My electrician buddy showed me why my outlets were buzzing

I had this annoying buzz coming from a few outlets in my living room for months. My friend Dave who does commercial wiring came over and said it was loose connections, not the outlets themselves. He tightened the terminal screws and the buzz stopped on three of them, the fourth needed a whole new outlet because the plastic was cracked. Ever had an outlet buzz that turned out to be something simple?

3 comments

3 Comments

michael_coleman107d ago

Did you check if the screws were actually loose or just needed a little snug? I had a similar buzz and just tightening the hot and neutral terminals did the trick for me, never had an issue again. Sometimes it really is that simple if the outlet isn't worn out yet.

vera5147d ago

Gotta push back a little on that one. Loose connections can definitely cause buzzing, but in my experience that buzzing is usually from the outlet itself being worn out or from a faulty device plugged into it. Three out of four being fixed by just tightening screws sounds like those outlets were already on their last legs. The plastic cracking on that fourth one is a red flag too, makes me think the connections were actually the symptom of a bigger issue like the wires getting hot over time. Dave might be a good commercial guy but residential wiring has different quirks. I'd bet money those three "fixed" outlets will buzz again within a year.

the_viola7d ago

But I gotta say I see this a little different from vera514. Tightening terminals is pretty standard fix for buzzing and it works more often than people think, those screws vibrate loose over years of use especially on outlets that get a lot of plugging and unplugging. The cracked plastic on the fourth one is just age related wear not necessarily a sign of overheating, plastic gets brittle after twenty years. I've had outlets where tightening fixed the buzz and they stayed quiet for years after, no repeats. Commercial guys like Dave actually deal with way more wire stress than residential so he probably knows his connections, I'd trust his fix unless the buzz comes back.