High pitch whine from walls - going crazy please help!

Hi all, we live in a mainly concrete and brick construct block of flats. Have done for 10 years. Recently we had a new bread shop open 2 floors below us. We had other general street noise and so installed secondary glazing. Much quieter - until...

about 3 months ago we began to notice a very high pitch whine that cycles in strength bit like a motor. I have tried everything to find it (low tech wise) and it is coming from the walls rather than through the floor. The floor is 4" concrete, the walls hollow brick so I am thinking travelling up from the new shop. It is in 3 rooms which are together on one side of the flat, and I can hear it in 5 walls which are all connected. I cannot find where it is strongest all seems the same.

The issue is we have not slept properly for all of this time. My young daughter is also developing and ear problem.

We are of course doing all we can to find the source through the town hall and community of owners but this being Spain, it is all extremely slow.

I am extremely frustrated as up until now thought myself a more than competent DIY person who can solve most issues. I have tried several low tech and cheaper solutions, acoustic blankets, rubber matting, even changed earplugs.

The sound comes right through everything, including the best earplugs.

It is not loud enough (about 32db) to be a 'legal' issue but it is extremely annoying and apart from the noise, it causes significant pressure in the ears too, giving headaches and such like.

I have heard sound engineers can measure frequency and then identify the source. Is there anyway I can, or any piece of kit I can get to do this?

Any ideas as to what it could be, we have isolated all power, water etc, even in neighbours' flats - still there.

We cannot isolate the power to the shop, that is separate.

Can't hear it through windows, so not coming from outside, definitely in the building. We have had various modifications done to the shop by town hall - to fermentation machines, extractors and the like - still there.

The engineer from the town hall is suggesting it is air - perhaps from the filtration system they have. To me, it definitely sounds electrical not 'whistling' air.

Totally at a loss and we are really suffering. I am also afraid it may be something in our flat but cannot think what, there is nothing common to those 3 rooms, not even water pipes.

Much appreciated in advance

Steve

Contact your councils environmental health office. They can trace the noise and issue an abatement order.

One cause of pulsating noise is fans running at different speeds.

I've got similar. In my case it's a hive of social bees in the cavity where "somebody" left a bit of soffit off! Either that or they got in through the two holes where the same bloke hasn't fitted those wall lights he keeps tripping over.

i think you need to get someone else to do the work

Check the water valve in your toilet cistern or in the neighbours.

Tony S said:

Contact your councils environmental health office. They can trace the noise and issue an abatement order.

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I bet they don't have one, he is in Spain

Hi all. thanks for the replies. We has sound engineers from the town hall here last night until 2am. They could not find the source but confirmed it to be 50Hz, so electrical. Turned our power off and it continued. Turned power

off to the building completely, including shop below, still carried on. I am at a loss and we are now starting to feel really ill. Could it be a transformer of some kind that is screaming despite no power to it? I have been all over the place and cannot find any place where it seems louder, just in the air, everywhere..

Does the building have its own emergency back up supply? 

No it doesn't, no generator or anything. Mains goes, it all goes off.

SteveW said:

No it doesn't, no generator or anything. Mains goes, it all goes off.

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Did you not say in your previous post that when you turned the power to the building the noise continued?

Starting to think along the lines of an old emergency light fitting.

Yes sorry, all the electric goes off but the noise doesn't stop. I am starting to think it is coming in from outside. 

Not being familiar with Spain’s LV distribution systems I’d look for a local transformer. In the middle of the night the inherent hum can be annoying. Both RoB and I have slept under them to keep warm in the depths of winter.

An old friend of mine lives in the USA, if he comes to europe the hum of local transformers keeps him awake. USA = 60Hz, europe = 50Hz.

SteveW said:

Hi all. thanks for the replies. We has sound engineers from the town hall here last night until 2am. They could not find the source but confirmed it to be 50Hz, so electrical. Turned our power off and it continued. Turned power

off to the building completely, including shop below, still carried on. I am at a loss and we are now starting to feel really ill. Could it be a transformer of some kind that is screaming despite no power to it? I have been all over the place and cannot find any place where it seems louder, just in the air, everywhere..

Click to expand...

Think of the transformer, not as having no power to it, more as having no load on it, if there's a transformer feeding the building then if the engineers have turned off supply then they have probably turned off the load from the transformer, not the feed to it. If that is the case then it could still make a noise.

Most transformers will "grunt" when put under a decent load, the hum goes deeper and louder, however I have occasionally heard them make a noise when under little or no load, but the noise has gone away when a decent load is put on it..

As Tony said, they can be a great place to keep warm, and sometimes the humming is soothing and can help you drop off, on one of the big sites I worked on we had 2 large substations, one had a big old leather armchair in it, I used to slope off down there when I was on nights if I wanted a quick hour of shut eye.

I am starting to think it is power to the building, regardless of if the consumer panels are switched off.

We had a similar incident when stripping out a bedroom, power was completely off but we still heard a humming noise. Eventually found a vibrator which was on in one of the client's bedside drawers. 

haha...if only this was that entertaining. 4 months of this now...every battery operated thing has been removed....and my wife has no need for such things ;-)....even the town hall engineers are mystified...and now very concerned and this is a health issue and they are liable potentially. Waiting on the official report from the sound engineers before next steps......at least far more action from everyone all of a sudden. I don't think they believed us but now apparently they can hear it in other buildings..getting louder.....

any work being done underground? new tunnels etc? (either train or bank robbery?)

Had two weird noise ones: First a pin hole leak in a 15mm mains water pipe. Then a satsuma in the fruit bowl, looked perfect from the outside but rotten inside and the gas escaping from a tiny hole making a buzzing noise.

water been off so not that...fruit bowl checked ;-)...town hall should know about any tunnel work......bank robberies perhaps not. Banks round here though are becoming scarce so they best hurry!

Locked to prevent being hi-jacked (again)