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That one time a simple window sensor took three hours to figure out
I was putting in a basic system at a house in the older part of town, built in the 50s. The last window contact on the first floor just would not seal right, no matter how I adjusted it. The magnet was fine, the wiring was good, but the zone kept showing open. I must have spent two hours checking the wire run back to the panel, re-stripping connections, and swapping out the sensor itself. Turns out, the wooden window frame had warped over the decades just enough that the magnet and contact were never going to line up perfectly in the original spot. I finally had to move the whole assembly about an inch up the frame and drill new holes. What should have been a five minute job ate up half my afternoon. Anyone else run into weird old-house problems that made a simple install a huge pain?
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finleyl554mo agoMost Upvoted
Oh man, that reminds me of a plaster wall that just ate screws like they were nothing. Had to switch to anchors for a simple shelf.
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kelly9682mo ago
From my experience, moving the sensor is usually the right call with old wood frames. Just double check that the new spot still gives you a clean gap between the magnet and the reed switch, sometimes an inch shift can mess with the alignment on those older units. Warped frames are a pain, but a good gauge wire and some patience usually gets you through.
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