- Joined
- Oct 29, 2011
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
Old house doorbell stopped working. Chime started ringing continuously once doorbell was pressed,and would continue after bell was let go. Eventually chime will stop but then would hear buzzing or humming coming from it. Tried a wireless door bell for a while. Houses are very close together. Ours would ring when neighbor with wireless bell was pressed. Our other neighbors would ring when ours was pressed. Changed frequency jumpers and same thing occurred.
Went back to old bell. First, tried new button. Problem continued. Found a 'better than amateur, but less than professional electrician". He reasoned that the wires were old and probably shorting out somewhere. We fished new wires through old holes and same problem continued. Seems like power is continually running through transformer to bell chime. We disconnected the button at door. Problem continued. Purchased new transformer. Same problem. Transformer is directly wired to a junction box that goes to wall socket and flourescent lights in basement. Electrician, using a 'voltage checker' that red light flashes when touching a hot wire and solid light when touching neutral wire. When he checked wires in junction box(3white and 3 black) his checker 'flashed' on each wire. He claims the problem is that whoever wired the house 50 yrs ago messed up and all the wires are hot. He moved transformer to another junction box. Same problem. It seems like current continues to flow to transformer (it gets hot). If we connect it to chime it keeps ringing (even with door bell button disconnected).
Any help is greatly appreciated. Where do we start? Thanks.
Went back to old bell. First, tried new button. Problem continued. Found a 'better than amateur, but less than professional electrician". He reasoned that the wires were old and probably shorting out somewhere. We fished new wires through old holes and same problem continued. Seems like power is continually running through transformer to bell chime. We disconnected the button at door. Problem continued. Purchased new transformer. Same problem. Transformer is directly wired to a junction box that goes to wall socket and flourescent lights in basement. Electrician, using a 'voltage checker' that red light flashes when touching a hot wire and solid light when touching neutral wire. When he checked wires in junction box(3white and 3 black) his checker 'flashed' on each wire. He claims the problem is that whoever wired the house 50 yrs ago messed up and all the wires are hot. He moved transformer to another junction box. Same problem. It seems like current continues to flow to transformer (it gets hot). If we connect it to chime it keeps ringing (even with door bell button disconnected).
Any help is greatly appreciated. Where do we start? Thanks.