- Location
- Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- Hospital Master Electrician
That's the way I've always done it.
door bell transformer location
- Thread starter elecmen
- Start date
- Status
Jim W in Tampa
Senior Member
- Location
- Tampa Florida
It is a good one if you have a furnace
A/C in the attic?
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
How much money do you make on "no labor"?
They also protect your yard from pedestrians.
tallgirl
Senior Member
- Location
- Glendale, WI
- Occupation
- Controls Systems firmware engineer
Yes?
It's only marginally stupid. The temperature at the attic floor may only be a few degrees above the dwelling ceiling temperature.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
AC in the attic is not stupid at all, use insulated ducts and most air handlers have some insulation in them. They probably are more effective than the same unit installed below the space to be cooled. Warm air rises cold air falls - physics is already helping them out a little bit before the blower comes into play.
hurk27
Senior Member
- Location
- Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
I guess I will chime in:grin:
Even here, an attic can get very hot in the summer, all class 2 transformers in the last 15 to 20 years have a thermo-fuse that is wound right in the primary windings, and the extra heat in the attic can cause this fuse to open very easily, I have had to relocate and replace quite a few transformers located in attics, the best install I found was a extra deep single gain plastic nail on that had a plate with a 1/2" KO that fit inside the box, the transformer mounted to this plate in the KO and the door bell chime mounted right over it, kind of like the one posted, but around here even though its a violation of 422.12 as pointed out, its very common to find the transformer on the switch box of the furnace, the inspectors around here feel it doesn't add enough current to the circuit to cause any problems, and they would rather see it in an readily accessible place then in attics or basements or even inside of a panel where it was once common to find it.
I did get one inspector who red tagged it on the furance switch once but he didn't even cite 422.12 as the reason, he cited it because of the expose 10 volt terminals, said a child could get shocked, showed his boss the tag and he told him to never tag a job for this again.
As far as finding the transformer after the fact, my trusty GreenLee circuit tracer finds them every time, I can follow the conductors from the chime or the door switch.
as far as the battery ones go, I have this on the house I own now, and I have replaced the battery's twice in 3 years, I do have three chimes which is great, because with insulated inside walls for sound, you would not hear the chime in all places, so there is one in the upstairs hall, one in the downstairs hall, and one I can move around to places like my back deck if I'm expecting someone, but the battery's can get expensive to replace in all three, and that little 12 volt in the button is ridiculously costly and only last about a year with the led light in the button.
Even here, an attic can get very hot in the summer, all class 2 transformers in the last 15 to 20 years have a thermo-fuse that is wound right in the primary windings, and the extra heat in the attic can cause this fuse to open very easily, I have had to relocate and replace quite a few transformers located in attics, the best install I found was a extra deep single gain plastic nail on that had a plate with a 1/2" KO that fit inside the box, the transformer mounted to this plate in the KO and the door bell chime mounted right over it, kind of like the one posted, but around here even though its a violation of 422.12 as pointed out, its very common to find the transformer on the switch box of the furnace, the inspectors around here feel it doesn't add enough current to the circuit to cause any problems, and they would rather see it in an readily accessible place then in attics or basements or even inside of a panel where it was once common to find it.
I did get one inspector who red tagged it on the furance switch once but he didn't even cite 422.12 as the reason, he cited it because of the expose 10 volt terminals, said a child could get shocked, showed his boss the tag and he told him to never tag a job for this again.
As far as finding the transformer after the fact, my trusty GreenLee circuit tracer finds them every time, I can follow the conductors from the chime or the door switch.
as far as the battery ones go, I have this on the house I own now, and I have replaced the battery's twice in 3 years, I do have three chimes which is great, because with insulated inside walls for sound, you would not hear the chime in all places, so there is one in the upstairs hall, one in the downstairs hall, and one I can move around to places like my back deck if I'm expecting someone, but the battery's can get expensive to replace in all three, and that little 12 volt in the button is ridiculously costly and only last about a year with the led light in the button.
G0049
Senior Member
- Location
- Ludington, MI
Who needs a transformer? When I was a kid (a whole lot of years ago) every year or so my Dad made me go into the crawl space beneath my Grandparents' front porch to change the doorbell battery. I think it was a #6 ignition cell, about 2 1/2" in diameter by 6" tall, with two knurled nuts on the posts. Being thrifty, my Dad always saved the nuts from the old battery. I still have some in a can of old hardware I inherited from him.
Hadn't thought about this in years, untill this thread. Thanks for the memories, except the part about how much I hated that crawl space!
Hadn't thought about this in years, untill this thread. Thanks for the memories, except the part about how much I hated that crawl space!
- Status