Can moving wire location at circuit breaker reduce hum?


The power line going into my music room will oftentimes make the amps’ transformers hum.  I’ve tried many things but have had no luck.  If I take any component that’s humming into a different room run on a different circuit breaker, the hum disappears.

Would swapping out the wires that go into the two separate rooms at the breaker make any difference?  Or is it more likely that one of the outlets on the circuit that goes into my music room is somehow miswired and is causing the hum?  I can unplug everything from the circuit except for my amp and it still hums.

Any suggestions on what I might be able to do short of hiring someone to run a dedicated line?

Thanks,

Mamoru

 

128x128audiodwebe

@auidiodebe When you write

I’ve had numerous electronic components hum in this particular room. In the room just next door, dead quiet.

I can see why you asked the question as you did. While using a tester is a good suggestion, the tool is often only as good as the person using it. One has to know how to interpret the results of the testing. This is what an experienced electrician can provide. But having been an industrial electric/electronic technician for many years, I’ve learned that there is great value in ‘getting your hands on it.’ I’m in the ‘what have you got to lose? camp.
I don’t know how comfortable you are working on circuits, but, let me assume from your question, that you are. You could try the following:

1. Open up the panel, throw the main breaker (for your safety)

2. Using an appropriately sized screwdriver in good condition, tighten up all the screw terminals of all your breakers (I’ll bet you’ll find more than one or two loose) —you’re just doing maintenance at this point).
3. Turn everything back on (but don’t set the clocks yet), and see if there is any change.
If the problem remains,

4. Throw the main (again, for your safety) and open up the receptacle into which you plug your amplifier. Remove the wire from one side of the receptacle; that is, we expect to find one wire coming from the panel and one wire continuing on to other receptacles on the same circuit, but this may not be the case if your amp’s receptacle is at the end of the line or is fed by a ‘drop’ from another ‘junction’ box. Let us assume it is inline, and you can break the line at your amp’s receptacle. Make sure to separate the now freed wires (you can cap them with wire nuts). You can attach volt meter and/or tester leads at this point if you prefer not working with live 120 Volts, or don’t have proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which in this case would be electrically rated gloves and leather protectors, and electrically rated face shield, fire-rated clothing and no exposed jewelry, including belt buckles. (The memories are coming back to me of working in this gear in very hot spaces.)

5. Apply power. You are looking to see which line into the receptacle is carrying the power from the panel. If you only have one tester, you may have to repeat the exercise. Once you have identified the hot leads, throw the mains again (for your safety).
6. While the power is down on the circuit, if it isn’t already, connect the receptacle to the wire which comes from the panel. Plug your amp into the receptacle.
7. Apply power and turn your amp on. If it hums, the problem is in the panel or possibly ahead of it, or it is between the panel and the amp’s receptacle.
Note: You need to be very careful when you open up the receptacle and guard against the possibility that the ‘wires got crossed’ somewhere in your house’s circuitry, with a second circuit ‘back-feeding’ into your sound room’s circuit. While you have the line broken at the amp receptacle, it would be an excellent time to check for this fault. Turn your amp’s circuit breaker off, unplug your amp, attach your leads, and turn all the other other circuit breakers one-by-one. There should be no voltage on any of the leads into your amp’s receptacle from either the panel side or from ‘down stream’ side. At this point, a receptacle tester would be quite helpful, as it would report voltage found on any lead (although we would expect to find an ‘open ground’ fault on the downstream side).
I only add this note because such mis-wiring does exist, and I have been bit hard by a supposedly ‘neutral’ wire on the downstream side of ceiling light fixture while installing a ceiling fan in my own newly purchased, just re-wired house. That was when I discovered that back-feeding was a real thing, and that electricity is a force to be respected. I should add, that in my case, no fuses blew, and no circuit breakers tripped, everything appeared to be working as expected until I opened the junction box up. Be careful, go slow, get help, and go for it, I say.

Sounds like there is something else on the line or something with the ground wire.  Have you tried a cheater plug yet?  See what ese works when just that line is working.  Could be like a refrig, or something else cause the problem.

I have a system that was picking up hum when I moved into my current home, but not the previous home.  It's a custom system designed and built by a fellow I've know and used for years (Von Gaylord Audio).  When he visited after the hum was noticed, he was fairly sure  it was electrical interference.  There is a high voltage tower about 200 yards from my home.  He built me a set of shielded cables for the pre-amp to amp interconnects.  That took care of the hum.

Thank you so every much, everyone!

Is a DC blocker like the Hum X device?  If so I've got two of those and they really don't do much at all.

I'll trying tightening the screws and maybe moving the line that goes into my music room but beyond that it seems a bit scary.

On this particular line in my music room I've got other things plugged in and in the other room there are two receptacles connected to this line where a TV, amo and Amazon Firestick is plugged in.

But I get the buzz even when I unplug all unneccessary items.  I have the source components plugged into a PurePower 2000 which is connected to a different receptacle in the same circuit.  The amp goes into a RSA Maxim power conditioner but even if I plug strait i to the wall the buzz remains.

What's really weird is that not all amps will buzz.  Maybe I should have mentioned this sooner.  But more electronics have buzzed in this room.

I've got tubed headamps hum/buz, preamps emit a buzzing and even a CD transport hums.  All these components taken into the room next door and they're all dead silent.

It gets a bit frustrating at times.

I've got a cheater plug laying around somewhere so I'll try that, as well.

Cheers, all.

 

Mamoru

 

 

Some makes and models of amp will hum, some will hum less, and some will not hum at all when plugged in, in certain houses.  Some individual examples of a given amp may hum and others may not.  I've had no hum and variable degrees of hum from different amps, and one nearly drove me crazy: it had mechanical hum at the amp and hummed through the speakers.  I tried it in every room of the house, and it was always the same.  I also brought in 10-12 different boxes of conditioners, DC blockers, ground lifters, transformers, etc. etc., and not a single one cured the problem.  The fact that you get different results in different rooms tells me that the place to start for you is with an electrician, rather than with an extra piece of equipment.