Can we talk security systems??

[Valerie226]

DH & I are considering getting a security system due to some unpleasant changes in the neighborhood with minor burglaries getting more prevalent.

What things should we be thinking about that haven't occurred to us since we've never had a system before? is a smaller local company better than a large national one?

[Cherise]

There have been a couple of past threads about this, here are a couple which might be helpful.

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=103661&highlight=security+alarm

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=96663&highlight=security+alarm

We have ADT and have been satisfied with it. Ours was installed about 6 years ago, so I'm sure there are new features that I am unaware of, so probably not much help there. We just have one keypad. I would check to find out how alarms/false alarms are handled. I know that in some areas local police depts were supposed to charge people if they had more than x amount of false alarms, because it was costing the police lots of money and time to follow up on alarms. I believe that ADT (at least in our area) is now using a private security co. to check out alarms before the police are called, to avoid home-owners being charged. So check to see who comes out to check on your place if your alarm is tripped.

[LakeMartinGal]

Yes, check out those threads that were so helpfully posted -- my opinions haven't changed since then...;)

[Valerie226]

Just got done reading those older threads. very helpful. Thanks. I will check regarding our home owner insurance for discounts, which would be nice.
Can you install these systems yourself if they are not built into the house? we live in a decent neighborhood but the problem has been punks... meth heads or whatever... taking advantage of unlocked doors and unlocked sheds and stealing stuff. probably not "professional" burglars. We just want the deterrent and if the smoke alarms can be wired in, all the better.

One thing I'm getting is that if you contract with a big national co like ADT or Brinks, they may sell off the actual monitoring to some small local firm. may be OK but ???.

[umd98]

I live in a mid-size town in Louisiana and most of our security system companies are regional. We had one installed when we built and I hate our install/monitoring company but I am lazy and haven't looked into switching. We used our alarm when we went out of town. About 3 hours from home I received a call from our company saying our alarm was going off. I didn't know what to do so I asked them to have the police come out and check things out. They called me back and said all was fine and it appeared that my sensor had malfunctioned. This is the part that made me mad - they said they could turn off the exterior alarm (the one the neighbors would hear) but they couldn't do anything about the one inside the house. Well I was gone for a few days, so my cats were bug eyed when I got home and the inside bells had been ringing for that same time. Maybe I am wrong for being upset and no one can have the inside system disarmed remotely but surely that isn't the case. I think I just got a cheap system.

Anywho, I wanted to also respond that we had a system in our previous home and the company that installed it put a sensor on our hot water heater so that if it overflowed it would signal us. I thought that was cool because the heater was in the attic, which would have caused big issues if it began overflowing and because the water heater wasn't located where it was visible to us.

Side note - I would have used the company that installed our first system but our builder gave us the old "oh I have used my xxx company for years and they are great" bull crap. There are other reasons why I don't like them that I won't get into but none of it showed up until after the system was installed and I met them for the first time. I have since found out our builder has switched companies as well! :rolleyes:

Just shop around and go with who you like!!! I truly feel there are good and bad big and small companies :)

Did I help at all or just vent a lot?? :p

[misskitty100]

One thing I'm getting is that if you contract with a big national co like ADT or Brinks, they may sell off the actual monitoring to some small local firm. may be OK but ???.

We have ADT and haven't had a problem with them except minor things like when we had our house resided (but that is another story :( ). We have had them for about 7 years and as far as I know, they haven't sold us off to a smaller company.


Neither my DH or I could have installed our system ourselves. We have 2 key pads - one in our bedroom and one inside the room by the garage. We also have all of our windows monitored so there would not have been anyway for us to do it - we are not electrical experts at all.

[cchhbb]

DH installed our system. We have 4 keypads.

DH also wired my parent's house over Thanksgiving. They have a 3 bedroom ranch with a basement and it took him about 3 full days of working on it.

[Gumbeaux]

taking advantage of unlocked doors and unlocked sheds and stealing stuff. probably not "professional" burglars. We just want the deterrent and if the smoke alarms can be wired in, all the better.

For this reason I would suggest that you also get a DVR with multiple cameras.