Home Security Systems - Protecting Against More Than Just Break-ins

When most people think of monitoring their home security system, they think primarily about its ability to alert the police of a break-in.  What they are not mindful of is the lesser know capabilities of the modern alarm system, which is environmental monitoring.

For instance: you can monitor the amount of carbon monoxide that is present in your home. Smoke Detectors, water level sensors and low temperature devices may also be monitored by home security systems.  Even though monitoring of these devices is becoming more well-known, it will be a while before it becomes a regular feature of every system.

News accounts have helped push the awareness of these capabilities. Every time their focus is placed on the effects of radon gas or other dangers such as fires in the home, there is an increase demand for this type of monitoring.
   
Unfortunately it takes a tragedy to motivate most people to take action. Incorporating environmental monitoring devices to a new security system or existing ones is relatively simple. Once installed, the alarm system is programmed to make an audible sound or silent alarm based on what type of device is being monitored.
   
If you have a low temperature sensor to prevent freezing pipes, you wouldn’t like the siren blasting you out of bed in the middle of the night but you would want to know if there’s too much carbon monoxide in your home.

For those who’re aware of the full capabilities of an alarm system, it might come down to the cost issue whether or not to add extra equipment.  Even though cost is a logical concern, one must also think about all of the risks involved. 

A break-in takes a human and a conscience decision to target a certain house. While fires and other acts of nature are not so discriminating. Think about all the things which run on electric in a home. Any one of them has the potential for starting a fire.

Do not get me wrong; I’m not talking about spontaneous combustion but normal wear and tear to the electrical cords and so on. A fire or a flooding basement can damage a whole house costing numerous thousands of dollars. A break-in on the other hand is not as likely to reach the same level of damage.

When put into this perspective, it’s not as hard to justify the cost of the equipment versus the potential risk you can prevent.  Talk with your insurance agent to see what discounts they provide for monitoring your home security system.

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