Question about a weird sensor reading in a 1920s brick house

Honestly, I installed a standard glass break sensor in a client's old brick house last Tuesday and it kept going off for no clear reason. I finally figured out the high ceilings and plaster walls were making a weird echo that tricked it. Has anyone else had this happen and what did you switch to?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessacarter2mo ago

Turns out my own house is a great test lab for false alarms. My cat knocked a book off a shelf and the echo in the hallway set off my glass break sensor from two rooms over. I ended up using a dual-tech motion sensor in the problem room instead. Did you try adjusting the sensitivity first, or just swap it out?

perez.barbara2mo ago

Old houses just love to argue with modern tech, don't they? My money's on a ghost who really hates that particular sensor.

blair_green862mo ago

Oh man, that's a classic. I read a forum post ages ago where a guy had the same issue, and it was the specific pitch of old steam radiator pipes clanking that kept setting his off. He said turning the sensitivity way down and aiming the sensor away from the hard walls helped a ton before he gave up on it.