I had the oddest experience this evening, when I suddenly heard a loud ‘pouff’, as if a lamp exploded or there was a short somewhere, in the other end of the house. But I can’t find anything!!
I’ve checked all fuses, all lights work and there is nothing electronical that appears to be damaged. Needless to say this worries me, almost afraid to go to bed. I’m worrying that something has shorted inside a wall, but I’ve checked all wire loops that I’m aware of and lights etc works.
Can I have a short somewhere and still get current? Surely the ground wire couldn’t act as a neutral or similar?
All ideas welcome, even the most far-fetched ones. Come to think of it, in particular the far-fetched ones.
Nick
Replies
You said fuses. I am not real familiar with residential fuse boxes, but your loud poof rings a bell.
Check all of your connections in the fuse or breaker panel. You will likely find a blackened area at a wire termination. This includes your service entrance cables. A loose connection on any wire can make some crazy noises, ranging from buzzing, humming to pops and poofs as it arcs. They do not always trip a breaker or blow a fuse because they may not be going over current.
Dave
I don't want to make light of your situation or to take away from your valid concerns re. the electrical. But, your house isn't near a walnut tree is it?
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Quittin' Time
No walnut trees.I'm mostly concerned that something may be live by misstake somewhere as everything seems to work. I live in a quite small house with four non breaker fuses (except kitchen) and they all seem to work.I think it's just odd, I could have sworn a lamp poffed and nothing?Nick
I could have sworn a lamp poffed and nothing?
Hmm. Have you checked all the bulbs in all the fixtures? I know I've missed some obvious ones looking a time or two. Like both bulbs i n ceiling fixture (flipped the switch, there was light, stupidly, did not look up at the fixture). Or in less obvious places like the light in the range hood, or other appliance lamps.
Next, what 'season' are you in? If you are just switching from cooling to heating, your ear may not be 'tuned' to the new mechanical noises (or, you could be on the "margins" and the stat fired the heater, but before the fan thermocouple started the fan, the stat kicked off again--stopping the preheat process.
Could it have been branches, especially squirrel-propelled ones? I've trees all around my house, and I'll get mysterious thumps. Which will remain mysteries unless I happen to catch the dominace & territory games the treerats are up to.
Lastly, have you checked the outlets? I know it seems dumb, but I found a duplex with one outlet fatigued right out (hanging by the trim) of the CV one time. Cheap plastic monster had the audacity to fail after only about 45 years.
The other reason to check outlets is in case there's a "surprise, remember me?" plugged into one. Found a clock radio that way, fallen behind a sleeper sofa. It had been set ages before as a "people at home" noise-maker deterrant. It was set for an odd time (like 1643) and to a station that no longer existed. I found it when it "thumped" turning on to static/FM carrier noise one day while home on a vacation day.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I think I've been pretty thorough in checking the bulbs, and this was really the sound of a bulb burning out. There are no dual bulbs fixture to be found in the house either. Good advice about checking some of the receptacles.One thing I came to think about was that someone once mentioned that you can get an electric spark effect if you have a loose wire nut somewhere. If the wires aren't tight they can generate an arc, which usually melts the wire nut. This worries me, it probably won't take much before an exposed wire somewhere creates a short.Question is where to look, everything seems to work fine?
How close are you to the neighbors, streets, sidewalks? Could it be that the source of the sound was outside the house, maybe not even on your property? Neighbor kids learned how to pop a paper bag?
-- J.S.
Hmm, I really don't think so. The sound was familiar to something electrical and came from inside the house.Let me rephrase my question to something more tangible. What could be wrong with an electrical system when everything seems to work? No blown fuses, no broken lamps, nada.
Any heavy motors kicking on, like a compressor? They can arc when starting up. Sometimes they stop at a flat point.