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Original poster

Substation humming

54 replies

humminginmyhead · 29/08/2022 23:19

Has anyone lived very near an electrical substation/transformer and had issues hearing a humming noise in their heads that's not tinnitus? Or has anyone ever had this and found out what's causing it?!

Feel like I'm going a little bit crazy but it's driving me up the wall now.

Moved to a house last year with a substation in the side garden, about 15 meters from the closest corner of the house. We can hear it's usual humming/working noise when you're about 1-2m away from it but I can almost constantly hear a humming noise in the house even at the furthest point from it that sounds like a fridge running in my head (really can't think of a better way of describing it). The noise I can hear is a completely different pitch to the audible noise from substation so I have no idea if it is related but I can only hear the noise in our house so it can't be tinnitus, my other half can't hear it and our children are too young to ask.

Please can someone suggest something to look into before I go completely mad?!

OP posts:
MissVantaBlack · 29/08/2022 23:39

Could it be The Hum?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

Original poster
humminginmyhead · 29/08/2022 23:52

Never heard of that! But don't live in any of those places and I don't know of anyone else nearby having been bothered by anything.

OP posts:
ItsDinah · 30/08/2022 00:20

Sub-stations do make a noise. You are not imagining it. Local Authority Environmental Health can prosecute the power company if it's bad. There are different things that cause the noise. The National Grid may be able to put up acoustic fencing to muffle the sound. Complain to them first. They should check it out to make sure there is nothing actually wrong.

ThreeLeggedCat · 30/08/2022 01:58

Sounds like low frequency noise. Contact the council to investigate.

Original poster
humminginmyhead · 30/08/2022 08:05

Sorry I should have said, western power have already been out to have a look and have said it's fine. But they did look at me like I'm insane when I tried to explain it's not the audible noise from the station that's a problem but the humming I can hear in the house/in my head.

OP posts:
Ccoffee · 30/08/2022 08:41

Are you sure it's not tinnitus? I heard a hum for a long time, drove myself crazy trying to find the source in the house and neighbourhood. It was so loud sometimes I would think it was a car idling outside. I could have sworn it was not tinnitus.

It went away when I started HRT and reduced some stress.

Original poster
humminginmyhead · 30/08/2022 12:20

@Ccoffee I keep thinking it must be but whenever I'm not home I don't get it at all. I've posted partly because we've been away a few days and coming back it's so loud and noticeable as soon as I'm in the house

OP posts:
etulosba · 30/08/2022 12:26

I get this. Sometimes it’s louder than other times. It’s particularly noticeable at night when there is no other background noise. We have no substations or other machinery nearby.

I thought it must be in my head until I realised that I don’t hear it everywhere.

I just decided to live with it. It’s much less stress than driving around in the middle of the night trying to find the source as I did at the start.

Ladyofthepeonies · 30/08/2022 13:19

I’ll not help at all but it could be anything in your house my mother had an alarm clock that made a humming noise only I could hear I only proved it to myself by unplugging each item until I found the culprit

Dilbertian · 30/08/2022 13:29

I used to have electric underblankets, and had no problems with them. But when I was pregnant I could 'hear' them. It was not an external sound. It was definitely something I felt in my head when I was lying down on one that was switched on. Nobody else could hear or feel the difference between the blankets on or off. Not until the blanket began warming up, but I could tell immediately I lay down, even on a blanket that was still cold. Weird.

I stopped using them at all.

I'm sure there's some way in which some of us can sense electricity.

Paranoidandroidmarvin · 30/08/2022 15:50

Mine was right next to my house. The only space in between was our driveway. I never heard any hum or noise from it at all.

Original poster
humminginmyhead · 31/08/2022 10:18

Thank you everyone, I feel less like I'm losing my mind now and have a few avenues to investigate.

