HELP I think I have an electrical issue??


A few months ago I had 2 20amp dedicated lines with hospital grade duplex's installed. All was well with my Bel Canto Ref1000 mono's. Well a few days ago I just got a pair of Genesis m60 tube amps. I was noticing a clicking noise coming through my speakers. I first noticed this when I was just warming up the amps with no source on. Then I also noticed the clicking when a source was on with music playing.

So it turns out that the clicking noise is my electric ignition of my gas furnace, is somehow playing through my speakers (Or maybe its just one of them, not exactly sure yet) This is a very strange and annoying. If anyone has any ideas please let me know!

Tim
tmesselt
03-28-09: Tmesselt
Well, due to the fact that I was not wiring the isolated ground correctly I switched out my outlets to a standard 20amp outlet and the clicking is still there, but at least it is connected correctly
If the receptacles are isolated ground recepts you could have left them in.... NEC requires if an isolated ground type receptacle is used with a plastic box the cover plate has to be made of a non conductive material... Plastic, Nylon, wood, ect....

Run a subpanel with just my audio equipment on it with its own dedicated ground??? Would this have to be another stake drove into the ground??
Dedicated ground? A dedicated earth ground for the sub panel that is not connected to the main grounding electrode system of your home?
Don't do it. And if your friend is a licensed electrician he won't do it.

Also I just unplugged my ICs, so all that was hooked up was speaker wire and power to the Genesis amps and the clicking was still there so even though the ICs were a long shot they are no also ruled out.
Did you install shorting plugs on the inputs of the amps?

Call the people who installed the furnace.

I am no Ham Radio Operator but if one has been following this thread they might chime in. If the ignition module or ignitor is not bonded, grounded, properly to the frame of the furnace a resistance will exist between the ground of the module/ignitor and the grounded furnace chassis. This can amplify the transmitting RFI of the ignitor.. A transmitting antenna.

Ngjockey, am I correct in my thinking?
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Popping sounds are caused by arc faults. People hear them through speakers when turning on a light switch also.

Have the electrician check the wiring connections from the boiler ignitor to the control panel. There should be a black and a white wire from the ignitor to the boiler control box (120 volt). Sounds like you may have a loose connection. That sound you hear is from an electrical arc that is caused by a space between the wires and the connectors. The loose connection is either at the ignitor or the control box.

Also have him check all the boiler wiring from the boiler shutoff, to the 24 volt transformer and to the boiler control panel. It is also possible that the ignitor itself is bad. Or it's possible that the neutral or ground at the boiler switch is reversed. Or worse, the neutral is bonded to the ground screw. Just have him check everything - sometimes Joe the Boiler Man does his own wiring.

If that's not the case, have the electrician check to see that the boiler wiring is not "borrowing" a neutral (he'll know what that means). If it is, then a dedicated circuit for the boiler wiring may solve the problem.
Jea48

So my first move should be to my furnace company? (This is somewhat overwhelming for me as so my responses with different advice have all came in) But afterall the furnace would more than likely be a free service call due to the fact that it is so new, and then just figure it out from there.

Also I have checked the furnace ground. They grounded it to the gas line that runs right next to it, then there is another ground coming from the panel, inside the furnace there is a wire nut connecting these 2 grounds to the actual ground for the furnace. All of those connections seem to be in correct.

Could any of this be caused by double tapping my ground bar in my panel??
Or it's possible that the neutral or ground at the boiler switch is reversed. Or worse, the neutral is bonded to the ground screw. Just have him check everything - sometimes Joe the Boiler Man does his own wiring.

I have noticed that on my panel I dont really have a neutral bar and a ground bar I just have ground/neutral bar where they are both plugged into. Ground and neutral wires are not separated.

Do they need to be separate?
Tim: disconnecting the audio input interconnects from the amps tells you the amps themselves are picking up the "clicks". Could be incoming via the AC power, or could even be airborne RFI from the furnace highvoltage arc. You already switched to the opposite AC phase which is a good thing to try. A high current AC line isolation transformer may or may not help, but you could try that if you're committed to keeping the tube equipment.

Ensure that the furnace is well grounded. You might try running a temporary ground cable draped across the floor, directly from your distribution panel to the furnace chassis. You could also try connecting a 30uF 400VAC filter capacitor across the AC Hot to Neutral at the furnace (available at your local electrical supply house) which won't cost much and is easy to do. Ferrite filter rings (such as Audioquest sells) placed around the AC line conductors at the furnace and/or at the panel on the dedicated power circuit feeding your amps is also inexpensive & easy to try.

I am not surprised that tube equipment would do this because tubes have extremely high input impedance, making them highly noise susceptible. The BelCanto's being solid state are current mode devices which are far more noise immune. Your only fix may be to eliminate the tubes, which is certainly what I would do.

You make no mention of AC line conditioning which might be a viable cure; borrow a line conditioner to try it. Some listeners don't care for line conditioners on amps, but there are high current models available that won't adversely affect your sonics. I use line conditioning on my whole rig, not only for noise supression but also for AC line transient protection. Catastrophic experiences with lightning damage have previously resulted from my not using any protection in the past; repairs are quite costly not to mention long downtime.
I have a "Chang 9900 Amp" high current 20 amp AC line conditioner sitting here unused if you want to try that let me know via email.