Heatwave disrupted Swiss church bells

Some church bells in Switzerland stopped working or sounded different during this summer’s prolonged heat, SRF reports. The cause was not the metal bells themselves, but the wooden beams from which they hang.

At the Reformed church in Roggwil, in the canton of Thurgau, the bell’s sound changed, church sexton Nicole Gmünder said. Villagers noticed that the bells sounded strange. Instead of the usual two-part “bim-bam”, there was only one strike.

Church tower technician Sandro Fraefel found that heat and dryness had warped and shrunk the supporting wooden beam, causing the bell to hang lower than usual. Its internal clapper could still strike the bell, but the external hammer could no longer reach it. That hammer is needed for the quarter-hour time signal.

Fraefel said the repair involved raising the bell using threaded fittings, making it relatively simple and inexpensive. He carried out the same repair at numerous churches this summer, which he described as an extreme season for church bells. Annual inspections are routine, but he said twice-yearly checks may be needed in future.