Buzzing CU

[binguk]

have been searching for an answer to my own buzzing consumer unit...
ive fitted 12 energy saving spots in my living room.
they dont work with dimmers so removed and fitted normal switch.

however 2 months down the road the cu buzzes when they are switched on.

anyone got any suggestions?

cheers

bing

 

[electronicsuk]

however 2 months down the road the cu buzzes when they are switched on.

If all terminations in the CU are tight (obviously don't check this yourself unless you isolate the power and you're confident in doing the work) then it's probably just coming from the coils and magnetic parts inside the MCB for the lighting circuit. The rapid switching of triac dimmer circuits does tend to cause this sort of thing, you might even be able to hear the filaments inside the lamps themselves buzzing if you listen closely.

EDIT: Misread your post, you're talking about CFLs causing a problem rather than a dimmer. Nontheless, electronic ballasts inside such a number of CFLs could easily be causing you similar problems by introducing odd harmonics into the supply.