Doorbell Malfunction Fire Hazard! Troubleshooting plastic melting smell

[@godmode3359]

Wow, thank goodness you posted this because I would have never thought to even consider the chime. I would have (like most sparkys) checked the actual transformer and took a voltage reading and moved on. This sort of info is PRICELESS. Thanks again coach for highlighting something most people would look right passed.

[@Sparky-ww5re]

I've heard of this happening but don't know anyone personally who had this happen to them. The push button gets stuck and since a doorbell button is nothing more than a normally open momentary contact switch, the doorbell solenoid will have constant power and is not designed for that and can lead to smoke and possible fire if the doorbell doesn't have some type of thermal protector or thermal fuse. If someone rings the door bell and you hear a ding but no dong, you best begin investigating the problem ASAP.

[@katyscraftboutique6500]

THANK YOU!!! we just had this happen and we flipped the breaker. We were smelling that horrible smell and discovered the doorbell transformer was VERY HOT. Both upstairs and downstairs. I watched your video and sure enough, there was a striker that was stuck. So glad I clicked on your video. We are just going to leave the breaker off until we can get an electrician out.

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

You are welcome! Glad to be of help! 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@sarahwetzel1856]

Today I came home for lunch and smelt a weird smell and heard a loud busing noise. It took me awhile to locate. But I figured out it was coming from the doorbell. I went to the front door and someone had stuck their business card in there. We assume they rang the door bell and it got hung then. By the time I got home it was smelling really strong and when I tested the doorbell it got unstuck and quit ringing. Tonight my husband googled the signs and found your video. Sure enough that’s what happened. He could tell the coil and been messed up. Thank you!

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

Just happened to me. Delivery guy rung the bell. We started to smell electrical smell. Took a while to locate the source. Doorbell button was stuck. I disconnected everything. Will have an electrician in next week.

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

Wow, thank you for sharing!

[@HowCommunicationWorks]

@@ElectricalCodeCoach Electrician friend walked me through process of disconnecting from the transformer. All set now. Gonna get one of those wireless doorbells now. Thanks for the video.

[@TaylnGlick]

Thank you for sharing. My kids and I noticed a very funny chemical smell. The doorbell started buzzing and when I googled what could be wrong I found this video. My husband is coming home to disconnect the doorbell.

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

Thank you for sharing! Hope everything worked out good!

[@DJW-TN501]

Thanks for the information, but you never mentioned what position that depressed spring side striker should be in. I was in bed and heard this humming sound and 10 minutes later, I climbed up and removed the interior cover. The transformer was hot and it smelled like something electrical was burning. This is a newer home. I used a rubber handled screw driver to remove the one of two wires and the bell beeped for a second and turned off. I think something was stuck. Please mention the position what position those posts should be in. Thank you. Also, if it persists, call the FD. What is the fix? Thanks

[@chrispate2788]

COACH, u r SOO MUCH appreciated in case u dont know that, by u sharing cases like this, could DEFINITELY help some one down the road, Thanks, and remember, U R THA MAN 💪

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

Let's go!!

[@Warp2090]

We have a General Electric doorbell from like the 60's or 70's, mabye even the 50's and it has a mechanical bell in it. Thankfully we have never held the button down but we will be careful. Our Neighbors have a SUPER old doorbell with huge organ pipe things sticking out of a box and its super cool

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

Thanks for sharing!!

[@Gruntled2001]

Coach, thank you. I am amazed that doorbell transformers are not fused on secondary side

[@jasonM-n6n]

I had to search for this after I smelled burning electrical and found the doorbell chime buzzing and hot as could be. Disconnected the power immediately. Great informative video. It can happen to anyone.

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

It surely can!

[@peace75]

This happened to me today. Thought the humming sound is coming from the thermostat. While I was googling how to turn it off I started smelling something like burnt plastic. I got so scared of an electrical fire that I called the fire department. They found that the noise and smells coming from the transformer and disconnected a few wires. Scary. And yes you are right, "plastic smell" that was the first thing I thought it smelled like plastic

[@AlexM-vt5pu]

My Ring Doorbell did this to me last night. I was in the kitchen then heard a "half ring", no one was even at the door, when suddenly I start smelling this nasty rubber/plastic smell.

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

That's scary!

[@J155P]

Good catch!

[@kimmarie3014]

My 85 year old mother’s doorbell just started making a buzzing noise at 11pm. There isn’t a smell. If this happens to someone in the middle of the night, what do you recommend they do? Turn off the breaker for the area where the doorbell is?

[@zeestar6187]

I attached ring doorbell chime kit and smell came should I replace chime or fix it

[@boulderboy245]

Twice i have seen that happen once it was a stuck button and the other time it was some lumber leaning on the chime button. Both times the transformer was fine but the striker in the chime overheated and was obviously burned the smoke pouring out of the chime made the problem easy to find. The job where the lumber was on the button was a new tract home we had trimmed a week before. we happened to be walking by and heard the smoke alarms.

[@markmeadows6401]

Yeah Coach, you have to keep an eye on those doorbell switches. Clean ' em or replace them. My sister has a back doorbell that likes to ring itself once in awhile; we know there's nobody at that door. She'd get a little damp once in awhile. Caulked her up; only happens in a blue moon now, and that's just because of condensation.