OP posts:
Lisapisa91 · 16/09/2022 21:40

I have been searching for someone dealing with what I am and you have completely written exactly how I feel! It’s driving me mad! Husband first said he couldn’t hear it but has now said he can but doesn’t bother him. Can’t hear it anywhere else and it’s so loud in my house if it’s quiet. If they can’t fix it I am tempted to move to be honest.

how did you get someone to come out and look at it? We have been living next to a mini sub station for around 3 years but only this year I’ve started noticing… I’m even tempted to ask neighbours on the other side of it if they are having similar issues

NothingIsWrong · 16/09/2022 21:49

Teach it the words...

bumbledeedum · 16/09/2022 22:07

@Lisapisa91 I just phoned western power and said I could hear a near constant noise in the house from it. I think it's a bit pot luck who you speak to as to how the file the call, the lady I spoke to put it through as an emergency call as if it was highly audible buzzing. The engineer that phoned after and sent a couple of guys around was far less helpful and very dismissive. The guys that came over stood near it and said they couldn't hear anything/it wasn't making an unusual amount of noise and that was it. Very frustrating

Giggorata · 16/09/2022 22:13

I live next to a tiny sub station and get this a lot, but it isn't constant. I'm not hearing it now, for example. Sometimes it is on a lot.
For me, it isn't too intrusive, most of the time.
There again, I’m assuming it is the substation, it could be the Hum, or the Hummadruz, as John Billingsley, of Northern Earth magazine, names it.

Blueberrycreampie · 16/09/2022 22:34

I used to hear this kind of noise but have moved away now. I did suffer from tinnitus but convinced this was an actual humming noise. I never did get to the bottom of it.

MrsMoastyToasty · 16/09/2022 22:50

Are you near Bristol? There's a Bristol Hum.

adagio · 16/09/2022 23:17

I sometimes get this it’s a bit like sensing a resonance and very hard to describe the noise. Particularly noticeable sometimes other times completely don’t hear it. Rule out the obvious as in unplug or switch off absolutely everything apart from the fridge at the wall (for instance some of our usb plugs make a noise as does the toothbrush charger - apparently only I can hear these).

A night time ponder I had was whether something was making something in the house vibrate/resonate hence louder inside?

Original poster
humminginmyhead · 17/09/2022 00:03

Name change fail there.

I don't know if it's a relief or not that other people get the same/similar. I'm lying here now and it's a noticeable drone but a different pitch and frequency to a week or so ago (more an aeroplane drone tonight).

Like a PP said, it's not all the time but it only seems to happen at home.

I know it sounds daft but it doesn't sound like it's coming from inside the house, but I can't hear the noise if I'm by the substation.

Anyone know how to beg western power to get rid of the substation?! Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
humminginmyhead · 17/09/2022 00:04

MrsMoastyToasty · 16/09/2022 22:50

Are you near Bristol? There's a Bristol Hum.

Not a million miles away, in Cardiff but don't think we'd be close enough to hear anything from Bristol (I hope!)

OP posts:
SchrodingersKettle · 29/12/2022 18:42

Hi, did you get anywhere with your Hum? I have a similar problem I’m investigating. Resident in the property for many years but all of a sudden this vibrating/ humming noise - you can feel/hear it stronger in the house but can hear it in the driveway and beyond too. Have been investigating for 8 months but utilities company, phone and water companies can find nothing wrong. Plumber, electrician, pest controller at nothing is wrong. Don’t think it is tinnitus. Only one person can hear the noise. Can be any time of day or night but most annoying at night.

LickYouLikeACrispPacket · 29/12/2022 18:46

I live next to one and it does make a low hum noise but it does not disturb me at all. I can sit in the garden and am not aware of it.
One of my kids has LED lights in their bedroom and they have an awful hum noise. Hope you find the culprit.

Nimbostratus100 · 29/12/2022 18:46

Try borrowing a bat detector. It detects high pitched sounds and replays them in our audible range, so if there is a sound out of normal hearing range going on in your house, this will pick it up and help you identify it

theblackradiator · 29/12/2022 18:52

there is quite a large electricity sub station about 10 mins down the road from me and there is a very obvious hum when you walk down the road passed it and I can imagine if you lived near it you would hear it from your house if the house was quiet. I have just recently had a combi boiler installed in my house with when on and heating the hot water or central heating is making a low humming sound and to be honest its driving me mad and going through me, nobody else in the house seems to be bothered by it though and barely noticing it. I've been switching the heating off just so I don't have to bloody hear it it's driving mad.