weird nightime Lasko fan noises...

[firedome]

Posted this over at AW.o but figured this might be the more appropriate place:

OK this may be a confession of some kind of mental issues lol... but...
Like many we use a fan at night as a source of white noise for sleeping, a series of el cheapo mostly Lasko box fans over many years. We don't care for a/c much unless it's super hot so we have a lot of them, 8 or 9. At night, particularly, when all else is quiet I notice that beyond the steady motor hum and fan whirring there is always some kind of subtle strange intermittent electrical? pulsing/surging sound, in all of them.

Switching them out, changing speed, location, air direction, what it sits on, nothing seems to eliminate it. Is this some kind of neurotic obsession (don't answer that!)... has anyone else noticed this? My wife doesn't hear a thing and thinks I'm nuts, but my hearing IS better than hers, she didn't hear the d/w humming away the other day when it was broken. So anyway, could it be induction, motor design, line current? It sounds like a kind of very subtle electric surging on-and-off, with no fixed pattern. Enough to sometimes interfere with sound sleeping, defeating the whole purpose of white noise. And I'm a very light sleeper, so it's driving me crazy! Anyone else notice odd fan sounds like this? Maybe I just need a different/better/quieter fan?

 

[gman]

I’ll go a step further........

To make you feel better I usually hear voices, singing, etc. within the fan white noise. We have one on the large high velocity fans though and that thing is noisy. It’s funny because the neighbors always ask if we were woken up by the kids shooting off fire works and our answer is always “when”?

 

[fan-of-fans]

I am one too, who imagines voices and other sounds while some electric motors, appliances or automobiles are running.

It does't happen to me often, but I guess the brain is trying to make sense of the sounds or patterns.

Many electric motors and fans also make distinct sounds at startup. A lot of people find these startup sounds interesting. Some of them do it more pronounced than others.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Whew! Glad I'm not alone ...

I hear the pulsing at times and sometimes the pulsing will go longer and fewer and then pick up shorter quicker cycles. I think it has to do with the line voltage varying for different reasons. I have a 65 yr. old fan that fluctuates in rpm quite noticeably.I always assume there has been a voltage drop in the line. Are your fans well oiled? I do mime every year, observing how long the blades take to spin down when I turn them off. None of the fans are blowing towards each other right?That would cause the motors to work harder. If someone here like MadMan see this I think you'll get the answer your after. I'll be watching for that. Also, is this an older home with older wiring?

I've been using the audio sound tracks over on youtube. Free. up to 10 or more hours, I like the sound of waves crashing or heavy rain on a tin roof. There are hundreds of audio files there. I run the audio from my desk top pc through a stereo with nice speakers in the bedroom and it's the best. Sleep like a baby. Highly recommend! Just google sounds of waves crashing or what ever, it's all there. They even have audio clips of a bunch of fans running in the same room. Use their fans and save on your electric bill! Your welcome,lol.