If you’ve kept up with our blog at all, you know by now that each time of the year bring its own unique security risks. When it comes to the spring and summer, homeowners face a couple added security threats. For starters, longer days and family vacations both mean that criminals have more opportunity to both scout out victims and break into their homes. We address these concerns in our Spring and Summer Security Tips for Your Home. Moreover, we also face security threats from Mother Nature. As the weather gets warmer, it also gets rainier and stormier. Combine this with often-empty homes due to summer travels, and you can see why we spend extra attention on weather-related security during this part of the year! In today’s post, we share some valuable tips for adding extreme weather security to your home.
First, we’ll show you how installing environmental sensors can alert you to possible weather-related incidences within your home before they turn into catastrophes. From there, we’ll show you how our Alarm.com smart home devices can help you control the environment in your home and even catch HVAC issues in their tracks and minimize the damage they cause. Finally, we’ll wrap our post up with a focus on smart camera security. Taking advantage of smart camera surveillance can allow you to keep “eyes” on your property to check up on any possible weather-related issues in real time. Now, let’s dive in with a look at adding extreme weather security to your home in the form of environmental security sensors.
This wireless freeze flood sensor by Interlogix can alert you to both frozen pipes or water in your basement.
Environmental Sensors
Our environmental sensors provide a valuable early alert to conditions that could create a disaster if not addressed in a timely fashion. We offer sensors that create a central station response for environmental issues that have the potential to cause damage to your property. For example, our “hi-lo temperature” detectors can create an alert if your home experiences dangerously hot or cold conditions. This can help alert you to frozen pipes or HVAC equipment failures. Additionally, we offer flood sensors that can detect the presence of water wherever we install them. Environmental sensors can help you detect and address these issues before they create a mess that takes a significant amount of time and money to repair.
In addition to the obvious security these sensors create, they also provide an unexpected benefit. In our post sharing 5 Surprising Home Security System Benefits, we explain that insurance companies base their rates on the perceived risk of an incident at your home or business. Therefore, providers frequently offer rate discounts for taking measures to proactively address these risks. Often, installing environmental sensors can trigger just this type of discount! We encourage our customers to ask their insurance company about this potential. The ability to add this important security and save money can make installing this equipment an easy decision! Next up, let’s look at a couple smart home devices that can aid you in securing your home against extreme weather.
Extreme Weather Security through Alarm.com Smart Home Devices
Over the past several years, customers have begun leaning heavily on cellular dialers to monitor their alarm systems. These dialers allow customers without phones to experience the security of a monitored burglar alarm. Additionally, cellular dialers can act as a backup for customers who do have phones. This ensures alarm communication in the event of a phone line failure. Finally, an interactive cellular dialer, such as ours powered by Alarm.com, packs even more features. For example, interactive cell monitoring customers can control their alarm systems with their cell phones. This feature alone has helped make Alarm.com our most popular alarm monitoring option.
More importantly for this post, the Alarm.com cellular dialer also acts as a Z-Wave smart home hub. This allows us to install Z-Wave smart home appliances that you can control with the same smartphone app that you use to arm and disarm your home security system. Moreover, any Z-Wave connected devices can also send you push and text notifications. This means that environment-related smart home devices can send you important alerts about weather-related issues. In this section, we’ll take a look at a couple of these devices. First, we’ll focus on our Alarm.com smart thermostat. This device allows you to both control and track the environment on your property at all times. From there, we’ll look at the Alarm.com Water Valve + Meter, one of the best environmental security devices in the industry.
The Alarm.com Smart Thermostat
Like other smart home appliances, the Alarm.com Smart Thermostat allows for both remote control and instant event notifications. In this case, the “control” feature entails the ability to set the desired temperature at your home from a smartphone or other internet-connected device. This feature allows you to manually adjust the temperature at any time. Furthermore, it allows you to set temperature schedules based on your own regular activity. For example, businesses often set their thermostats to cool down at closing time and heat back up again an hour before the first employee comes in.
Additionally, this device also provides instant alerts in the case of temperatures outside of a customizable range. Therefore, you will receive an alert for either a dangerously high or low temperature. Finally, this device can track HVAC efficiency to let you know when you may need repairs. For example, you can set up an alert telling you when your HVAC equipment has to work harder than usual to maintain your desired temperatures. Obviously, this knowledge can help you call for repairs before the issue leads to major damage in your home. Next, let’s check out another unique Alarm.com smart device that provides extreme weather security.
The Alarm.com Water Valve + Meter
The Alarm.com Valve + meter can both detect and help prevent water damage with one compact piece of equipment.
A couple years back, Alarm.com announced the release of their Water Valve + Meter. This new offering works with customers’ existing Alarm.com water sensors to provide proactive security against flooding. For example, if one of your water sensors detects a leak, this piece of equipment will shut down your home’s water. Because it contains both a valve and a meter, it can do this without the need to purchase any additional equipment. The device’s meter feature also allows it to detect leaks, even in areas without water sensors. In fact, the water meter helps provide homeowners with unique insights into their water use! This can help you address inefficiencies in your property’s infrastructure, as well as help you address areas where you could cut back on water usage. Now, let’s see how smart cameras can help you in securing your home against extreme weather.
Smart Camera Surveillance
Of course, many people realize the security-related benefits of installing cameras on their properties. Cameras can help catch criminals who prevent acts of vandalism or burglary. Additionally, our Alarm.com smart cameras can even send instant text alerts upon detecting motion, allowing you to take the quickest action possible to address potential issues. However, we often surprise customers when we suggest adding these cameras to monitor their homes for other reasons. For example, adding basement cameras can help customers verify any alarms coming from flood sensors. Outdoor cameras can also alert customers to the effects of inclement weather on their property’s exterior. This can include spotting downed trees and power wires in the vicinity of your property. This additional security makes adding video surveillance one of the strongest methods of securing your home against extreme weather!
Putting it All Together and Adding Extreme Weather Security to Your Home
We hope that this post gives you some ideas for adding extreme weather security to your home. As always, we encourage you to contact us with any questions the material in this post may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. Moreover, we also encourage you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We’ve long provided homeowners with complimentary security audits and equipment quotes. While on site, we can address how to add extreme weather security to your existing security plan. If necessary, we can even help you build a complete security plan from the ground up! Together, we can help you keep your home and family as safe as possible from any and all security-related threats, including those posed by Mother Nature!