[@xxjakethesnakexx7602]

Started yesterday morning at 9am maybe (probably) earlier than that, I woke up and went downstairs and smelled something strange. Unplugged everything just to be safe, called my dad as I’m house sitting while they’re outta state til tonight, explained what I was smelling, he said yeah just unplug everything and look around. Later that night when I was getting ready for bed at 12-12:30 I heard a strange and loud buzzing noise, and sure enough it was the doorbell. Great video! Disconnected the two wires and now just waiting til my dad gets here to see whether or not he wants to buy a new one or just fix it haha

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

😮

[@ElizabethYates-j5c]

I have a weird situation. I had a humming/buzzing at chimes. I pulled down chimes 2 yrs ago,burnt place on cover. I replaced the chimes & and since a new capacitor as we had phantum ringing. I have replaced the doorbell 2x and transmitter and again burnt face place. Unwired all took down chimes and still getting phantom ringing. Burnt plate bothering me. I think we have a ghost. I do not want a big whole in the wall and siding if I pull this thing. The transmitter is wired to furnace switch, so difficult to rewire. Guess burnt area on chimes and phantom ringing are my 2 concerns. I am trying to troubleshoot before bringing in an electrician. There is nothing to chime, so where is it coming from?

[@brianwatts9896]

Yup. I get home and smelled an immediate DENTIST OFFICE smell. I even googled ‘why my home smells like a dentist office’ but couldn’t find a satisfactory answer. I knew it wasn’t natural gas. We eventually put it all together because we heard a humming sound in our kitchen that we first chalked up to our new fridge. But eventually we kept doubting and seeking it out and discovered my older son had multi-punched the doorbell when we had arrived home earlier in the evening.

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

😮🤔😎

[@Humayunbob62]

Often, kids or an ignorant visitor might keep the switch pressed continuously and cause the solenoid to heat up and melt the plastic shell. Happened more than once with me. I'm looking for a special switch that sends only one pulse and switches off by itself, even if the button is continuously pressed. I'm unable to find any mention of such a switch after searching across innumerable blogs and technical sites.

[@davidgiesfeldt6650]

I had a door bell switch stick and the relay for the chime was buzzing and the the transformer was damaged. Replace the switch with one that has a light… gives evidence that the button is stuck as the light will be OFF…

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

great point thanks!!

[@PacRimElectric]

Aw the worst smell has to be the burnt ballast that leaks the brown-orangish viscous fluid

[@Sparky-ww5re]

If a fluorescent ballast manufacturered before 1979 is leaking it has a very strong probability of containg Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) in the capacitor and possibly the potting material, which is a known carcinogen. Such ballasts are especially problematic if they overheat and the thermal protector fails, and some ballasts from that era may not have any type of overheat protection. Even today in the age of new high efficiency LED replacements, because older equipment was often very rugged and durable there are undoubtedly many of these PCB containing ballasts still in use.

[@crazyspartan2991]

I found d this video after my house nearly caust fire. We got home and my kids went upstairs and said it smelt like a weird burning. The doorbell was smoking and the wall where it was was starting to burn. I think we got home right in time. It was a Ring doorbell that malfunctioned, causing it. You're also spot on with the smell very hard to describe kinda like welding and burning old plastic. Scary stuff

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

Thank you for sharing

[@aaronboutwell]

Thank you! Awesome video

[@quintsreeves]

So how do you fix that? I think this happened in my apartment but I rent and I have no clue about any of this and I want to look at the parts but I'm scared I might accidentally shock myself into oblivion messing around with parts.

[@norrisharrington3332]

The transformer is supposed to small enough to prevent sufficient heat for a fire. IMS 10va..

[@Gonefishing185]

Lots of people who install the Ring Doorbell Pro 2 (wired) upgrade their existing transformer to a 16V 30AV , not knowing that their standard old chime really isn’t designed to handle the increased amperage. While the chime will seemingly function fine, the increased power of a 30AV will cause it to get hot, and if the doorbell wires get shorted or touched together (for example when removing the doorbell for a door installation) it can cause the chime to fry just like in this video.

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

Fascinating?!🧐

[@gamingbluemoon]

Think I was having this issue I just disconnected all wires on front and back door. Back door had protective coating all messed up they were touching each other so I'm sure constant call was going there. I hope disconnecting it will help for now until I can get it fixed.

[@zx9music704]

This is happening now it is the doorbell what do I do

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

consider contacting a qualified licensed electrician

[@marvincrews76]

Ours actually caught on fire. Luckily we were home and put the fire out before any real damage.

[@ElectricalCodeCoach]

Wow thank you for sharing I'm very thankful that you guys are okay

[@avklevens]

Had the same thing happen. It was the little plastic retainer that held the spring. They kept the plunger up and then they let it go to strike the tone bar with the buttons pushed. The plastic piece on the top it healthy spring in place broke off, releasing the inner part of the actuator. Then this little plunger just sat in the coil, heating up and making a buzzing noise, heard the buzzing noise, found it disconnected it.