Annoying beeping noise in apartment I can't localize

November 1, 2024 4:11 AM

I'm a bit grouchy here because I've had a four-note beeping in my apartment since about 5 AM today. I can't localize it at all, and it's keeping me from sleeping - and simply driving me crazy. I have work this morning! It seems to be coming from the wall. It just changed pitch a few minutes ago...and now it stopped. Hopefully it won't come back. What is it? More details inside.

- My apartment is a one-bedroom, first-floor one in the Tampa Bay area in Florida, built in 2020. It did not sustain any significant damage or flooding in the recent hurricanes.

- The noise is loudest from my bed. If I walk around, I can get further from it, but never closer to it.

- It does not seem to be coming from outside. It is definitely not a car/truck. I walked around my part of the building, and it isn't audible from outside at all.

- I have Spectrum cable/internet, with a wall-mounted access point and some cable equipment hidden behind a panel in the bedroom closet. It is not coming from there.

- No kids or pets, so it's not a kid's toy or automatic litter box.

- I don't have a CPAP machine or other medical equipment.

- It's not any of my computers.

- It's not my printer

- It doesn't appear to be coming from the smoke detector.

...and now it stopped. WTF.

Recordings (I know they're poor quality - it was the best I could get with my phone - please refrain from commenting "I can't hear it"):

Original sound

It changed pitch at one point.

Lower pitched, later

The noise is now gone, but I'd like advice on where to look (or tell my landlord to look) if it comes back. Thanks for your help, everyone!

posted by Seeking Direction to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

It’s possible you posted the same recording twice, but those two recordings have the same pitch.

My best guess would be something coming from your upstairs neighbors’ place, if you have upstairs neighbors.
posted by mai at 4:34 AM on November 1

Yes, I accidentally posted the same recording twice. The original is here.
posted by Seeking Direction at 4:42 AM on November 1

It very well could be something from my upstairs neighbor's apartment, though I've never been woken up by an alarm clock from upstairs (or even heard one going off) in the 16 months I've lived here.
posted by Seeking Direction at 4:45 AM on November 1

My electric toothbrush makes a similar-toned sound as the lower pitched one you posted when it needs to be taken off the charger (though only 2 beeps rather than 4).
It was frustrating and difficult to pinpoint the source of the sound the first time it happened, because it was coming from an object that I didn't expect to beep.
posted by jolenex4 at 4:50 AM on November 1

My alarm system makes a repetitive noise when there's been a power cut or its backup battery is on the way out. If your upstairs neighbour has an alarm system, could be that.

Whatever it is, if it *is* something from upstairs, then it went on for a while because they had to wake up, then realise the noise was in their apartment, then find out where it was coming from, then figure out what buttons to press to make it stop. If it happens again, they'll probably be quicker to sort it.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:58 AM on November 1

I don't think you'll hear it again today because it's probably a low battery warning and whatever it was finally died. The change in pitch definitely sounded like a last-gasp effort.

I agree that it's something in a neighbour's apartment, something they usually keep charged, and they're not home right now.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:58 AM on November 1

Possibly an item in a common space, which no one "owns" so no one thinks to check the battery? Like a basement smoke alarm, battery backup for the Internet router, etc.

Just for the sake of future readers, my MiL discovered recently that her garage door opener had a battery backup unit, and that the battery was designed for a finite number of years. Its failure mode was refusing to open, with no beeps or flashing lights: verrrry difficult to diagnose when none of us had even heard of such a thing!
posted by wenestvedt at 5:14 AM on November 1

Could it be the fridge?

A few times in my life, when I've heard an annoying, hard-to-localize beeping sound, it has turned out to be the temperature alarm on the fridge, warning me that the door had been left open.
posted by mekily at 6:33 AM on November 1

I had a similar situation with the charger for my eneloop lithium ion batteries recently--once the batteries were fully charged, it made a very faint but annoying repetitive beep. The noise stopped when I took the batteries off the charger.
posted by Jemstar at 8:32 AM on November 1

Do you by any chance have an Apple Watch with one of those circular magnetic chargers plugged in? Those make a faint beeping sound and I felt so completely vindicated that I wasn’t imagining things when I discovered this.
posted by oxisos at 9:50 AM on November 1

Smoke detector in another apartment?
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:36 AM on November 1

Any chance a fitbit or similar got knocked off your arm while you were making your bed? Could something be in-between your mattress and the box spring, or your mattress and the bed slats, or your mattress and the headboard?
posted by cocoagirl at 11:04 AM on November 1

It's is probably a CO2 detector or a water sensor alarm that is running low on battery and that beeping is your reminder to change the battery. Look for either of the two and you will likely find the source of your sound. It's also possible that your firm alarm makes that type of noise as well.
posted by smilefreely at 1:35 PM on November 1

The recordings are very quiet, but remind me of 3d printer noises - which would explain both the repetitive nature and the fact that they change over time (printing different objects or a different cross section of the same object). 3d printers are quite musical, in their own way, and the X and Y axes buzz at different frequencies depending on the speed they're moving.

There are any number of YouTube videos of 3d printers running, and I'd look for one that is printing a hollow box. If you also find one printing a circular vase you'll appreciate how the sounds can change depending on way it's up to.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 9:59 PM on November 1