Repairing a Faulty Door Bell


A door bell is a handy home appliance to inform the occupants of visitors at the door, but when it doesn’t function well, it can soon become a frustrating issue. However, it’s usually easy to repair or replace a malfunctioning or broken doorbell with just a little knowledge and the right tools to hand.

You can determine the type of repair you need to carry out by the nature of the sound your doorbell is making.

Whilst some of these problems are easily rectified, others require more specialist electrical knowledge, so if you’re not confident in this area you should always seek professional assistance.

1 – No Ring at All

A “no ring” issue can be the result of several scenarios

Possibility 1 – Button Problem

The door bell button could be the problem for a ‘no-ring’ issue as doorbell buttons are easily damaged through abuse or weather. There could be a buildup of dirt that prevents the contact point in the doorbell circuit from engaging.

If this turns out to be the case, the best repair option is to clean the button contact points thoroughly using fine grit sandpaper. A piece of emery board would also do the trick. Pry up the contacts with a screwdriver for the proper connection. If you do this and there is still no sound, it’s probably a problem with the bell unit instead.

Possibility 2 – Wire Problem

A no-ring doorbell could also be caused by loose or broken wires at the sound unit or transformer piece. The wires should be checked and taped if they are frayed. There should not be any exposed or damaged wires. All wires should be well connected to the bell terminal.

Possibility 3 – Transformer Problem

The transformer may be faulty if there is no ring at all. Carefully check the transformer with power to the circuit using a multi-tester. Use an ACV scale of 50v range to check the transformer voltage. If there is no signal on the voltage, it is a transformer problem.

2 – Strange Ring

A strange ring is an abnormal sound from the door bell and can be caused by several conditions.

Condition 1 – Dirty Clappers or Plungers

Accumulated dirt on the door bell clapper or plunger could muffle or mute the door bell sound. Inspect the chimes contacts for dirt, which if present should be removed using a cotton swab of alcohol, or an old toothbrush coated with lighter fluid.

Condition 2 – Hardened Grommets

Hardened rubber grommets could mute the door bell sound. These small pieces must be replaced to restore the sound. New grommets are easily re-attached to the tone bars support holes.

Condition 3 – Multiple Chimes

Multiple chimes on one transformer may cause the tones to be muted. Install a greater low-voltage output transformer for better results.

 

Recent Posts

x