Guarantee to stump the best (door bell)

I bet this will stump most. But I hope someone knows. I have a door bell that when it gets cold, it chirps. It is a very regular, electrical door bell. But when I have the A/C on for a few hours, it will chirp. The chirp isn't anything like the "ding-dong" you hear when you use it. After I turn off the A/C, it continues to chirp (every minute or so), until the room warms up. Is there some rubber O-Ring that contracts when it gets cold? Do I need to replace this thing? That will be inconvenient to replace the whole door bell.

 

And I'm not convinced it is the door bell yet. Mark the locations of the wires to it and disconnect them. Does it still chirp.

I know you think it is the doorbell but we have in the past had posters that spent days tracking down mysterious electrical noises that turned out to be dying batteries in a concealed toy somewhere. Not that I think that is what it is. I just mean lets make sure it is the doorbell or chime. If it is I'm going to just suggest replacing it. I am not going to speculate on how maybe someone tapped the AC control transformer for the doorbell.

 

Got a battery-powered smoke detector in the vicinity of the doorbell? The batt could be on the edge, and a drop of a few degrees could cause it to start chirping.

 

To further Rick's statement, if the receiver uses batteries, they could be on the verge of dying as well. My money is on the smoke detector.

 

Don't you just love threads like this. Of course we have to come here and read what might stump us.

Since this is a regular electric, not battery, doorbell - I'd get step stool or ladder, take off the chime cover, and see if the plunger moves. If you hear the chirp, and the plunger never moves, your problem is not in the chime, we know that much. Actually, just listen for the sound in the chime. Maybe plunger does not move, and only slight current getting through to activate the coil inside enough to make a noise.

If it does, you could have an intermittant short where wires touch, say where cramped behind the doorbell, most momentarily.

Doorbell wiring is such an elementary pathway with full line supply voltage, transformer than matches chime current draw, the doorbell, low-voltage wires, and chime. It be easy to eliminate which of the problems it is, if that is indeed the problem and not phantom chime from elsewhere. Often you can find the wiring diagram for doorbells right inside the chime, stamped into the plastic. And the internet has pics of this also.

 

I vote for smoke detector. It could be air movement when the AC is on not temperature. Is the smoke detector in line with a vent?

Imagine a bit of lint blowing back and forth across the photocell. Try cleaning the smoke detector.

 

LOL, Ray, I had that problem with a motion detector light at the carport. Spider web with a leaf kept blowing across the sensor turning the light on. Gee.

 

Let's hope Willbur returns and let's us know.

 

I just joined but may have your answer if it's not too late. The doorbell transformer when they go bad will chirp sounding like the smoke detected needing a battery replacement.
If you have not already you can replace the transformer for under $20.

 

I see you found one of the old threads in the vault. I'll close it now, and invite anyone with a new DIY question to start a new thread.