needing agitation in summer as cows out? 

You wouldn't generally run an agitator until you are needing to pump it. Individual farms may have different circumstances however.

[thrope]

Thanks all for the responses!

 

- tinnitus / it's me: I have checked with my wife and she hears it (and doesn't normally put up with my nonsense), but it doesn't bother her as much. Also a neighbour hears it, but only on one side.

 

It does seem like a vibration rather than a noise so not sure about the water pipes, also its more apparent upstairs, while our mains water comes in downstairs but I will check the pipes over the next few nights. Also why it would have the clear timing and seasonality.

 

- agricultural tips are useful, grain store, agitator. If it is something coming from further away then I think it is coming through the ground and resonating the roof of our house becasue only hear it inside. This is my best guess of what is happening.

 

- weed farm. I think its unlikely, the neighbourhood here is so nosy I am sure we would have heard about it (we heard about a small scale medical grow operation the previous owners had going in the attic of our house).

 

- electricity: no substation but we do have a transformer up a pole for this little hamlet. Again not sure why it would have the timing, other neighbours have suggested BT phone pole, there is one close but I don't think theres anything powered on the phone mast and again timing / seasonality doesn't fit.

 

- sewage is a local large septic tank (12 properties) draining out to a reed bed. I don't think there is anything mechanical involed.

 

- one house a few away has a heat pump but I thought they run all the time. Will definitely investigate this.

 

- milking, was suggested by another neighbour who commented they sometime see large trucks from the milk company arriving around that time of night (10:30 or so).

 

"i usually cup my ears with my hands to get a bearing on spurious sounds...take it one step further, a decent directional microphone.."

I've tried this but not possible to hear it outside, as above I think its a vibration resonating the roof. I tried touching walls and stuff but the only place I can hear it really is inside our house, even just sticking my head out of a large velux window I can't hear it outside.

 

- wind farm, there is a samll private turbine on one of the farms, maybe 1-2km away. Large scale wind farms are visible on the horizon, but I'd say 10 miles or so. Again hard to see how it fits the pattern of timing / seasonality, doesn't seem related to wind.

 

- power cuts, will definitely keep an eye out, but haven't had one long enough when we are in. That's why I thought I might ask the neighbours to turn their electric off to test one at a time.

 

I guess I will try to start keeping a log of the actual times its on to build up more of a picture and try to catch it turning on and off. Other guesses I had myself were somethign to do with heating in the stables or something else for horse care, or a neighbours surround sound system that has a noisy input that makes a hum when the TV is off (idea was the noise starts when they turn off to go to bed). But I don't think they run their TV during the day and doesn't fit the seasonality (unless perhaps its caused by electrical noise connected to their heating system, but the boiler and stuff is the other end of the house from the tv, there property is mirror image of ours so I know the layout). I've asked all the neighbours though with no ideas (they have checked their heating and so on).

 

Attached are some higher resolution images of the closest farms. There's certainly milking and slurry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by thrope

[Bolt]

Do you reckon the frequency of the hum is 50hz / fixed / variable / random?

[Sutton]

2 hours ago, thrope said:

Thanks all for the responses!

 

- tinnitus / it's me: I have checked with my wife and she hears it (and doesn't normally put up with my nonsense), but it doesn't bother her as much. Also a neighbour hears it, but only on one side.

 

It does seem like a vibration rather than a noise so not sure about the water pipes, also its more apparent upstairs, while our mains water comes in downstairs but I will check the pipes over the next few nights. Also why it would have the clear timing and seasonality.

 

- agricultural tips are useful, grain store, agitator. If it is something coming from further away then I think it is coming through the ground and resonating the roof of our house becasue only hear it inside. This is my best guess of what is happening.

 

- weed farm. I think its unlikely, the neighbourhood here is so nosy I am sure we would have heard about it (we heard about a small scale medical grow operation the previous owners had going in the attic of our house).

 

- electricity: no substation but we do have a transformer up a pole for this little hamlet. Again not sure why it would have the timing, other neighbours have suggested BT phone pole, there is one close but I don't think theres anything powered on the phone mast and again timing / seasonality doesn't fit.

 

- sewage is a local large septic tank (12 properties) draining out to a reed bed. I don't think there is anything mechanical involed.

 

- one house a few away has a heat pump but I thought they run all the time. Will definitely investigate this.

 

- milking, was suggested by another neighbour who commented they sometime see large trucks from the milk company arriving around that time of night (10:30 or so).

 

"i usually cup my ears with my hands to get a bearing on spurious sounds...take it one step further, a decent directional microphone.."

I've tried this but not possible to hear it outside, as above I think its a vibration resonating the roof. I tried touching walls and stuff but the only place I can hear it really is inside our house, even just sticking my head out of a large velux window I can't hear it outside.

 

- wind farm, there is a samll private turbine on one of the farms, maybe 1-2km away. Large scale wind farms are visible on the horizon, but I'd say 10 miles or so. Again hard to see how it fits the pattern of timing / seasonality, doesn't seem related to wind.

 

- power cuts, will definitely keep an eye out, but haven't had one long enough when we are in. That's why I thought I might ask the neighbours to turn their electric off to test one at a time.

 

I guess I will try to start keeping a log of the actual times its on to build up more of a picture and try to catch it turning on and off. Other guesses I had myself were somethign to do with heating in the stables or something else for horse care, or a neighbours surround sound system that has a noisy input that makes a hum when the TV is off (idea was the noise starts when they turn off to go to bed). But I don't think they run their TV during the day and doesn't fit the seasonality (unless perhaps its caused by electrical noise connected to their heating system, but the boiler and stuff is the other end of the house from the tv, there property is mirror image of ours so I know the layout). I've asked all the neighbours though with no ideas (they have checked their heating and so on).

 

Attached are some higher resolution images of the closest farms. There's certainly milking and slurry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You've got cattle and crops which means rotary motors (electric or ICE).

Follow the advice from @Bolt on frequency. Are you musical? Would you say the internal structure of your house upstairs resonates? If you can isolate the direction or side of the house affected worse, try dampening the Hum with a wall of temporary bales out in the garden. Expensive and an eyesore but what price is your sanity? If the hum ceases then remodel the inside using steel rather than wood. If that fails you could always sell up and move?

 

Also, google Bristol Hum. There's more info there than Wikipedia.

[thrope]

3 hours ago, Bolt said:

Do you reckon the frequency of the hum is 50hz / fixed / variable / random?

 

Frequency and intensity doesn't change (just these 1-2s pauses every 20s - 1m, but that could be psychophysical). Not sure what frequency but will try to find out. 

 

I think the cows do go into sheds around October, so perhaps related to that only just realised that they have disappeared from the fields around the same time. But what related to cattle sheds would only go on at night?

 

We only have access to one external wall, the rest is terraced or other peoples land so a bit dificult to do anything. It does seem to be coming from the west, but just connect to another house.

 

It's not intolerable, mainly I think I would feel better knowing what it is, but impossible to sell and move at the moment (mortgage rate would more than triple, have put a lot into the house already). If it is resonance of the roof maybe it could be mitigated by hanging weights or putting more insulation.

 

I am looking into renting a seismograph or other recording equipment but seems a bit expensive even just to rent for a week.

Edited November 1, 2022 by thrope