If you’ve kept up with our blog at all, you know how much we tout the power of a monitored security system. These alarms create a siren response upon detecting a breach, alerting anyone on site to the danger and hopefully scaring off would-be criminals. Additionally, connecting these systems to our monitoring service also creates a central station response. This can alert you and your family to events that occur in your absence. If necessary, this can also create a police dispatch. Moreover, we can add equipment to secure your home against threats other than a burglary as well. During this time of year, creating weather-related alarm security ranks as one of our top priorities. In today’s post, we’ll show you how an alarm can help you with securing your home against extreme weather!
First, we’ll detail our unique environmental alarm sensors. These devices can alert you to a variety of weather-related issues. From there, we’ll shift our focus to some smart home security devices that can help you manage weather emergencies. These include a smart thermostat that allows you to track and control your home’s temperature. Additionally, we’ll also show you a smart device that can even shut off your home’s water upon detecting a leak. Finally, we’ll take a look at smart cameras that allow you to look at your home at any time from anywhere to observe potential damage caused by weather events. Now, let’s see how adding environmental sensors to your alarm can help you catch environmental issues before they turn intro catastrophes.
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.
A smart thermostat can alert you to dangerous conditions in your home.
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 most powerful environmental security devices the industry has ever seen.
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 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 last year, 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. 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 to your security plan one of the strongest methods of securing your home against extreme weather!
Putting it All Together and Securing Your Home Against Extreme Weather
We hope that this post arms you with some tips for securing your home against extreme weather. Additionally, we encourage you to contact us with any questions this post may raise for you. We will happily answer all of your security-related inquiries. Moreover, we also encourage you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We’ve always provided homeowners with complimentary security audits and equipment quotes. While on site, we can address how to add weather-related 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.