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10 Tips for existing alarm systems

By Kirk Booher a.k.a. GuardianMan

1. Turn it on!

Use it! If it’s not armed, it’s not much use. An important element is that it’s easy to use and there isn’t a good reason why it should be easy. Make sure you have a keypad near your main entry door. Another good spot is the master bedroom. Other popular locations include the Front door and if you have a dog, the door you use to let him out is a good spot. If it’s not accessible to run a wire, no worries because wireless keypads are available. Or you can use a remote or telephone to arm / disarm the system. The bottom line is getting in the habit or turning on each night and whenever you go away.

2. Put up and check alarm warning stickers and signs

If you have a system, it is a strong deterrent to have fresh, clean alarm warning stickers and yard sign. If you have existing ones that are looking faded and old, call your current provider and request new decals and signs. If you already have, or switch to providers, make sure they are positioned properly and the old ones are removed and replaced with new.

3. Get the most out of it

Most manufactures have manuals on-line. This site www.alarmguides.com has most of them. Or call your alarm company and have them send someone out to do a demonstration for you.

4. Get it monitored

If it not monitored, just have a local siren, you are missing a lot. Such as:

Emergency response from Police, Fire and Medical.
Your notification of an alarm or trouble conditions while away.
Hostage code.
Homeowner’s insurance discount up to 20%.

5. Test it!

1^st call your central monitoring station and put on test if monitored. I recommend you do it when the times change, so at least twice a year or more often if desired. Pay attention to error codes or messages on the keypad. Refer to the user manual or customer service if in doubt. Always test the alarm after you have had service personnel in the home, particularly your phone or cable provider.

6. Check batteries

If you have wireless sensors and need replacement batteries, a place I recommend is Fry’s Electronics (96^th/I69) because they have a great selection and low prices. Last I checked, they had 2 - 3v lithium batteries for about $ 3.00. Other good places include Batteries Plus (116^th/Rangeline -Westfield), 465/Pendleton Pike and 46/Lafayette).

The main battery typically last 10-15 years. The above locations work for them as well.

7. Clean the smokes

Check the age of your smoke sensors. Most manufactures recommend you replace them every 10-12 years. The yellower they are, the older. We use the photoelectric type with combo heat sensor. On the other hand, if you have heat sensors…the normally last until they are needed. A good idea is to spray some of the canned air stuff used to clean computer keyboards into the smoke chambers a couple times a year to clean them out and/or use a vacuum cleaner. It is not a bad idea to call the central station first to put it on test to make sure you don’t have a false dispatch of the fire dept while cleaning.

8. Shop around

You might be pleasantly surprised what kind of rate you can find. Some alarm companies have a bad habit of regular raising rates. Be extremely cautious about companies that may come door knocking. Check there credentials, location of office (make sure local service), location of monitoring (UL Certification is recommended), Angie’s List

9. Check out new technology

There are some great newer features that are more affordable than ever. Such as cellular monitoring which is great for those who would like the peace of mind of knowing if the landline goes down, there is a back-up method for the system to communicate to the monitoring station. More companies are connecting alarms to the internet. Alarm messaging is an easy and fast way to get the word out via text and email. Another good one is 2 way voice which allows the central station operator to hear and speak within the premise.

10. Be careful when remodeling

Many times decent systems get butchered in the remodeling process. Particularly when replacing old windows with new. Sometimes it is inevitable the sensor will have to get replaced with new, sometimes not. Contact your alarm company before the saws and crow bars come out.

Kirk Booher a.k.a. GuardianMan

Life Safety Consultant

Guardian Protection Services

www.GuardianMan.com

(317) 442.2299

The GuardianMan can normally activate and monitor most systems at little or no charge. We work with most all major brands. With 20 plus years of experience, I can size up what’s in place pretty quick and give you a professional opinion.

Guardian captures six awards for excellence at Honeywell convention

Guardian Protection Services (GPS) claimed several of the top awards at this year’s Honeywell/First Alert Professional Dealer Convention in San Diego, Calif. The convention, held Nov. 21-22, brought together industry leaders from around the world to review new products and discuss the future of the industry

Community Service Award
This award was presented to Guardian for its outstanding community service programs. Each year, Guardian employees work to make a difference in the communities they serve by voluntarily contributing their time, money and skills to those who need help most. Among Guardian’s community service efforts in 2009, one example stands out. Two branches – GPS Pittsburgh and GPS Baltimore -- participated in ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover Home Edition. For the Pittsburgh-based makeover, the GPS Pittsburgh branch teamed up with Montgomery and Rust, Inc. to pre-wire the makeover home, located in Penn Hills. Guardian donated the labor as well as an intercom system and materials for the distributed audio. For the Baltimore-based makeover, the Baltimore branch worked with Dan Ryan Builders and contributed $40,000 in security and home technology equipment and labor.

