In past posts, we’ve discussed adding flood detection equipment to your alarm system. For example, in our 5 Surprising Home Security System Benefits, we pointed out how installing this equipment could alert you to a weather-related incident in time to stop a disaster. Additionally, we also mentioned this equipment in our Smart Security Tips to Save You Money. In that post, our focus was on how water sensors save you money in a couple ways. Frist, they can help you avoid expensive weather-related repair work. Furthermore, installing these devices sometimes triggers a discount on your homeowners’ insurance. Just this week, Alarm.com has just launched a new technology to use your alarm to prevent water damage. In this post, we will detail this new technology and how you can use it to your advantage.
We will begin by detailing Alarm.com and the benefits their services provide our customers. From there, we will look at their previously-existing water management solution. Then, we will discuss the newly-available Alarm.com technology. We will spend some time explaining how their Water Valve + Meter can help fight against water damage in your home. From there, we will examine the advanced features of this technology. Finally, we will focus on making your new water management technology work with your alarm system. Now, let’s get started by discussing the advanced security features offered by Alarm.com.
The Alarm.com interactive cellular dialer allows you to control your alarm remotely and receive important text alerts based on alarm activity.
How Does Alarm.com Add Security to My Alarm System?
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.
Furthermore, Alarm.com customers can create alerts based on alarm activity. For example, alarm activations, users arming and disarming your security system, and low sensor batteries can all lead to immediate text notifications based on your own preferences. Finally — and most importantly to this post — Alarm.com offers equipment and alerts to help you detect and prevent water damage. Now that we have a basic understanding of what Alarm.com offers, let’s take a close look at their water management solution. We will begin with an overview of Alarm.com’s traditional water detection technology.
Traditional Alarm.com Water Detection Technology
Alarm.com has long provided water detection technology. The Alarm.com water sensor can detect and alert homeowners to the presence of water. Homeowners simply install these devices in vulnerable areas. Once activated, these sensors will create an Alarm.com alert that you will receive on your smartphone. At that point, you can check on the problem and close your water valve to minimize the damage.
You also have the option of installing an automatic shutoff valve in addition to your water sensors. This will give you the option of turning your water off from your smartphone. Furthermore, if you do install one of these valves, Alarm.com will shut your home’s water off if one of the water sensors detects an issue. All of these options have long been available for Alarm.com customers. The “latest and greatest” from Alarm.com enhances these features with an impressive new piece of equipment. Now, let’s look at how the Alarm.com Water + Valve Meter takes their existing water management technology and builds on it!
The Alarm.com Water Valve + Meter can both detect and help prevent water damage with one compact piece of equipment.
The New Alarm.com Water Valve + Meter
At the beginning of the year, Alarm.com announced the release of their new Water Valve + Meter. This new offering works with customers’ existing Alarm.com water sensors. Additionally, the Water Valve + Meter offers additional features right out of the box. 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. Let’s take a look at some of these insights that keep homeowners informed of potential issues.
Additional Features to Help You Save Money and Prevent Water Damage
Of course, the ability to detect and limit the damage from flooding adds tremendous security to your home. However, the Alarm.com Water Valve + Meter adds even more features to make your home more efficient with water management. For example, this device can create reports that show how much water you used over a given period of time. Additionally, it will create alerts to notify you of potentially important information.
Perhaps the toilets at your home run longer than they should. In this case, your Water Valve + Meter will let you know! Extra long showers can also trigger an alert. The ability to receive this type of feedback can help you take actions that make your water management more efficient. Finally, this latest Alarm.com water management solution works with your alarm system in a very unique way. By keeping alarm activity in mind, it can help determine whether or not to shut off your water or simply alert you to inefficient water activity. Let’s take a look at this feature in our next section.
Alarm.com’s water management tracking can help save homeowners money by tracking how much water is used where, pointing out potential issues or inefficiencies.
Make Your Water Management Solution Work with Your Alarm
The Alarm.com Water Valve + Meter communicates directly with your Alarm.com cellular dialer. This allows it to make changes to your home’s water flow based on alarm activity. For example, we mentioned earlier that a long-running shower will create an alert due to excessive use of water in your bathroom. However, what if you’ve already armed your security system to “Away” mode and left the house before this or something similar happens? In this case, Alarm.com will know to shut the water off to save you money.
For example, a constantly-running toilet while your alarm system is armed to “Away” mode will trigger a shutdown of your home’s water and an alert to your phone. The ability to know the difference between excessive water usage worthy of an alert and a situation that warrants shutting your home’s water off in your absence make Alarm.com’s newest water management offering an extremely powerful addition to any home security plan.
Creating a Complete Plan to Prevent Water Damage to Your Home
We hope that this post has shown you how you can use both new and old Alarm.com technology to help prevent water damage. The traditional approach to security system design involves strictly addressing burglary and fire-related concerns. However, these days are long gone. Modern security technology allows us to help you monitor your home for a wide variety of dangers. If you have any questions about the material in this post, we encourage you to contact us. We can answer any questions you may have about adding this equipment to your alarm system. Additionally, we provide free site surveys for homeowners. While onsite, we can answer any questions you may have. If desired, we can also make suggestions of our own. Together, we can design an alarm system that provides the security and peace of mind that you and your family are looking for.