General Chat

with a mind of its own!
Because of my hearing problem I have a door bell extension upstairs here in my 'office'. At least three times a day it plays the usual tune (OH likes having naff tunes on the doorbell downstairs), but the downstairs bell has not been rung. This is fine if we are both in as if OH doesn't go to the door I know there is nobody there. However, when he is out i am up and down the stairs just in case.

I know that doorbells work on similar frequencies to other electronic things like car alarms/key fobs etc but whenever this happens there is no outside activity, we live in a small cul de sac so can see if cars are coming and going.

Has anyone any idea why this is happening? it is fairly recent and the extension does not need a new battery.

Spiders....... are they getting into the system? I am serious, although laughing at the thought!! I was a keyholder in one place I worked, and the project always closed on a Tuesday night during term time.... and I was called in for three weeks, every Tuesday night, cos the alarm went off.

It turned out to be spiders nesting inside one of the sensors!! They caused havoc, honestly. I resolved it by spraying flyspray into the sensors every Tuesday night.... I don't mind spiders, but as I always did a 24 hour shift Monday into Tuesday, I needed my beauty sleep, and the police were dead miffy about coming out all the time, lol!!

Love

Daff xxxx

ps.... R won't let me have Colonel Bogie, or the tune from that song that has sommat to do with bugle boys in company B, lol !!!

I must put my doorbell back on the door.......... haven't got around to it since we had the new doors last summer.

xxxxxx

Ants too can cause problems. Our front door light started flickering and I was worried about it because there was a funny smell. OH turned off the electricity and had a look at the light switch and it was full of ants - most of them zapped. That's what the funny smell was - cooked ants:)

Sue x

I think it must be something to do with frequencies too Ann....

We bought one for my Dad as he was partially deaf (we have even phoned him from outside the house when he has been asleep in his chair and has not heard the bell).....

It worked a treat, and then all of a sudden it started to ring, and he would go to the door and there was no-one there.......he thought it might be kids playing tricks....

When he was in hospital and I stayed at his bungalow for four months.....this kept happening, and it happened a couple of times in the early morning which was really spooky..... the only thing we could put it down to was the bell was sensitive to a certain frequency which would set it off....

When we sold the bungalow to his next door neighbours, my Sister got a phone call to ask if she had any strange happenings in the house, and she said no.......but later, I said perhaps the doorbell was ringing and she thought the house was haunted....

sally

btw.....it played a different ring to the one on which it was set.....does yours do that.....

Will pass on all comments to himself. the extension is plugged in right in front of me at the back of my worktop here into a set of surge guard sockets. The main door bell downstairs is not going off. Ants, I don't think it can be, spiders, maybe. However OH has unplugged it and had a good look at it.

Our doorbells are just the same. We have different ones at the front and backdoors, and then suddenly we get 'She'll be coming round the mountain" which we have never used as a tune. (I prefer quite ordinary ding dongs!)

I did wonder if it might be next door's garage door opener, but it has happened when they are away.

We are still baffled - but it might be good exercise rushing from door to door..

sally, it plays a different tune to the one set downstairs when it goes off spontaneously yes.

My sister had a doorbell that kept going off and she worked out it was when somebody else was ringing another doorbell in the road. Our friend unlocked his car with his remote and a neighbours doorbell rang!

Glad I am not alone anyway.

Thanks Ann, we really thought we were going bonkers, but we realised that when it played Big Ben, there would be no-one there.....

I have just asked OH about our doorbells (back and front) and they are the same as the one we bought Dad......bought because I am partially deaf and don't wear my hearing aid in the house......we have not had anything happen with ours.... ... but then we haven't had them all that long....

sally

This is the second extension we've had. had no problems with the first one until it just refused to work at all. Bought this one and have had this problem for the past couple of months, but it is the extension, not the main bell that has the problem.

My doorbell use to be set off everytime someone within 50 metres locked or unlocked their car with a remote key fob. Took me ages to work that out and a lot of trips up and down the stairs to the door. Had to change the frequency of the doorbell to stop it happening! I wish I had known in advance that that was possible.

Also, damn thing, use to go off all the time when the batteries needed changing...

I do without now and get everyone to phone before they drop in!

Two elderly sisters kept hearing their bell ring and noone was there, and then one realised that most times it happened there was someone at the house across the road, seems their bells both rang if one was pressed lol Wonder what happened as both of the houses have new owners now lol

Lizx

I had not realised it was possible until it happened to my sister. It is strange though that it is the extension and not the main doorbell.

Twinkle, twinkle, in the early hours.......lol......:0))

Don't know how true this is, but a friend told me that each time a remote control is used, it resets itself on a different frequency combination. There are millions of combinations, but if two remotes happen to land on the same frequency, strange things can happen.

I may not have explained that very well. He told me after I said that I was sitting quietly (looking at my cat, who was asleep in front of me) and nobody else in the house - no car had passed - and yet, I heard my garage door roll up. I had to get the remote and press it to close the door. Friend said that perhaps someone within close range had used a remote which had landed on the same frequency as my garage door (or my remote?). It only ever happened the once in the three years that I have lived here. Chances of it happening again are in the millions to one.

Sounds plausible Berona, the technological age is a strange one!

We always worry about our garage door opener having a mind of its own, or is activated by another device. If we go away, we deactivate the door opener - we do have a side entrance with a normal lock.

I knew I would find this thread. Just want to add that in addition to my story about my garage door opening, I have since had the same thing as Ann had with my doorbell.

Not just the same thing - but the same tune! It is set to 'ding dong' and recently, it suddenly played 'Twinkle twinkle little Star'. I checked the front door and not a soul in sight!

Ann, we must have the same make of doorbell - 12,000 miles apart!