When it comes to securing our customers’ homes, we take a complete-security approach. Of course, many people call security systems “burglar alarms,” and for good reason. Many people install these systems with the main goal of alerting them to an attempted burglary. Obviously, advertising the presence of these systems also deters thieves from trying to breach your home’s security in the first place. However, we also design these systems to secure your home against a variety of other threats. These include seasonal threats brought on by changing conditions, expecially in our area of the country! In this post, we share how we can use your alarm to create winter weather security for this year and every year going forward.
First, we’ll review how environmental sensors can help you add valuable notifications for weather-related emergencies. Adding these sensors allows you to investigate HVAC equipment failures and other weather-related conditions before they cause serious damage. Then, we’ll explain how smart security devices can help you in your endeavors to create winter weather security. This section will include an explanation of how we connect these appliances to your alarm. We’ll follow this up with descriptions of a few specific products to add to your security portfolio. Now, let’s get started with a look at how you can prepare your alarm for winter weather!
Using Environmental Sensors to Gear up for Extreme Weather
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 presense 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.
This wireless freeze/flood sensor by Interlogix can alert you to both frozen pipes or water in your basement.
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.
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 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 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 dengerously high or low temperature. Finally, this device can track HVAC efficiency to let you know when you may need repairs. For example, an alert can tell you that 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 look at another unique Alarm.com smart device that provides valuable winter 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 inefficiency’s 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 and Experiencing Winter Weather Security
We hope that this post helps you experience complete winter weather security this year. Unfortunately, this season 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. Moreoever, 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!