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Popping from light switches and refrigerator

Help please! My amp just quit working and no one knows why! Two weeks ago the output light on my pre-amp burned out and there was no sound through the system even though the pre-amp tested fine when I sent it in for repair!

I just moved into a patio home (on a concrete slab) three weeks ago. WHEN the stereo actually works, the CD transport misreads and there's a pop out of the speakers when a light switch is flipped, the refrigerator door is opened or the refigerator cycles on.

I've had an electrical engineer look at it and said it was just line noise. I had an electrian come out last Friday and he couldn't find a reason. The three lines coming into the house were all tight and the breakers were all tight.

The light switches and refrigerator are on four different breakers. The electrician suggested running a dedicated line. The electrical engineer said that that wouldn't help since the switching noise seems to be bleeding through four different circuits now.

This happened (before the amp quit working) with both a tube pre-amp and solid state pre-amp. It happened with both a $2500.00 power conditioner and a UPS unit from my computer.

I lifted the ground on the transport, dac and pre-amp and the popping seemed to stop (for that day). The next day the power amp quit working altogether. I don't know what to do!

Chuck
krell_man
krell_man OP
827 posts
 
Thank you all for your thoughts. After talking to about a million people besides your feedback, I started replacing all of the contractor light switches and outlets in this four year old home. This way I can make sure that there are no loose connections there and I know that these new pieces are of a lot higher quality.

The electrical engineer came over and checked the breaker box thoroughly and the ground rod and connection, things the electrician never bothered to do for the $140.00 service run. I bought a PS Audio Power Plant 500, but can't test it out yet until I get the amp back. I'll try it and then the dedicated circuit to see if I can see what's going on.

Chuck
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jeff_jones
418 posts
 
JEA48 - "Imo he has a bigger problem than that...." . You may be right, or the popping might be coincidental to the other issues, or both. In any case, I don't see any reccomendations above that seem unreasonable and I keep wondering about the first thought from Avguygeorge.

Chuck - Great luck! And if you don't care please let us know how this one plays out, inquiring minds gotsta know.
gs5556
1,233 posts
 
It seems to me that your problem is from one of two sources: the refrigerator or the power company. The refigerator motor contacts, brushes or pull-in relay could be arcing, leading to induction or impules noise in the entire house wiring. These voltage spikes can easily fry a CD player's electronics and blow amplifier fuses. Pull the plug on the refigerator and see if the problem goes away with respect to the light switch pops.

Second, the power company has voltage transients carried through to your house from sources such as nearby building motors or on-site generators, transmission wire faults, or your neighbors could be polluting upstream with their motors, computers, etc. This is a bitch to track down. The only thing you can do is complain to neighbors but the utility has a responsibility to attempt a solution if the problem is on their end.

Without knowing anything else, voltage spikes are the most likely culprits for the equipment damage. EM/RFI pollution is the most probable cause of the popping. If it were my house, I would be looking to install an isolation transformer for the entire audio circuit and a TVSS in the main panel.
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