Over our 36 years in business, we’ve helped hundreds and hundreds of customers design home security systems that provide the security and user experience they desire. Of course, many customers design these systems to help secure their homes against the prospect of a burglary. Additionally, they also commonly ask for monitored detection against smoke and carbon monoxide. However, we can add another layer of security to your alarm that not many of our customers know about! In this post, we will show you how we can go about adding environmental security to your alarm.
First, we’ll explain the basics behind how alarm systems operate. Understanding this will go a long way towards putting the information of this post to good use. With this knowledge in hand, we’ll describe some alarm sensors that can help add this security for you. Then, we’ll move on to detail some smart home products that can provide even more environmental security. Finally, we’ll show you a powerful combination of sensors and smart equipment that can even stop weather-related issues from becoming a major problem, even when you are away! Now, let’s dive in with a look at the overall function of monitored alarms.
How do Monitored Alarms Work?
We install security systems with a couple goals in mind. The first response comes in the form of an audible — and occasionally visual — response in the form of sirens and potentially strobes. This alerts anyone onsite to the potential danger. It also encourages any unwanted visitors to your home to take off as soon as possible. Obviously, many thieves flee as soon as they realized they’ve “tripped” an alarm.
Additionally, we also connect monitored security systems to our central station. Upon receiving an alarm signal, our central station operators call the premise to check on the situation. If they fail to reach anyone, or if the person who does answer cannot provide pre-determined credentials in the form of an authorized name and verbal passcode, the operator then calls for a police dispatch. The blaring siren and police response to an alarm add tremendous security to any application.
A monitored alarm system can help secure you against all types of threats your home may face.
As we already mentioned, people generally install their alarms with burglary-related events in mind. After all, people also call security systems “burglar alarms” for a reason! However, as we will show in the following sections, these alarms add other valuable forms of security as well. Our environmental security equipment descriptions will range from simple alarm sensors to devices that can stop issues as soon as they begin! Let’s look at some of the most simple environmental alarm sensors now.
Sensors that Add Environmental Security
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 alerts 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. In fact, we even offer wireless sensors — such as the one pictured — that detect both dangerously low temperatures and the presence of water. 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 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 add unique weather-related security.
Smart Home Equipment that Alerts You to Issues
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 the home’s phone lines go down. 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 most powerful environmental security devices the industry has ever seen.
The Alarm.com Valve + meter can both detect and help prevent water damage with one compact piece of equipment.
Stopping Environmental Security Risks in Their Tracks
Within the last couple years, Alarm.com announced the release of their new 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. During this time of year, this device provides important winter weather security as well. After all, your water usage is greatly affected if any of your pipes freeze. If this condition does not get addressed, this can lead to bursting pipes as well. The Valve + Meter can catch this danger, turn off your water, and send you a notification to allow you to check in on the situation. The added security and peace of mind delivered by this appliance makes it very popular with our customers!
Putting it All Together
We hope that this post helps you add valuable environmental security in your own home. Unfortunately, each season in this area of the country brings threats and concerns that are well out of our hands. However, putting security measures in place to alert you to potential emergencies can grant you an advantage over the elements. As always, we invite you to contact us with any questions that this post raises for you. Moreover, we also encourage you to have us out for a complimentary site survey. We offer free security audits and equipment quotes to both new and existing customers alike. While on site, we can address any and all of your security concerns, and answer your security-related inquiries. Furthermore, we can make our own suggestions based on our observations of your property. Together, we can create a complete security plan to keep your property — and anyone on it — as safe and secure as possible!