On 9/22/2010 12:42 PM A. Baum spake thus:

On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:19:01 -0700, David Nebenzahl wrote:

OK, so a new client has a very puzzling problem. Their doorbell stopped
working. I went underneath the house to find the transformer and wiring:
found *nothing*. Nothing in that crawlspace but phone wiring and some
(new, Romex) power cabling. Oh, and some old thermostat wiring, but
that's it.

[snip]

I always thought that doorbell transformers needed to be accessible,
both for safety reasons and for possible replacement. But if this is
true, this one can never be replaced, at least without tearing open the
ceiling.

I'm advising the client to just get a wireless doorbell for now. But
this bugs me. Has anyone else here run into a similar situation?

I would assume the electrical code wasn't too stringent back in the 20's
- 30's. Not a surprise to me that the transformer could have been
entrapped forever where it couldn't be located, possibly unintentionally.
Should be a snap for the average handyman to redo it with an accessible
power source.

Please explain; what do you mean by "accessible power source"?

Sure, I have easy access to power underneath the house; that isn't the
problem. The problem is gaining access to the doorbell button (and the
doorbell, which the client likes and would like to keep). I don't see
any way of accessing either of these two existing devices without
opening up walls, which the client would rather not do. Hard to fish
wires when you can't get inside the walls ...


--
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with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

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