Magnetic Field!!!

[rattlesnake]

I am going a bit nuts trying to work this out??? There is a spot in my home....just next to a wall, where our compass goes crazy! Noticed this whist my son was messing around with Iphone compass. Tried it with a regular camping compass too! Needle just spins from north to south!! I'm assuming theres some kind of magnetic force moving it, but its not near to router or any other appliances at all...just a blank wall.

Is there a steel joist or cabling/pipework in the wall. LED anything in the area? Large electrical appliance nearby?

Dont think its anything outside, as the compass goes back to normal when Im outside the home. Defo something inside the wall I think. No sure how to check though. An electrician would probably think I am mad :)

Could be a transformer - do you have low voltage lamps?

Seems to be where radiators are located??? Can they become magnetised I wonder?

Compasses often don't work near large metal objects, both because the magnetic field passes differently through ferrous objects than it does through air. It could be that even if not significantly magnetised the radiator is causing this effect. PS this is why you shouldn't take a compass bearing sitting in a car or with your compass resting on the bonnet. (Source: I'm a physicist who likes hiking)

That was supposed to say "both because the magnetic field passes differently through ferrous objects than it does through air and because they can become magnetised themselves"

"Needle just spins from north to south!! "

Do you mean it spins?

Or do you mean the needle points towards something?

If the latter, a magnetic needle will point towards any nearby ferrous object, even if it is not magnetic and there is no electrical current passing through it. For example structural steelwork or a radiator.

Are there any large steel or iron objects nearby?

I love that there are so many MNers who are experts on so many things. So, my question would be: could the behaviour of the compass be attributable to hidden electrical wiring that's not sufficiently insulated? I realise it would involve a flowing current but, from my distant recollection, the whole point of the introduction of Part P was to prevent hidden wiring being put in unexpected places.

It's unlikely to be due to hidden wiring. With very few exceptions, domestic wiring is run so that the two cores inside the cable generate a magnetic field in opposite directions, and mostly cancel each other out.

It's possible a TV, computer, or powerful hifi amplifier might generate a field. If I find a compass I might carry it round to see.

Spoke to a guy today who does EMF surveys (too expensive for me to have one) but he said its not unusual for magnets to behave strangely near to radiators or places where steel could be supporting above a door etc.

My mystery is that as i walk beside me bedroom wall (no radiator) the need just does slow 360 degree spins

MY bedroom wall !!!!

Oh that'll be a wormhole to another dimension. That's why woodchip wallpaper was all the rage, covers all the unsightly wormholes and time gates.

Must be lots of those in our house then - all of them above picture rail level .