"Popping" sound in my house - freaking me out!

[LisaR]

Yesterday, I was home alone when I heard one very loud popping or clapping type sound. Immediately after, in the area I thought I heard it, there was one quiet chirp from our smoke detector. I never found the source and basically forgot about it.

Guess what just happened again? Same loud pop followed by a slight chirp from our smoke detector. The kids are home and they jumped ten feet in the air!

DH is going to stop on his way home tonight and get a new smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector and see if that fixes it. In all my life, I've never heard this sound and certainly not coming from a smoke detector.

This is a LOUD sound. Everything appears to be working correctly. We haven't lost power. I don't get it. Any ideas? I am at a loss of what it could be. I'm waiting for our house to explode! Yeah, probably an overreaction.

 

[Frantasmic]

Is something arcing (electrically) behind your walls. Does it occur at the same time the heater or cooler (don't laugh, I've had both on at my house this week) comes on?

 

[Kristibo42]

Have you checked the batteries?

 

[LisaR]

Is something arcing (electrically) behind your walls. Does it occur at the same time the heater or cooler (don't laugh, I've had both on at my house this week) comes on?

The A/C wasn't on either time. It was set to come on, but the house was at temperature so it hadn't kicked on. I bumped the temp down yesterday right after the sound and it came on fine. It is running fine today.

Have you checked the batteries?

The batteries were changed when the time changed just a few weeks ago. At that time, DH also bought two new smoke detectors because he felt a few of ours were old. The one that chirped was not replaced (only the batteries). He is buying a new one tonight, but I have still never heard a sound like this come from a smoke detector!

 

[Bonnie151]

We had a faulty socket a few months ago that caused sporadic loud popping. Scared the living daylights out of me! Our electrician went round the room sticking some machine into the sockets which showed red at the faulty one.

 

[Imzadi]

Is something arcing (electrically) behind your walls. Does it occur at the same time the heater or cooler (don't laugh, I've had both on at my house this week) comes on?

I was thinking this too. That there is a short in one of the electrical wires behind the wall. Check & feel all the outlets & light switches, to see if they are extremely warm. Feel along walls too, which are adjacent to the outlets & light switches.

The A/C wasn't on either time. It was set to come on, but the house was at temperature so it hadn't kicked on. I bumped the temp down yesterday right after the sound and it came on fine. It is running fine today.




The batteries were changed when the time changed just a few weeks ago. At that time, DH also bought two new smoke detectors because he felt a few of ours were old. The one that chirped was not replaced (only the batteries). He is buying a new one tonight, but I have still never heard a sound like this come from a smoke detector!

Then maybe the batteries are faulty. I've read & seen news stories where people are wearing cell phones that suddenly feel like they are burning a hole in their pockets. They pull the cell phone out and set it on the table, only to have the cell phone later literally explode on them. OR if they didn't get to take the cell phone out, that their pockets exploded off. Faulty batteries can be dangerous.

 

[11290]

Not knowing where you live, what type of weather and what house construction you have can make a difference as to a possible causes.

IF you have a house with manufactured roof trusses and go through a significant weather change (temperature differential) in a short period of time, the trusses "expand/contract" and cause a "popping" noise. Sometimes just some pieces of lumber may expand.contract more than others and cause a noise. Lots of possibilities in a home.

If it happens near to where the smoke detector is mounted, that movement may cause a chirp in the detector.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

My fridge makes that noise on occasion. DH thinks it has something to do with the line for the ice maker, because we don't have the ice maker installed.

 

[LisaR]

We had a faulty socket a few months ago that caused sporadic loud popping. Scared the living daylights out of me! Our electrician went round the room sticking some machine into the sockets which showed red at the faulty one.

Just talked to DH and he owns one of those little gadgets! When he gets home from work tonight, he is going to find it (always a challenge) and show me how to use it while he replaces the smoke detector and checks out a few other things.

 

[Tammysher]

Did you ever find out what was making this sound? I was just watching our old analog tv and we heard a very loud pop /clap and it scare us. I tried to figure out where there sound had come from but I couldn’t find an explanation.

 

[low-key]

Just smoke a joint and keep saying "Mellow"

 

[rwdavis2]

You can buy a plug in device at Home Depot or Lowes thet plugs into an outlet. It lights up different ways telling what is wrong or if the outlet is fine. You can do it yourself.

 

[MIGrandma]

It’s been over 6 years. They probably found it by now.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

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[Claudia Kellenberger]

IF you have a house with manufactured roof trusses and go through a significant weather change (temperature differential) in a short period of time, the trusses "expand/contract" and cause a "popping" noise. Sometimes just some pieces of lumber may expand.contract more than others and cause a noise. Lots of possibilities in a home.

THIS always spooked me out. If it gets to around below zero in the winter, we hear the popping sound around the roof. My husband says it is some nails popping out due to the expand/contract issue. It is loud enough to hear it in the living room and bedroom.