Front Door Chime wiring

[Doug]

Along the lines of my previous posts, if I can't clean it up to make it work in place, I might take it home to work upon and then reinstall if I can make it work. I don't know the exact model but it's a wired Nutone (recent vintage) door chime. Nothing fancy just consider it builder's grade. That said, anyone know the wire gage these things get wired? What I have in mind is to extend the wires from my own door chime at home to the floor so I can work upon the one in need of repair. I know it's a light gage (fine) ... just not sure how crucial it is to match so I can extend and work from the floor.

[Limp Arbor]

It doesn't matter. Speaker, phone, lamp cord are all fine to extend it a few feet to temporarily work on it.

[RBM]

I don't believe that there is any repairable, replaceable, part on a basic Nutone chime. It really makes no sense to remove it from it's current location for testing, as you have everything you need right there. The only practical reason to remove it, is to replace it with another chime

[Doug]

I was thinking of cleaning the plunger if that'll make it work before replacing. Possible on this Nutone?

[RBM]

Probably not. You can pull off the cover and see if the plunger moves. There will be two plungers, one for each solenoid. The front door plunger is double acting. It strikes the upper tone bar when pulled in, and hits the lower tone bar when released. My guess is that that plunger is frozen. The other plunger is for the rear bell, which you don't have. It only strikes one bar (ding), that one is probably fine, because it's not connected

[Doug]

In that case, I'll look at it and be prepared to replace. Appreciate the help.

[clare]

For that purpose, not cruitial. Most use 20 guage, but 18, 20, or even 24 will work for that short run.

[Ed Pawlowski]

If it moves freely, it is not the plunger. Just pull it back and release it to check it. If the magnet does not pull it back, the chime will not work. All the magnet does is pull and release. I've seen many go bad, never saw a stuck plunger but you'll know as soon as you touch it.

[Dave M.]

Doug,

My Nutone has a label that suggests that the solenoid plungers be cleaned with lighter fluid if they are sticking. Have you tried that? The label advises to NOT oil them. I fixed my doorbell about a decade ago by using this technique Turn the power off at the fuse box and give them a couple of squirts while working them with something thin like a knife. Wait a few minutes while the lighter fluid evaporates and dissipates. Turn the power back on.

Dave M.

[clare]

YES - as I've said many times. It CAN be cleaned if it is not working because of dirt. How many times does it need to be confirmed?????

[Doug]

Not yet but I will either go with lighter fluid (if one can still buy it) or compressed air. Thanks Dave for the tips.

[bob haller]

the problem is nearly always a bad switch or wire. found one wire that was close to a natural gas pipe hanger.

drove our family nuts, the hot water tank burner would tturn on, the pipe would move a little and ring the dioor bell.

at age 11 i found and fixed it, a big deal when your a kid