Substation near my house started HUMMING last week
I worked for a regional utility for 22 years before early retirement. I know what a normal substation sounds like. The one two blocks from my house started making a new tone last Thursday. It's not the 60 Hz transformer hum. It's something harmonic, higher — I measured it at around 237 Hz with a phone app (I know, imprecise — better meter on order). This substation has not been upgraded. No work orders on the public PUC dashboard. Nothing has physically changed. But the sound has.
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237 Hz is close to the B3 harmonic structure. Not a naturally-occurring power-grid tone. If it's coming from the substation and not from a nearby source, something was installed without a permit.
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DuvallDocuments
5 days ago
Get downwind and upwind. Measure both. If 237 Hz attenuates with distance FROM the substation specifically, that's your source. If not, it's not actually the substation.
@DuvallDocuments did this yesterday morning. 18 dB drop at 200 yards from the fence line, consistent across 4 compass points. It's the substation.
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TanakaTransmits
4 days ago
has anyone's sleep quality tanked in a 1-km radius of this substation since thursday. that's a question worth asking.
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@TanakaTransmits my wife hasn't slept through the night since Friday. She had no idea about the hum until I told her yesterday. She said 'so that's why.'
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file a noise complaint with the PUC. they'll either dismiss it (data point) or investigate (also a data point). either response tells you something.
filed. reference number logged. will report when they respond.
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