Hardwired vs wireless sensors in an old Victorian house in Boston

I spent last month troubleshooting a system in a 1890s Victorian with plaster walls that were over an inch thick. The wireless sensors kept dropping signal every time someone walked near the boiler. I swapped them out for hardwired ones and had to run conduit through the attic, which took me three days instead of one. But guess what? Zero false alarms since then and the homeowner stopped calling me at 2 AM. Anyone else run into plaster walls that mess with wireless range?

3 comments

3 Comments

blair_martin22d ago

Oh man, I feel your pain with those old plaster walls. I had a similar nightmare in a 1900s row house where the wireless sensors couldn't reach the basement without a repeater, and even then it was sketchy. Ended up running CAT6 instead of conduit since the attic was already a mess, and it's been rock solid for two years now.

martinez.kim22d agoProlific Poster

@blair_martin you said a mouthful there. I had a similar mess with a 1920s bungalow a few years back - that plaster and wire lath was like trying to send a signal through a lead blanket. I finally gave up on the wireless repeaters too, they just kept dropping out every time the furnace kicked on. Running the Cat6 was the best decision I ever made. I went through the crawl space instead of the attic, but same idea. It's been three years now and I haven't touched it once. The whole process was a pain, but once it's done you never have to think about it again.

the_william22d ago

You ran it through the attic too, @blair_martin? Best decision I ever made with my old place.