bad ground in the house outlets?

[rage_311]

Someone PLEASE help me. I just moved into a new place a couple weeks ago. I don't know much about the electrical system in the house or anything, but I'm pretty sure that either something's not wired quite right OR... my house is possessed. I'm getting some shuddering of whatever is on the monitor, seems to happen most at the desktop. The display just shakes back and forth really quickly. I've tried swapping monitors and I've tried swapping computers... same thing any way I try it. Also, I play guitar and I get major humming and buzzing through my amp when it's plugged into any outlet in this house, as opposed to my previous house. This place is 8 years old at most... is there anything SAFE that I could try? I can't imagine that this sort of "unstable" power can be good for any of my hardware either. Thanks in advance for any help and/or insight!

 

[RichPLS]

Get a multi-meter and check the polarity of the wiring, also verify that it is grounded. If very old place, could have aluminum wiring, and over time due to thermal expansion, it works its way loose at outlets and powerbox, which can cause noise and unclean power

 

[mr_fnord]

Like RichPLS said it could be a problem with grounding, or aluminum wiring. Also, if the wiring is very poor or too small for the length of run you could get a lot of voltage drop. Monitors start to get wavy and things behave poorly when the voltage drops too low. A multimeter would identify the voltage issue.

If it's not aluminum wiring and you're a long way from your breaker box you can use a voltage drop calculator to see if it might be a problem. Also remember wire length is not the same as physical distance, a friend of mine had a u-shaped 2000 sq ft house that had wire runs of almost 100 feet from the main power box to his office, and combined with under spec'd wiring he had ~8% voltage drop.

Voltage drop calc:
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

 

[Fastboatslowcomp]

One of the other things to check is the outlets themselves. Many electricians will wire the outlets using the push-in connection instead of the screw connections. While this saves time during construction, the push in connections can 'wear out'.
Other sources of interference are devices with transfomers, electric motors, and flourescent lights. If any of those are sharing the circuit yor computer is on consider running a dedicated line from the circuit panel to the outlet you are using for the computer.
Are you using a surge protector, line conditioner, or UPS?
By the way, make sure you kill the power at the circuit breaker before you start messing around with the house wiring!

 

[Vascular]

I cant imagine an almost new house having aluminum wires per code. Even in Utah.
Unless it is a moble home or RV.
You can also call your power company and have them test the line.
One more thing make sure your amp and speakers are not near your sysem as they are not shielded.