electrical question...any guesses on this one?

[Lincolncruiser95]

Preface this with a little back story...bought a1925 farm house about 6 years ago...since then it has gotten new lights throughout, new ceiling fans, a new 150 amp panel to replace the old 100, new kitchen and two remodeled baths. Most of the house wiring looks fairly recent with plastic romex throughout, with the exception of two circuits, both with tar wrapped copper romex still in apparently ok shape.

About a month ago I noticed a light buzz at my panel. Yesterday it was back. Traced it to a circuit that controls a porch light, ceiling fan light combo, one outlet and one overhead light.

Thought the breaker had gone, as god knows how old, electrician put existing breakers in new box. Reinstalled to the clean, old tar wrapped romex with no issues. Connection tight, and it still buzzes. Here is the odd part;

the only thing that causes it to buzz is the overhead light in the ceiling fan- its one of those new Hampton bays with a control box in the wall that has four push buttons for fan settings, one free one for an on/ off for the light, and a slider for on off for the whole thing. Fan works fine on all settings, all lights elsewhere work along with plugs, but when the light is on the breaker buzzes and actually so does that control box for the fan, and they sound the same, almost like a florescent ballast with more of a sharp crackle. Fan has mini cfls for lights, two IIRC. Is that causing an issue with the fan controller which in turn is making my breaker buzz? Replace bulb? Fan control? Smash with hammer? No clue...

Wtf...any thoughts?

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Is there a dimmer on it? might be the CFLs...

Tommy

 

[Labradorian]

1st thing i would try, as Tommy hinted to, is to put normal incandescent bulbs in and see if the buzz goes away. some older cfl's are not dimmable and not compatible with dimmers.
simple check, if that does not cure it, try disconnecting the fan/light fixture from the circuit and see it the buzz goes away. perhaps there is something wrong in the fixture/wall controller it self.

cheers

 

[myredracer]

Possibly a loose fastener somewhere. Cut power and tighten anything you can inside the panel.

Another option is to replace the dimmer with a different brand. I bought a speed control for a fan and the fan made a loud noise. Replaced with a different brand control and was fine. Dimmers and controllers can have different electronics in them.

 

[Lincolncruiser95]

Thanks for the replies, issue seems to have been resolved with normal bulbs..never been a fan of cfls...one more reason I guess.

 

[cleason]

check ur connections first, hampton bay is a cheap fan maker. the black rx has rat poision on the sheathing. so wash ur hands after u touch it.

 

[pmiranda]

Is the light control really on/off, or is it one of those that dims as you hold the button down and therefore doesn't really go full-on?
LED's are usually fully dimmable and low enough power to not overheat a fixture designed for a CFL or low wattage bulb.

 

[Lincolncruiser95]

No, no dimmer, just a push on, push off. Put the old incandescent bulbs back in and the buzzing both at the control box and the panel stopped. Oh well, at least I know the breaker for that circuit is nice and fresh. I had completely forgotten I switched those out to CFL for a less yellow light. The things you notice when it gets dark at 430.

 

[Mustang51js]

Try led bulbs if your looking to lower electric bill

 

[Bigbandguy]

Another thing about Hampton Bay fixtures... the center prong in their screw in sockets tends to bend flat. The act of changing the bulb may have made better contact to the new bulb than the old one. Make sure the light is turned off and try getting something under that center prong and lifting it up a bit. Could be that the thread on the CFL is just different enough that the bulb did not go in quite as far and if that prong was bent down at all, a poor sizzling connection would result. I have had this sort of thing with several Hampton Bay fixtures... the spring goes out of that center prong in the socket and the connection gets iffy. Would not be surprised if that is the problem.