Fix a buzzing baseboard heater in 4 easy steps

Sometimes baseboard heaters can give off a slight humming or popping noise. It's usually nothing to be alarmed about, but a buzzing baseboard heater can be annoying to some people. Luckily, there's an easy fix to eliminate the sound or at least make it less noticable. The noise is essentially caused by the heating element being installed on a wall that is warped or slightly uneven. To fix it, just readjust a few screws so the unit fits snugly against the wall without pinching the element. If you're having any performance issues with your heater, it's always good to start troubleshooting by checking your voltage. If you hook up a 120-volt baseboard to a 240-volt supply, it can cause a variety of issues, a humming noise being one of them. If you do have the wrong voltage heater, turn the breaker off. You'll need to replace the heater right away. If that's not the issue, follow these 4 steps to fix the problem.

Step 1:

The first thing to do is turn your heater on and let it run. After 15 minutes, go to your circuit panel and shut off the breaker attached to the heater so you can safely work.

Step 2:

Next loosen -- but don't remove -- the screws attaching the baseboard to the wall. There should be at least two screws, if not more for longer units. Be careful because the heating element will probably still be hot to the touch.

Step 3:

The next step is to loosen the grounding screw, which can be found near the middle of your heater. You can find it by looking down into the vent on top front of the unit. Again, it doesn't need to be removed, just loosened.

Step 4:

Bump the cabinet a bit with your palm to allow the element to come to a natural resting position. Now all you have to do is tighten everything back down. Start with tightening the mounting screws, then tighten the screw on the elements. OK, it might sound goofy for us to tell you to loosen and tighten a few screws to solve this problem, but here is what is going on: The baseboard heater is built in the factory with the element square with the back of the cabinet. If the cabinet back is slightly warped when it's installed on the wall, it pinches the element, which more often than not is what causes the humming noise. By loosening the screws mentioned above and retightening them, the element and cabinet are all secured in relation to how the heater is installed on the wall. When you flip the breaker back on and power on the heater, it should be much more quiet than it was before. Bye bye buzzing baseboard heater!