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Original poster

Low level hum worse at night

78 replies

Fandabadobie · 14/01/2023 01:14

I am experiencing a noise that I can hear at night like a low level humming. I thought it was just my ears and maybe tinnitus, but a friend stayed over and they heard it too. What could it be? When I put my ear to the wall I can hear it.. I can also hear it in the bathroom when I put my ear to the party wall. I don't know them well enough to ask them by it sounds like a generator. What could it be? I'm too high in the loft to expect it to be the sound of their fridge
Any suggestions??

OP posts:
toomuchlaundry · 14/01/2023 01:16

Is it an extractor fan?

StarInTheHeavens · 14/01/2023 01:18

Next door's bathroom extractor fan?

PerfectYear321 · 14/01/2023 01:20

You don't need to know them to ask a very valid question

LuisCipher · 14/01/2023 01:21

Yeah it's probably external. A fan somewhere. It can be hard to pinpoint especially if you're in a built up area. If you've got any commercial etc buildings near you chances are it's one of them.

lovechickencrisps · 14/01/2023 01:24

Your neighbours have a grow on!

EmmaEmerald · 14/01/2023 01:26

lovechickencrisps · 14/01/2023 01:24

Your neighbours have a grow on!

This is possible

as is a fridge or boiler against the wall of the neighbouring property

or the Hum. It’s a real thing. In my area it seems to come and go in blocks of nights.

Youdoyoubabe · 14/01/2023 01:27

heathing boiler

Mossball · 14/01/2023 06:33

I have similar and it is commercial buildings quite some distance away. I found lots of people discussing it on a local Facebook group.

Original poster
Fandabadobie · 14/01/2023 09:17

StarInTheHeavens · 14/01/2023 01:18

Next door's bathroom extractor fan?

It surely cannot be on all the time 24 hours a day though? It's a small terraced house. You would not be able to tolerate it

OP posts:
Original poster
Fandabadobie · 14/01/2023 09:20

LuisCipher · 14/01/2023 01:21

Yeah it's probably external. A fan somewhere. It can be hard to pinpoint especially if you're in a built up area. If you've got any commercial etc buildings near you chances are it's one of them.

We do have commercial buildings about half a mile away, but I don't think they are working all weekend and I can hear the hum now

OP posts:
Original poster
Fandabadobie · 14/01/2023 09:21

Youdoyoubabe · 14/01/2023 01:27

heathing boiler

Can't be because it was there in the boiling hot summer last year and they wouldn't have the heating on

OP posts:
LadyKenya · 14/01/2023 09:36

I had this problem in one flat that I lived in. It nearly drove me mad. I ended up sleeping in the living room, on a camp bed, as the noise was in the bedroom. I thought that it was the neighbours fan, and knocked to ask them to please turn it off at night. The bathroom fans there had to be switched on manually. I was not even 100% sure it was that, but I was so desperate, and sleep deprived that I spoke to them anyway. The neighbour said it was not their fan. You have my sympathy OP, if it is affecting your sleep.

toomuchlaundry · 14/01/2023 09:38

Can you hear it outside?

Yarrawonga · 14/01/2023 09:42

Somebody I know had this and it was next door’s aquarium, of all things.

BloaterW1 · 14/01/2023 09:51

There is something similar going in near Halifax I think, lots of people complaining about a humming. Council and EA spent ages trying to track it down and couldn't find it.

EmmaEmerald · 14/01/2023 10:09

Fandabadobie · 14/01/2023 09:21

Can't be because it was there in the boiling hot summer last year and they wouldn't have the heating on

Show quote history

But the boiler will be on to produce hot water?

No other votes for The Hum. Surprised. Seems most likely explanation.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

pawprintseverywhere · 14/01/2023 10:11

Got this in my house top. Had it since I moved in 8yrs ago. Only I can hear it though and only if I turn my head in a certain direction. I'm detached so God knows haha. I have just blocked it out.

FrangipaniBlue · 14/01/2023 10:14

or the Hum. It’s a real thing. In my area it seems to come and go in blocks of nights.

I'm glad it's not just me!!!

I can hear it through night some nights, maddeningly DH can't hear it!!!

EmmaEmerald · 14/01/2023 10:17

It's blocks of nights here too. It must be a frequency that some hear and others don't.

you know those pigeon deterrents some places have - some of us nearly went mad when the flats opposite installed it, others couldn't hear it at all! I recorded the noise for the mgmt company, played it to my friends and they couldn't hear it!

Foxywood · 14/01/2023 10:20

wasps in the wall - can you track it to one area more than another.

Original poster
Fandabadobie · 14/01/2023 23:23

toomuchlaundry · 14/01/2023 09:38

Can you hear it outside?

I will see tomorrow

OP posts:
HolibobsinApril · 14/01/2023 23:31

Could it be a positive air extraction unit? Normally fitted in the landing ceiling, on 24 hours a day. Like a dehumidifier.

HangerLaneGyratorySystem · 14/01/2023 23:48

When this happened to me it was a function in the boiler wherein it would produce hot water on a sort of standby setting, 24/7. We turned our boiler to a different setting, noise stopped, we wash our hands in cold water during the night if needs be!!

RM2013 · 15/01/2023 00:26

Could be external. I remember as a
child staying at my aunts house often and there was always a low level hum you could hear inside and outside the house. Never found out what it was but there were some commercial premises about half a mile away -
convinced it was something to do with that

Xiaoxiong · 15/01/2023 00:28

We had this in an old house and it was a commercial extraction fan on the roof of a hotel a pretty long way away! It drove me mad, I really sympathise. The good news is once I figured out what it was, it stopped bothering me! I think the mystery kept my mind trained on it and once it was solved my brain could ignore it.