Wireless doorbell

[mothhawk]

Does anyone have a wireless doorbell that works consistently when stuck on a UPVC door-frame? I've tried two, one battery operated, and one mains plug-in, and both work only intermittently. Am I going to have to stick the bell-push onto the glass of the door? There is nowhere else for it to go if it's not on the door-frame.

[arpoet]

I have a Ferninand plug in with a remote door bell push. I both stuck it onto the UPVC door frame, and put two tiny screws to keep it firm. It works fine. I think you can get a double pack so you can plug into different parts of the house.

[RedThorn]

An old fashioned door knocker perhaps?

[bearded bloke]

Have you tried changing the cell in the door push Mothhawk ?

[rustylady]

An old fashioned door knocker perhaps?

That's what I resorted to after several cordless doorbells refused to work properly on my wooden door.

[mothhawk]

Have you tried changing the cell in the door push Mothhawk ?

yes, did that a few weeks ago. The bell-push lights up OK when you press it. Maybe it's worth changing it again though, just to see, now I've got the electric plug-in unit.

[mothhawk]

I've been searching around on the interwebby thingy, and found out that it's all the metal in the UPVC door that blocks the signal. All those lock things and metal edges.

The bell-push is right near one of the locks and the door chain too, so first I'm going to try moving it down a bit so it's a little further away from the metal. If that doesn't work, I'll stick it on the glass. If it's dead centre it shouldn't be shielded. I hope.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Had some fun with one of these last year.

I was called to an intermittent fault on a combi boiler, the heating would fire up for no apparent reason.

It was controlled by a wireless programmable room thermostat, it took 2 visits to work out the door bell push was working on the same/similar frequency and firing the boiler when someone rang the bell. Fortunately we can change the frequency on the room stat.

Potty

[Kleftiwallah]

I've had no troubles from our wireless door bell on our uPVC front door. B & Qs best. Cheers, Tony.

[RedThorn]

That's what I resorted to after several cordless doorbells refused to work properly on my wooden door.

People often look at me funny( bearing in mind I'm an industrial programmer/automation eng by trade) when I always look for the simplest and easiest solution, and it usually does not require a high end solution

[Kristen]

Don't suppose you can run a wire to the bell push-button, instead of wireless? If won't be using batteries either, nor will the base station be drawing power to check whether the button has been pushed, or not.

[Alison]

We took the hard wired option after several wireless failures, much more reliable for us (and cheaper too )

[Hazel at the Hill]

Mum's got the same problem. A wired bellpush is not a option (or a knocker) as the porch is uPVC/aluminium, and drilling through and running a wire would be a last resort.

The signal from the existing wireless bell push travels to the receiver in the hall, but not as far as the one by the kitchen. We've changed the batteries and checked that the receivers are not faulty, and think that the only option is to isolate the doorpush from the upvc frame. Did putting the bellpush in the centre of the glass work, Mothhawk?

I was thinking of putting a rubber buffer between the bellpush and the frame - would that work do you think?

[mothhawk]

I'm ashamed to say I haven't got round to moving it yet, Hazel. I'm not really sure how to get the bell-push off the UPVC doorframe without damaging either, as it was glued on for me by the double glazing company who put in the door.

I do intend to give it a go this weekend though. Maybe I can slice through the glue with a hot knife.

Got some removable sticky strips to re-attach it with, so I can re-position it in various places till I find somewhere that works