NA - got me stumped...

gkainz

gkainz

Final Approach
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Greg Kainz
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KBJC
So, where in the heck is my doorbell transformer? Both front and back door doorbells quit working recently and I can't find my doorbell transformer anywhere ... I thought it was in the furnace room (there is one there) but it's for the whole house humidifier...

ding-dong-less in Denver ...
 
Where the furnace is was my first guess. I have seen them in closets, in the attic and in the kitchen cabinets.
 
Mine is actually inside the door bell unit on the wall in my foyer. It went out a couple of years ago and I had a heck of a time finding it.
 
Keith Lane said:
Mine is actually inside the door bell unit on the wall in my foyer. It went out a couple of years ago and I had a heck of a time finding it.
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This was going to be my suggestion, too. In my last house, the doorbell chimes were in a chassis that stuck out from the wall, but the transformer was behind the chimes and inset into the wall in an electrical box.
 
We relocated our front room bell during a remodel last year - it's just an electromagnetic bell. Knocked our back door bell off the wall during painting a couple of times - also just the bell. I don't recall seeing a transformer in the attic during numerous excursions up there, but it's been a while since I've been in it, and wasn't looking for a transformer then, anyway.
Thanks for the suggestions - heading to the attic tonight.
 
gkainz said:
So, where in the heck is my doorbell transformer? Both front and back door doorbells quit working recently and I can't find my doorbell transformer anywhere ... I thought it was in the furnace room (there is one there) but it's for the whole house humidifier...

ding-dong-less in Denver ...
Click to expand...

Every one I've seen has been mounted directly to the service panel.
 
I've seen them in the basement near the furnace (but that's a common place for the very common and similar thermostat transformer also) and tucked up in the attic. Doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason, just depends on where they felt like putting it when the house was built.
 
roncachamp said:
Every one I've seen has been mounted directly to the service panel.
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I agree,, in about every situation I have come across where the transformer was not in with the chimes it was located in the panel,, ya know,, thats where the circiut breakers live.:yesnod::yesnod::wink2:


Ben.
 
yeah - but since I replaced my service panel a few years ago, I know for a fact it's not there (wasn't before and isn't now)
 
N801BH said:
I agree,, in about every situation I have come across where the transformer was not in with the chimes it was located in the panel,, ya know,, thats where the circiut breakers live.:yesnod::yesnod::wink2:


Ben.
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It can be at the panel, if the panel is a surface mount. But it doesn't warrant it's own circuit and some electrical inspectors do not like joints in the panel nor multiple wires in a single breaker.

I have (many years ago) installed numerous ones attached to a junction box in the attic close to the chime. If there is a junction box for some lighting circuit close to the chime, there it goes. I have also seen them installed on a plate in the ceiling of a closet. this is all in central Florida where we don't have basements.

John
 
jsstevens said:
It can be at the panel, if the panel is a surface mount. But it doesn't warrant it's own circuit and some electrical inspectors do not like joints in the panel nor multiple wires in a single breaker.

I have (many years ago) installed numerous ones attached to a junction box in the attic close to the chime. If there is a junction box for some lighting circuit close to the chime, there it goes. I have also seen them installed on a plate in the ceiling of a closet. this is all in central Florida where we don't have basements.

John
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I 'think' NEC spells out the transformer needs to be in an accessable electrical box since one side of it is high voltage, ie 120v... Mounting in on a plate in the ceiling might be pushing the code a bit...:yesnod: IMHO..
 
N801BH said:
I 'think' NEC spells out the transformer needs to be in an accessable electrical box since one side of it is high voltage, ie 120v... Mounting in on a plate in the ceiling might be pushing the code a bit...:yesnod: IMHO..
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usually the transformer is attached to an electrical box & has exposed terminals. NEC prohibits boxes in fully enclosed spaces (such as behind walls) & prohibits exposed low voltage connections in fully-enclosed spaces. That doesn't mean that someone hasn't installed it improperly in the past.

I've found the transformers in attics, garages, and basements. Once in a closet.

The previous owners of my current house gave up and installed a battery-operated system that uses a wireless button. I had to change the frequency after I discovered that a neighbor was set up with the same type of system on the same frequency - and we'd trigger each other's doorbell.
 
In my Minnesota home the transformer is attached to the box for a light fixture in the unfinished portion of the basement. I'm not positive but I think in my Florida home (sans basement) it's in the garage. The service panel is inside the house in the laundry room and I'm pretty sure it's not there.

