A customer's new smart fridge totally jammed my wireless sensor signal

This was last Thursday at a house in Maple Grove. I was finishing up a panel upgrade and the final step was testing the new glass break sensors. Every single one failed the walk test. I spent an hour checking my wiring and the panel settings before I noticed the homeowner had just installed a huge stainless steel smart fridge right in the middle of the kitchen. That thing was basically a giant RF shield blocking the signal path to the sensor on the far wall. I had to move the sensor to a different corner and add a wireless repeater I had in the truck to get a solid link. Has anyone else had a major appliance mess with their wireless range like that? What did you do?

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3 Comments

claire_ramirez225mo ago

Wow, I used to think that was just an excuse!

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fisher.diana5mo ago

Yeah, I get that feeling too, @claire_ramirez22. It's like you hear something so often you just assume people are making it up. Then you actually experience it yourself and it hits you all at once. I mean, it happened to me with seasonal allergies, I swore my friend was just being dramatic. Now I'm the one with the tissue box every spring. It's a weird kind of humble pie.

1

amygonzalez5mo ago

Seriously, how many bars does that fridge need to stream its cooking shows? I bet it gets better wifi than the actual people living there. Next time just tell them their new appliance is hogging all the signal and ask if it can pay part of the internet bill.

1