Safety Precautions for Installing a Doorbell

Series Summary

The electric doorbell is believed to have been invented in 1831 by Joseph Henry. The first doorbells, of course were not electric. Shop bells and antique doorbells were hung above door frames and were signals that someone had already opened the door. Doorbells today are electronically wired systems including a button on the outer door frame and a signaling device (chimes or buzzer) inside the home or building. There are also wireless systems available that are growing in popularity. For the hearing impaired, there are systems available that are wired to visual signaling devices such as light bulbs.

In this series of expert videos, learn how to install your own doorbell. Our expert handyman shows you a step-by-step installation of an electrical doorbell. Make sure you have all the right tools and materials needed and begin watching these videos for instruction. Watch as our electrician removes an old doorbell system and installs the new system using household tools. Get tips on preparing the bell wires and the button wires for installation. Learn how to install wireless doorbells as well in this helpful series! Do it yourself, but don’t forget to turn off the power first!

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is Chad Smith and I'm a state certified Journeyman Wireman electrician and I'm representing expertvillage.com. Today where going to install a new doorbell. Most houses that have been around for 30 or 40 years build back in the 50s and 60s and your doorbell doesn't work basically. So we are going to install a new doorbell today. We are going to go over the tools that you are going to need to install the new doorbell, we are basically going to go over the pros and cons of having a wired doorbell as oppose to a wireless door bell which works over radio frequencies and how that works is that you just have your button and you stick on the outside of the house and you have the base that you put in the inside and it works via radio frequencies. We are going to talk about shutting the power off today and making it safe so you could do this project so you are not shocking yourself. Most people are afraid of electricity and if you just show it respect and you take the proper steps to make sure it is safe off you would have no problem with being/getting electrocuted or anything like that. We are going to take off the old doorbell, we are going to put on the new doorbell both the base and the button. We are going to talk about the multi purpose transformer and what it does. Basically multi purpose transformer is it takes the 120 volt power which is your normal power that comes out of outlet and runs your tv or you lights or anything like that and it steps it down to 24 volts or sometimes it steps it down to 12 volts and that is how the doorbell takes it power to work basically. We are also going to talk about if you have to put new wire in. A lot of time when you take the old doorbell off or you take the old base off for the doorbell you find that the wires are just all it is just not in good shape. So you might want to change the wire. But today activity we are just going to use the existing wire and install a new button and a new base with the existing wire. Where going to clean up, where going to turn on the power and we are going to test it and basically the way you know you are going to know if that doorbell works is when you push the button you get the ding dong basically. So that is what we are going to do today lets go install a new doorbell. "