Strange Sound Coming From My Mother-In-Laws Wall

Crashnburn

Crashnburn

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Crashnburn
It does sound a bit like a ghost moaning, but it's not even Halloween!

I put up an awning to shade my Mother-In-Law's (MIL) kitchen window yesterday. After that, she asked me about a sound she heard, like a fan in the attic. We localized it to a corner in the office. One wall is an outside wall, the other has the garage on the other side.

The sound is either 60 or 120 Hz, and I pulled breakers to isolate it to the circuit it was on. I stuck my head in the attic, no sound there. We heard the sound a lot less in the garage, and not outside, at all.

It's been there for several months, but she just asked me about it. The house is steel framed, with a stucco exterior.

I'm wondering, is there some sort of instrument I can buy, borrow, rent, or steal, to track it down further?

I didn't think of it last night, and the house is 40 miles away, but next time I'm there, I'll unhook all of the appliances on that circuit, and turn off all the lights on the circuit, then pull all the other breakers, and see if the meter is still moving.

You'd think a short that draws enough current to make an audible moaning in the wires would also trip the breaker, but the breaker isn't even warm.

If it makes any difference, the A/C was replaced last year, and the moaning is coming from the wall close to the A/C, but the A/C is on its own circuit. And, the moaning is audible without the A/C running.
 
Radon system?
 
GaryM said:
Have any former son-in-laws gone missing?
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Funny! Actually, my wife is an only child, and her two previous fiances are no longer in the picture (thankfully!)
I hadn't even thought about a Radon System, but the house is built on a slab.
 
Is there a box like this somewhere in the garage or laundry room? Could be some kind of automatic vent system.

46536.EP_.01.jpg
 
Could it be wind blowing over a vent pipe or another hole, and making like a whistle?
 
Is there an attic vent fan? Or maybe even a bath fan that got vented to the attic space?
 
You know what circuit it's on? See what else doesn't work when the circuit is turned off. Might be anything from an external light that uses a ballast to a doorbell transformer to some kind of control for the AC (or an AC that was removed).
 
Lots of electrical things make noise. What is supposed to be on that circuit?
 
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weilke said:
This.

Look for a vent that penetrates the roof. The fan is often an in-line fan that sits in a 'bulge' in the PVC pipe.
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Would you need a Radon system for a house that was built on a slab? This is a serious question.
Next time I'm there, I'll turn all the other breakers off, and turn off/disconnect every thing on that circuit, and see if there's still a current draw.
 
Crashnburn said:
Would you need a Radon system for a house that was built on a slab? This is a serious question.
Next time I'm there, I'll turn all the other breakers off, and turn off/disconnect every thing on that circuit, and see if there's still a current draw.
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It doesn't require a basement if that is what you are asking. A 'hidden' radon system would only be present if this is a radon area to start with and the house was built in the last decade or so. If they are retrofitted, they are usually quite obvious. Check the wall in that corner of the house for a small maintenance cover you can pop off.

The other thing to look for is an automatic attic-fan. Or the souls of the last 3 son in laws who died under dubious circumstances.
 
Crashnburn said:
If it makes any difference, the A/C was replaced last year, and the moaning is coming from the wall close to the A/C, but the A/C is on its own circuit. And, the moaning is audible without the A/C running.
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Is the A/C breaker also turned off? The way you wrote it sounded like just the switch on the A/C was off. Just a thought...

-Skip
 
A condensate pump stuck in the 'on' position due to gunk would be another thing to look for.
 
Crashnburn said:
It does sound a bit like a ghost moaning, but it's not even Halloween!

..
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A shot in the dark, but we have a fridge that makes sounds exactly like that once in a while, and they can be very difficult to localize because of the way it resonates differently depending upon where you're standing. If you're next to the fridge, you can't hear it, but across the room or down the hall it's much louder. Sort of a "whooOOOOOooooo" ... like a ghostly owl off in the distance.

We had another VERY strange, unnerving house sound a few weeks ago, but I might open another thread. Don't want to derail this one.. it's different.
 
Anything parked in the garage? Our Forester wakes up periodically to run its emissions purge pump, even if the key is out.
 
GeorgeC said:
Anything parked in the garage? Our Forester wakes up periodically to run its emissions purge pump, even if the key is out.
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That’s good to know. My daughter’s RAV4 very rarely makes a humming sound just sitting in the garage. We bought it used and I figured it was some former alarm system, hacked wiring, or accident repair gone wrong.
 
weilke said:
The other thing to look for is an automatic attic-fan. Or the souls of the last 3 son in laws who died under dubious circumstances.
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Funny, but their were only two, and neither made it past fiance' (I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do it. You can't prove anything!). There is no automatic attic fan.
wilkersk said:
Is there a box like this somewhere in the garage or laundry room? Could be some kind of automatic vent system.

46536.EP_.01.jpg
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Thanks, but no.
 
Crashnburn said:
Funny, but their were only two, and neither made it past fiance'...
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Either of them would have been smarter to marry the daughter first before asking to borrow money from her mother.
Just sayin' ;)
 
Crashnburn said:
Would you need a Radon system for a house that was built on a slab? This is a serious question.
Next time I'm there, I'll turn all the other breakers off, and turn off/disconnect every thing on that circuit, and see if there's still a current draw.
Click to expand...

Yes. Just built one. A 3” ABS vent pipe goes from under the slab up through the roof. The electric inspector said we had to put an outlet up there between ceiling and roof. It was so if Radon was detected in the house in the future there would be an easy source of electricity to install a fan.
 
GRG55 said:
Either of them would have been smarter to marry the daughter first before asking to borrow money from her mother.
Just sayin' ;)
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Well, her father, now deceased, God rest his soul, was a retired Bank of America VP, and you know how THEY are about loaning money!
 
Is there an unground sprinkler system with control box in garage?
 
Yes, but it's not connected to the circuit breaker, and the sprinkler valves are all outside the garage and house.
 
Thanks all for the Radon suggestions, but my Mother In Law checked, and there's no vent pipe on the roof in that area, nor Radon System control boxes, so it doesn't look like the moaning is coming from a Radon ventilation system.
 
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