Noisy Phone (speaker?)

Divide (by two) and conquer!

Suggest place the phone unit back on the 'kitchen circuit'.

• Confirm that the ringer still sounds rough even if you have to borrow a cell phone to call yourself.

• Unplug the fridge and anything plugged into the kitchen outlets and the outlet on the deck.

• Discover if the symptom is still present. If it is, unplug everything that remains, like the sink disposer the RO water purifier, the dish washer and test once more.

• If the symptom disappeared, plug in the fridge and add the unplugged loads, testing once more for each device until the symptom reappears.

• If the symptom is still present, turn off the 'kitchen circuit' at the breaker panel and disconnect the GFCI outlet. Tape off the wires and turn the circuit back on. Test once more.

• If the symptom disappeared, consider the GFCI outlet and any additional outlets that it powers, in the kitchen *or elsewhere*.

--Winston

An occasional problem, always the hardest to find. But how about the refrigerator.

George H.

(...)

You could test with the compressor running. Adjust the fridge control a couple degrees warmer than usual and let it settle at the higher temperature for a day or so.

Tweak the control back down a couple degrees. After a short delay, the compressor will come on.

That's when you call the answering machine and see if the fridge is the culprit.

Also beware that this intermittent problem might be with the phone itself. :)

Do other phones on the same line emit a distorted 'ring' sound?

--Winston

The trouble with the unplugging the refrig is that the problem is somewhat intermittent. We'd have a lot of food spoilage.

Then use a line splitter and put two phones on that phone jack. The problem may be in the phone company's SLIC. the ring signal no longer comes from the Central office. It is generated somewhere near your home, where a copper pair of fiber goes to the Central office.

(...)

Do other phones on the same line emit a distorted 'ring' sound?

--Winston