Low frequency vibrating hum, on and off, on and off
A thread with this problem has been closed. See https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/plumbing/mysterious-humming-noise-house-55517-11.html In case the problem is continuing with others, I want to report our experience.
We live in central London, on the fifth floor of a modern reinforced concrete frame apartment building. There is a storey above ours at the rear of our flat, and a roof terrace above at the front (not ours). The block is all electric. There is a cold water tank in the basement, which pumps water to the flats. Water is heated within each flat by a PulsaCoil. There are 2 air conditioning units in the terrace above us. These were overhauled last summer and apparently a hole drilled through the outside wall for connect. Of course individual flats also have extractors to bathrooms and kitchens. This is all the potentially relevant information I can think of.
We lived in the flat for 4-5 months without hearing any hum. Then it started, very low vibrating sound, on and off, on and off. It is hard to find a regular pattern. It is often heard in the late evening and sometimes wakes me up at night. When it is bad, you can feel the floor vibrating. It actually hurts my ear when it is bad.
It is not tinnitus. My partner hears it as well, as did a visitor without it being pointed out to him. The hum went on and off last summer, then stopped. I heard it one day in November, then didn't hear it. It resumed recently and is driving me crazy.
The porter says that he asked other flats, but no one else in the building hears it. It is not coming from our flat. It is loudest by the boxing in of a soil stack that is in our living room (bathroom in flat below), but the sound also transmits, curiously to a bedroom on the opposite side of our flat.
Any suggestions? Help ! Thanks.