Mains noise from fridge

Hello, I usually use the site for help and information, it’s a refreshing change to be able to post something which may benefit and help, I have a built in kitchen refrigerator that sends pops through the hi fi, I have tried various mains power blocks with no improvement, I recently purchased a relatively inexpensive distribution block with a built in mains filter, it did as lots of you have already identified reduce the sound quality, however I decided to try the filter block on the offending domestic appliance, the result no more pops and system sounding as good as ever, it’s probably the best £40 I have spent in a long time, hope this helps, regards.

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Hi, interesting, which block is it?

I’ve often wondered if there was anything you could use on all the other sockets to prevent noise on the circuit, leaving the sockets for the stereo “clean”.

Mark

Check out Roxburgh filters they have lots of EMC devices - been in the filter business since 1969.

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How old is the fridge?
It should have an arc suppressing capacitor on the thermostat. it might be that’s gone US.
A fridge service guy is what’s needed, not adding power filters to the hifi.

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Hi the fridge is only 2 years old and is a built in job supplied and fitted with a new kitchen, call out fee a minimum of £100, now I know it is the fridge I will perhaps get a engineer to look at in the future, but for now it’s sorted :crossed_fingers:

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Just a thought.

I was picking up electrical noise in my system a few years back, it was because I was using un-screened interconnects. ( mainly Nordost). Changed interconnects and it was sorted.

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I supect getting a service guy out with the call out fee plus time & parts is not worth the money.
Your fix with the dist block & its filter appears to have blocked the switching spike noise, I’d leave it at that.

Awesome! Which block did you use @Neil1956 ? I wouldn’t mine giving this a try as I have a built-in fridge in a new build house and it’s causing some issues.

Can you use the filter between the fridge and the mains rather than the mains and the system?

Yes that’s the better way, assuming it does the job on whatever you have, it locks up the switching noise to just the fridge wiring.
Adding a filtered dist socket to your audio system can have some negative effects on SQ, suppressed dynamics etc.

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Hi that is exactly what I have done, and it has made the pops and clicks disappear, seems to be a 100% positive fix, hope that helped

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Hi, and that’s not had a detrimental affect on the system? The reason I ask is that having these anywhere on the same circuit as the system has been mentioned many times on here as not being a good idea, especially blocks with neon bulbs, surge protection etc!

Cheers

Hi not sure how it can be detrimental on the ring main, I’m no sparky but the ring feeds in two directions per socket or so I have been led to believe, so I’m not sure how it can affect another socket on the ring, but as I said I’m no electrician, but I’m sure we have a few on this site, all I can say is has stopped the pops and clicks and I cannot tell any reduction in sound quality, and that’s good enough for me. :+1:t3:

Hi again the block has no neon bulbs :+1:t3:

The filter is blocking the EMI from leaving the fridge mains and into the ring. Most cables have an inductor on them for this purpose. Stops mains pollution.

Hello and thank you, that’s more or less what I thought, so I believe that’s a winner f it’s stopping emi going into the mains, at a very reasonable cost same as 1m of nac a5. :+1:t3:

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Thanks @Neil1956 @Thegreatroberto very interesting, I guess I assumed these blocks just filtered the mains on the way in and not on the way back out as well :thinking:

I suspect the effective filter is little more than a ferrite block/clamp. It might be more fancy, but this clamp will help to block any noise leaving the item that generates the EMI. A lot of mains leads have these fitted as standard to help comply with EMC standards.
These little ferrite clamps are usefull for filtering in and out of a device. Cheap too.

Hi, the Tacima 6 way block seems to have done the trick, it isn’t just a ferrite block it has a coil and components through a visible part of the block, but as it’s been identified it is stopping noise going into the ring main so will not affect anything plugged directly into the ring from another socket, :+1:t3:

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Just another quick bit of info, all interconnects are genuine Naim items, the snaics are all the latest black purchased to see if it was indeed a cable issue, it made no difference.

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