If this were my problem, I'd take one of my handy-dandy wire tracers and attach it to all the wires at the doorbell box. And before that I'd make sure the problem wasn't the doorbell itself by looking for 24 VAC between the appropriate wires in the doorbell box.
 
Don't replace the transformer. Go to a C cell powered affair with a button cell powered door button. Problem solved.
 
bbchien said:
Don't replace the transformer. Go to a C cell powered affair with a button cell powered door button. Problem solved.
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'Cept that many doorbells won't work so well on DC. But if it works that might be the easy way out.:D
 
Skylane81E said:
Hang a door knocker....
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Or, if the transformer's secondary is intact, just connect the 24V feed wires at the doorbell to 120V AC. Soon after that you should be able to locate the transformer by the smell of burnt wires. Hopefully you'll find it in time to put out or prevent a fire.:yikes:
 
I think I found it late last night. Just before bed, I decided one more trip thru the furnace room was in order. Way up in the floor joists, back behind the furnace, I spied some brown bell cord snaking around on its way to the top of a junction box, also painted brown, nearly invisible and nearly unreachable. Gonna be fun getting back there. If no luck on that, I'm going with Bruce's (and others') suggestion of the wireless replacement.
 
Those wireless ones are great until you have a horizontal rain at 2am , water gets into the contacts of the switch making it ring , ring and ring . Like someone panicking at your doorstep .:mad:
 
A guy I work with moved into his house and saw a doorbell button on his back door, on the interior. He pressed it a few times, and nothing happened. He got on with other things and left it alone. Every now and then he'd press it and try to figure out what it did. After about a year, his neighbor came over and asked him to stop pressing the button. Turns out the previous owner was an elderly gentleman and the neighbor installed a button that would ring a doorbell at the neighbor's house - in case there was an emergency.
 
Matthew said:
A guy I work with moved into his house and saw a doorbell button on his back door, on the interior. He pressed it a few times, and nothing happened. He got on with other things and left it alone. Every now and then he'd press it and try to figure out what it did. After about a year, his neighbor came over and asked him to stop pressing the button. Turns out the previous owner was an elderly gentleman and the neighbor installed a button that would ring a doorbell at the neighbor's house - in case there was an emergency.
Click to expand...

Now thats some funny stuff right there.
 
Matthew said:
A guy I work with moved into his house and saw a doorbell button on his back door, on the interior. He pressed it a few times, and nothing happened. He got on with other things and left it alone. Every now and then he'd press it and try to figure out what it did. After about a year, his neighbor came over and asked him to stop pressing the button. Turns out the previous owner was an elderly gentleman and the neighbor installed a button that would ring a doorbell at the neighbor's house - in case there was an emergency.
Click to expand...

Ah, the "Butler Call" button... :)

I stayed in a hotel in London that had one of those. Very handy when I needed my shirts pressed and shoes shined....
 
gkainz said:
I think I found it late last night. Just before bed, I decided one more trip thru the furnace room was in order. Way up in the floor joists, back behind the furnace, I spied some brown bell cord snaking around on its way to the top of a junction box, also painted brown, nearly invisible and nearly unreachable. Gonna be fun getting back there. If no luck on that, I'm going with Bruce's (and others') suggestion of the wireless replacement.
Click to expand...
Rather than struggle with replacing the transformer in it's current inaccessible location, why not just cut the low voltage wires to it, splice more on and put the replacement transformer in an easy to reach spot?

Any junction box in an unfinished area should work including the one on the furnace.
 
gismo said:
Rather than struggle with replacing the transformer in it's current inaccessible location, why not just cut the low voltage wires to it, splice more on and put the replacement transformer in an easy to reach spot?

Any junction box in an unfinished area should work including the one on the furnace.
Click to expand...

Good idea - thanks!

I just realized I've been out of compliance for a week now - I forgot to placard the button INOP! :-)
 
gkainz said:
Good idea - thanks!

I just realized I've been out of compliance for a week now - I forgot to placard the button INOP! :-)
Click to expand...
No problem unless you've been flying your house around.
 
Jim_R said:
This was going to be my suggestion, too. In my last house, the doorbell chimes were in a chassis that stuck out from the wall, but the transformer was behind the chimes and inset into the wall in an electrical box.
Click to expand...
That's the post-1980s cheap ass solution. Otherwise, look for a twisted pair which would otherwise suggest low voltage (because it is) hardwired into a 15 A circuit via transformer. The transformer is about 3" x 3" x 1.5" and hidden in attic insulation.
 
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