loud bang from circuit breaker box (2023 Update)

[pdaly28]

Hello,this is my first post here.I have a 10 year old home with a 200amp service.While I am in the garage,every once in a while I hear a loud bang from the breaker box.It does not trip any breakers. My son down in LA(an electrician)says might be a loose wire. He advised me to switch the main breaker off,and check each breaker for loose wires or marks from arcing. I found no marks or loose wires,if it was consistent I would be tempted to find out which breaker is making the noise and change it. At this time I am a little stumped as to my next step, Any Ideas? Thanks in advance!

[Unquestionably Confused]

Are you positive the banging is coming from the panel?

If so, do you notice a flicker or dimming of the lights when it occurs?

If the answer is Yes and then No, I would invite your son up for Sunday dinner and ask him to bring his tools

Only thing I can think of is maybe a GFCI breaker but that - of all breakers - should trip completely. If you have a GFCI breaker(s) in that panel, have you tried testing them to see if they work and/or sound similar to the noise you're hearing?

[gfretwell]

Check for a loose cover. Sometimes the magnetic kick in a breaker when a big load starts up can make a cover bang.

[Guv Bob]

"pdaly28" wrote in message news:16cf7$54053d02$cf3aab60$ [e-mail]...

consistent I

If you're sure it's the breaker box, you might invite your son up to take a look.

[pdaly28]

noise is coming from the box,I have removed each breaker(with the main off)checked the wires,and made sure the breaker snapped in firmly.I do have 2 GFCI breakers,but neither has tripped.Actuelly 1 has tripped in the past and we found a short in a light fixture.Once I replaced the fixture,no more tripping.The noise may be bigger to me,I am deaf and wear a hearing aid and have a cochlear implant,but the noise is still there.As for bring my son up for dinner,he is in Los Angeles,I am in north Idaho.

[Fred McKenzie]

Pdaly28-

From what you have said, everything appears to be working normally. Has anyone else heard the bang? It could be a magnetic spike that your hearing electronics are picking up.

Gfretwell's suggestion that there might be a magnetic kick vibrating the breaker box cover is plausible. I would look at the breakers for large loads that cycle periodically, such as the air conditioner or water heater. If you could turn off one breaker at a time, you might be able to isolate which one is the culprit.

If there are two identical high current breakers, try swapping them and see if there is any change. The AC, stove and water heater breakers are candidates, and are probably twin breakers for 240 VAC circuits.

Fred

[clare]

With a CI, any large electromagnetic anomoly could cause a "bang" that nobody else would hear. The CI communicates to the hearing aid with an "inductive loop". (at least it does on a friend's CI -)

[pdaly28]

Thanks everyone,i'm going to call en electrician

[hrhofmann]

Has anyone else actually heard the "bang" when you hear it? Since nothing has been found, I would be very suspicious that something is generating a s ignal that is getting into your hearing system. Is the breaker box in the g arage where you are when you hear it? Is the garage attached to the house or a separate building? Is there a time of day or day of week that this happens, or it it apparentl y completely random, with respect to time of day, temperature, rainy condit ions, etc?

I would be very suspicious of some outside noise sounding like it is coming from the breaker box based on all the information yhou have given us to da te. For instance, a bird flying into the house wall near the box, or maybe some strain being relieved as the house expands or contracts with changes in temperature, etc.

[trader_4]

On Tuesday, September 2, 2014 10:40:19 PM UTC-4, [e-mail] wrot e:

g has been found, I would be very suspicious that something is generating a signal that is getting into your hearing system. Is the breaker box in the garage where you are when you hear it? Is the garage attached to the hous e or a separate building?

tly completely random, with respect to time of day, temperature, rainy cond itions, etc?

ng from the breaker box based on all the information yhou have given us to date. For instance, a bird flying into the house wall near the box, or may be some strain being relieved as the house expands or contracts with change s in temperature, etc.

+1 to all that.

Before spending money on an electrician, I would at least make sure someone with normal hearing verifies that they think it's coming from the panel. It would be very unusual for a real noise in the form of a loud bang to com e from an electric panel, with no other symptoms.

[philoÂÂ]

Yep!

[makolber]

yes that is a very good observation

there may be an electrical interference with your hearing aid and not an actual sound

if this is the case, there is nothing wrong, you are probably "hearing" the electrical surge of the fridge or some other motor starting

+1

Mark

[pdaly28]

WOW!yes,some one else has heard it,no my implant has nothing to do with it,garage is attached(built in 2004 with the rest of the house)I have switched out breakers,checked wire for tightness,pulled outlet covers to check for the same.An electrician has the tools to check wire temps,hot spots etc.The bang is inconsistent,after the bang,the next one might be an hour or 5 hours.I have shut off circuits to try and narrow it down with no luck.Better to spend the money on that as opposed to burning the place down.Thanks anyway.

[TomR]

I agree with the others that the issue/problem/anomaly is probably with your cochlear implant and not with the electrical panel. Can you tell the direction that sounds are coming from with your cochlear implant? Do you have unilateral hearing with your cochlear implant(s) or bilateral hearing (since personas with unilateral hearing cannot detect the direction that a sound is coming from).

I think that you may be better off contacting the specialists who are involved with your cochlear implant rather than an electrician. Or, at the very least, have an independent person with normal (non-assisted) hearing verify that there is a loud bang coming from the electrical panel before calling in any electrician.

Good luck and let us know what the final answer is on this one.

[Fred McKenzie]

Pdaly28-

That sounds like a hot water heater cycling to me. You would know if the stove was in use, and an air conditioner would cycle more frequently.

Your electrician may be able to access the water heater thermostat and manually cycle it. Make sure he resets it to a safe temperature!

Fred

[trader_4]

I guess you didn't see his post where he said that others with normal hearing can hear the bang too. IDK what it could be either, makes no sense to me, but apparently we can rule out his impaired hearing.

[trader_4]

Instead of paying an electrician to fiddle around, he can find out if it's anything to do with a WH himself. Just turn it off.

[Barbara]

i have the same issue.. i have had 4 electricians out and they have not figured it out. It usually happens when it is a downpour. but new roof new windows no water leakage found anywhere. Im stumpified....and worried.

[invalid unparseable]

Barbara wrote on 2/6/2023 8:02 PM:

A loud bang from circuit breaker box means one of the circuit breakers has been tripped. The circuit breaker is loaded with a powerful spring so it will disconnect quickly when tripped to minimize arcing between the electrodes.

You can inspect the circuit breaker box yourself without calling the electrician. Watch the levers on the line of circuit breakers, and see which one is slightly out of alignment in the row. Use your fingers to move that one to check if it can be moved easily. If it can be moved easily without exerting force, then you pull that one to the opposite direction and then pull it back again. It will make a loud noise when you pull it back to line up with others in the row.

[Dean Hoffman]

How do you know it's the breaker box? Has anyone been near it when the noise happens? Do all the lights work? Refrigerator? Air conditioner/heater? Does power go from the box to an outside outlet? A backyard shed? Swimming pool pump? I presume at least one of the electricians has taken the front cover off of the breaker box? Frankly, this sounds like you're trying to pull someone's leg.