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Finally got the old panel at the Maple Street job to stop buzzing
It was a 1970s Federal Pacific box that had this low hum you could feel in the floor... I swapped out the main breaker and every single stab-in connection for new ones over two afternoons. The quiet when I flipped it back on was amazing. Anyone else have a go-to method for silencing those old noisy panels?
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phoenix_lewis4mo ago
The Noalox thing works for a bit but it's not really the silver bullet. You gotta get the bus bar clean as a whistle first or that hum comes back in a month or two. Ive had better luck just torquing every connection to spec with a good driver.
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aaronsullivan5mo ago
Watched a buddy spend a whole day on a Zinsco panel that sounded like a wasp nest. He ended up pulling every breaker, cleaning the bus with a fiberglass pen, and coating the stabs with that special grease. The silence after was almost spooky.
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diana_carr665mo ago
Yeah, that sound is the worst. I had one last month buzzing so bad you could hear it from the driveway. I did the same thing, pulled all the breakers and went at the bus with a fiberglass pen until it was shiny. I know @ben_lewis says the grease doesn't last, and he's probably right long term, but I still use that Noalox stuff on the stabs. It at least buys you some quiet for a while. The difference when you flip the main back on is crazy, just dead silent.
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