Life Safety Award
This award recognizes Guardian’s outstanding efforts in sharing First Alert Professional's life safety materials with every customer and for the dedication of its sales team to the overall principles of life safety. Central Monitoring Station employees are at the heart of this commitment. This award recognizes Central Station’s effectiveness in responding to, and handling, alarms quickly and appropriately, resulting in the protection and saving of lives and property.

Customer Service Excellence Award
Guardian received this award for providing exceptional customer service on a daily basis. With approximately 50,000 calls coming into the Customer Service department each month, it’s an amazing accomplishment. What’s even more amazing is that the department answers 85% of customer calls within 20 seconds! Prompt service and active follow up on any customer issues or questions earned the department not only this award but also a loyal customer base and continued customer referrals.

Circle of Excellence Award, Sales Leader of the Year and Marketing Excellence Award were also achieved.

The DNA of an effective security system and service, Part #4 - Respond

An effective security system is made up of four parts. Those parts are as follows:

1. Deter
2. Control
3. Detect
4. Respond

Perhaps the most important, yet most fragile, element of a security system is the response / communication element. Fortunately with the rapid increase in technology, alarms are benefiting tremendously in this area and certainly include one of the greatest areas of growth and change of late.

Alarms first communicated via a direct wire from the protected site to the monitoring station. This came about prior to the telephone. It was rather simple method and very costly. In the 1970’s the digital dialer was invented and made tremendous improvements. It enabled more people to take advantage of monitoring via an analog telephone line while traveling on the backbone of good old ‘ma bell’. Most alarms still use the method of a digital dialer and they are standard in most security panels. The greatest problem with this method is if the line gets cut or goes out; there is no signal sent. Most companies will eventually catch it via missing a timer test. But that is after the fact. On the other hand, benefits include low cost, reliable communication (short of phone failure), and simplicity.

In the past few years cellular technology has become very popular within the industry. Ten years ago or so, the equipment cost around $1,000 for the equipment and $20-30 per month for the service. Today most alarm companies install for a couple hundred and for about half the monthly rate. So it is a lot more affordable. Plus, it is must faster and reliable. The transmission speed about twice as fast a digital dialer. Looking at a recent account, it takes approximately 5-7 seconds for Guardian to receive and process a wireless signal. The digital communicator averages about double that time; 10-15 seconds. The units are supervised, tampered, battery backed up and can report all necessary information by zone.

Other wireless technologies exist including long and medium range radio. One popular network goes by the name, Intellinet. It works well and each unit is a transceiver (meaning it receives and transmits signals) and works like spider web.

The latest technology to grab the business is Internet communication. It is not used by most companies standard at this time but is starting to gain traction. It allows the alarm panel to communicate to a central station via internet protocol. It is fast and supervised.

Other added features in many panels included alarm messaging directly to the user via text and email. Two way voice assists the monitoring station in verifying and speaking with homeowners and responding to an intrusion. Video communication is becoming more accessible and affordable too.

A good monitoring station should dispatch the police, fire and EMS quickly. A good monitoring station controls and limits false alarms. A great monitoring station does both well.

The bottom line is that its better if you ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’. Multiple methods of communication are always better than one. Redundancy when having a conversation with someone or instructed a child isn’t normally a good thing, but it is when it comes to security.

Kirk Booher aka GuardianMan

October 25, 2009

Fire damages Carmel dental office

By Chris Sikich
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CARMEL -- Carmel firefighters are investigating the cause of a blaze that tore through a dental office early this morning at a Carmel medical building.

Fire Marshal Bruce Knott said no one was inside the building when the fire began, and no one was injured.

Knott said firefighters arrived at about 4:20 a.m. to the office of dentists Stephen Lehman and Kelly Schaub, 370 Medical Drive, Suite A. The fire had not spread from that office, Knott said, and firefighters kept it from reaching the other four dental offices also in the strip center.

He said there was smoke, fire and water damage throughout the office, including to medical equipment, and didn’t yet have an overall cost estimate.

Damage to the other four dental offices inside the building was minimal, he said.

Firefighters were alerted by a fire alarm. Fishers Fire Department assisted Carmel

Checki it out. The last line. "Firefighters were alerted by a fire alarm.". I am sure the whole building would have been lost if not for the fire alarm.

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