APC BackUPS Pro BR1500GI Squealing Noise with Water Heater

[BillP]

I just noticed that everytime I turn on our water heater, my BR1500GI UPS squeals continuously. Why is this happening?

[BillP]

Ok but how about the buzzing noise that most members in this forum experience as long as the UPS is plugged in the outlet (whether it is on or off)?

[BillP]

Sounds like an inrush issue to me. I would think a water heater would have a dedicated circuit, though apparently that is not always the case.

[BillP]

Alright well i don't much about water heaters so I wasn't sure. Perhaps it causes an inrush and it overloads? Does this noise stay on the whole time? or Does it go away after a certain amount of time?

[Anonymous user]

I think the "squeal" the OP is reporting is the horn in the ups.

Not enough detail in the initial post but I would guess that turning on the water heater (electric?), is causing a voltage drop.

Just like a laser printer on the same line circuit as the ups. When the laser printer needs to heat up, it may cause the ups to complain about low voltage, maybe even switch to battery.

[BillP]

It goes away when the person in our restroom finishes his/her shower, lol.

[BillP]

There is no connection whatsoever between the two. You may want to contact tech support for your area although I honestly don't know how it's possible for this to happen.

[BillP]

No, when I say squeal I do not mean the horn of the UPS. Yes, the Water Heater is electric and is connected on the same breaker as all other outlets (where the UPS is connected) in my home.

The voltage is never going LOW when I turn on the heater. It just affects the UPS and produces a whinning sound. Hmmm, I thought this whinning noise is very famous around this forum especially for this model? Other term for this sound is "buzzing". Here's a reference thread for you guys: http://forums.apc.com/spaces/7/ups-management-devices-powerchute-software/forums/general/7937/instal... . There are many threads regarding that buzzing noise.

[BillP]

What do you mean dedicated circuit? All electronics of one house connects to the main breaker, right?

[BillP]

Well i mean that the water heater would have it's own dedicated breaker so that running it wouldn't directly affect other circuits in the house/building.

[BillP]

The heater has its own breaker and the outlets (shorted to each other) have their own 20A breaker also. The brekaers all connect to the same metal rod in the distribution box though. Does that info present any new ideas?

[voidstar_apc]

My thoughts: since the UPS is not connected to the water heater except by virtue of sharing the same electrical source, the cause is probably the water heater creating distortions on the AC line.

[This thread|http://forums.apc.com/spaces/4/back-ups-surge-protectors/forums/general/2655/smart-ups-1500-shown-as...] has a good discussion of the topic.

[BillP]

Makes sense to me. Unfortunately, it's hard to confirm that unless you have an electrician that can test for distortion etc. With a solution this small, it may or may not be worth doing that though.

[BillP]

So this means I have no choice but to bear with the sound?

[BillP]

Well we have a few questions we(APC) can't answer.

Is the water heater causing distortion on the line?
Is this distortion normal? and if not, can it fixed?

I am curious what would happen if you installed our software on your computer, and saw what the software said when this was happening. Is That something you'd be willing to test?

Link to PowerChute Personal Edition

http://www.apc.com/tools/download/software_comp.cfm?sw_sku=SFPCPE302&id=129&family=&part_num=&swfam=...

[BillP]

How do I know if my water heater is causing distortion on my line? What do I need to measure as basis?

The software is already installed in my PC even before asking this issue in this forum. It doesn't say anything when the buzzing sound happens. There is NOT even a significant voltage fluctuation caused by the water in order for the UPS' AVR to kick-in. The UPS is indicating normal operation and very good input and output voltages. When I turn on the water heater, there's only around 1 to 2 volts input voltage drop from the state when it is off.

I hope this is significant information from my side.

[BillP]

I'm not an electrician so I'm not really sure how to test for it. Though you do have the biggest "back up" we make, it's still a very basic unit and doesn't have the reporting capability of our larger units. With our smart ups and smart ups online line, the software shows us more in depth information such as voltage every minute etc. That being said, there is no evidence that a better unit, such as a smart ups, would work better in this situation since we're not sure what is actually causing this issue. At this point, it's probably worth getting a replacement unit to see if the UPS is the problem though I suspect it's not the problem.

[BillP]

I already RMA'd this unit thrice and got a brand new unit thrice which have the same problems also.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Ok so that tells us the issue is either with the water heater, the circuit in your house OR our units just don't work well with your situation. I've never heard of this issue and I'm not an electrician so I'm in no way blaming it on your water heater or house wiring but since we have ruled out our UPS being at fault(based on failure anyway), it may be worth having an electrician or someone qualified in that area to look at your circuit and/or water heater. I can only speak for the UPS and if it's been replaced, It's probably not the UPS