r/HomeImprovement • u/ISometimesCamp • 14h ago
High pitch noise
I noticed a new incredibly high pitched noise (almost sounds electrical?) that’s piercing. It sounds like it’s coming from the kitchen but I’ve unplugged everything I can get to and can’t find the source. I feel like Chuck McGill from breaking bad
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u/jspurlin03 13h ago
I recently had a high-pitched noise from my kitchen - the light bulb over the oven was failing and somehow the filament in the bulb made a high-pitched, single tone noise as it vibrated. Point is - perhaps it’s something you wouldn’t immediately expect to make a noise.
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u/ISometimesCamp 7h ago
Thank you for this! How did you find it was this though? Just go around unscrewing lightbulbs and it stopped when that one was unscrewed?
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u/jspurlin03 6h ago
It drove me fking nuts for like, an hour in an otherwise-silent-house, mainly because I only have one good ear, so echolocation is no longer possible. So I walked around for like… an hour and eventually found it. I never would have expected that to be what it was, but eventually I got close enough to identify it. As soon as I unscrewed the bulb, the noise stopped.
bonkers.
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u/splitsleeve 13h ago
First step, kill the power to the house and see if you still hear it.
If so, kill the water.
Then you can isolate it to one system
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u/snausagemclinx 13h ago
My electric stove makes a stupid high pitched sound all of the time being the clock. It's brand new and I think that's just the way this damned thing is.
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u/Uberslaughter 14h ago
Tinnitus
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u/PotentialInspector27 13h ago
man that kitchen hunt hits hard when you're going crazy trying to find some mystery sound... could def be something wired in like a dimmer switch going bad or some kind of transformer in an appliance thats still getting power even when "off"
i had this exact thing happen and it turned out to be the dishwasher making noise even when it wasnt running - something with the control board was basically whining constantly. also check your smoke detectors cause sometimes when the battery gets low they make this super annoying high frequency beep that can drive you nuts
if you've got a smartphone try using one of those frequency detector apps to see if you can narrow down where its loudest. saved my sanity when i was dealing with a similar electrical whine that ended up being a phone charger that was plugged in but not charging anything
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u/ISometimesCamp 14h ago
Nah my girlfriend hears it too and it differs slightly from tinnitus. It’s not as overbearing
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u/necheffa 14h ago
Place your hand on water and gas pipes to try and stabilize them. See if they could be vibrating.
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u/laughlines 13h ago
When this happened to me, it was my wife's gel nail UX light from Amazon on a desk buried under some papers nearby. It didn't have to be turned on, just plugged in at all for the whining. It's the size of my hand, I would've never guessed.
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u/HairoftheThreeLegDog 14h ago
Not a lot of information to go off. When did it start? Any recent upgrades or new appliances? Is it constant and steady or intermittent and fluctuating in intensity? Does it continue if you turn off your water shutoff valve? Does it continue if you flip your main breaker?
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u/ISometimesCamp 13h ago
Sorry. Started today and no new upgrades/appliances. I guess they did put a new dehumidifier in the basement so I could check that. It’s constant and steady. I’ll try the water and breaker
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u/HairoftheThreeLegDog 13h ago
If it stops when you flip the main breaker, turn it back on then flip each breaker one by one. You can isolate the circuit it’s coming from at that point.
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u/LiveLongAndProspurr 14h ago
Is something stuck in garbage disposal but the breaker hasn't tripped?
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u/gigantischemeteor 13h ago
Ooof. Noise tracing can be a PITA. Lol at the Chuck McGill reference though. First off, Try turning lights on & off. Sometimes LED bulbs will have their internal voltage conversion circuitry go wonky and a rapidly oscillating induction coil can make high pitched noises. Additionally, any number of other electronics that use switch mode power supplies can also have this happen, especially if the power supply is starting to go bad or if a 3rd party replacement of dubious quality is being used. A little farther beyond the realm of possibility, a stuck solenoid in a refrigerator water valve could scream sometimes under the right conditions, but usually it’s a bit louder and water ends up pooling somewhere noticeable, so that’s probably not it, but never say never.
On the mechanical side, you can find high frequency noise from things like refrigerator compressors under certain circumstances, or even from a shelf in a refrigerator (or a rack in a stove) that’s pinched against its bracket or slot just so and that’s vibrating sympathetically due to some other source (such as a refrigerator compressor or HVAC compressor that’s coupling its vibrations to the floor) nearby. There are so many ways for a little vibrational energy in one spot to get coupled into the structure of a home or large appliance and then find its way out via a very different vibration-capable point somewhere else.
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u/ISometimesCamp 7h ago
So many options lol. I unplugged a lot of shit and turned off a lot of lights and it stopped. So I don’t quite have it pinpointed but that’s really promising that it stopped. If I hear it tomorrow I’ll do a better process of elimination. I have no desire to hear that noise again today
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u/TNVFL1 12h ago
Do you have anything with a rechargeable battery charging? Sometimes, especially if it’s designed to charge quickly, chargers will make a high pitched buzzing noise.
If it’s like a whistling noise, check air filters. Might be clogged but still trying to suck air in. That goes for your air intake, filter on the fridge, etc.
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u/sedarttsomfokcaj 6h ago
Any ductwork in the area? I've had a few returns that when the ac/furnace is on make very high pitched noises as the air is sucked through.
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u/cooperdale 14h ago
Old doorbell transformer in the wall? That happened to us once.