alarm call for all

[pcaouolte]

Usually the insurance company ask if you have a professionally fitted and maintained alarm (or similar words). The correct answer to this for a DIY alarm would be no.

It is best to check with your insurance company. They don't usually mind a DIY alarm, they won't usually give a discount for it and they won't usually insist that you set it when the property is empty. Ask them, preferably in writing.

 

[EightyTwo]

If you're really worried about the alarm going off, don't connect the bell up for the first couple of weeks and then, when you're confident, connect it. However, remember that an alarm without a bell is as useful as a watchdog without a bark!

thanks. if i do this, is there a way to see which sensor tripped the alarm via the control panel? to make adjustments

Yes there is. It's usually called a log. Go for a system with an LCD keypad and the log events should show you the date, time, zone number and name and the event type (intruder, tamper, unset, etc.). You'll probably get 250+ events in the log.

You can always connect a separate speech dialler to an alarm. Remember, though, that it will need to be connected to the alarm AND the telephone line - you'll need to get cables to both.

Don't worry about a burglar flicking off the mains - the backup battery should be good for at least 12 hours and, maybe, a lot more. Bedroom cupboards are good places to put the control box - you can often drill straight out to the bell. Airing cupboards are good too because you can cable up to the loft for the upstairs PIRs, speaker, keypad, bell and PAB and down through a hole in the floor for the rest. You don't have to be super-neat, either 'cos there are pipes and cables everywhere. Unfortunately, the sealed lead-acid backup batteries don't like getting hot so this could reduce their life if the airing cupboard is really toasty.

Buy a kit if it does exacly what you want but there is no problem mixing and matching wired systems - you can use a Texecom panel and keypad with Honeywell PIRs and Bosch DualTecs and Menvier smoke detectors and Elmdene dooe contacts all on a Pyronix bell!!! Panels, expanders and keypads must be from the same manufacturer. Don't mix radio stuff, if you use it. Buy CQR 8-core cable - it's a little dearer than some makes but it's really easy to unreel and strip.

Many systems (can) have a fob reader built into the keypad. A fob is also known as a PACE.

I think that was most of your questions... Time for a little lie-down!

 

[Europlex]

Airing cupboards are good too ....................... Unfortunately, the sealed lead-acid backup batteries don't like getting hot so this could reduce their life if the airing cupboard is really toasty.

Contradiction there.

Do NOT fit in the airing cupboard, unless you like spending money & changing batteries that is, or as in one case I have seen, replace some clothing because the battery split and ..........

 

[JohnD]

If you make a claim and the loss adjuster sees there is an alarm fitted that you have not declared then the insurance company may consider your non-disclosure of the alarm to be a valid reason to decline the claim.

In an ordinary domestic house, where the insurers have not specified that an alarm is required, and the householder has fitted a DIY alarm, I wonder if that has ever happened.

I suspect not.

I wonder what the chances are that it would stand up in court if they tried.

Approximately 0%, I expect.

 

[bernardgreen]

As in other threads what JohnD suspects is somewhat different to the reality that JohnD has yet to experoence.

 

[JohnD]

...

 

[mdf290]

If you make a claim and the loss adjuster sees there is an alarm fitted that you have not declared then the insurance company may consider your non-disclosure of the alarm to be a valid reason to decline the claim.

What a load of tripe Bernard.

The loss adjuster WOULD decline the claim if you had declared an alarm and found non fitted but to say because you had fitted an alarm and hadn't declared it you may lose your claim is just absolute rubbish.

Give me a single example of what you have written occurring.

 

[bernardgreen]

Do your own research.

 

[JohnD]

As usual, Bernard publishes fanciful speculation unsupported by evidence, and refuses to substantiate his claims.

His claims can be dismissed as nonsense.

"What is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence"


see also http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-ins-nondisclosure.htm

 

[mdf290]

Do your own research.

So you have no instance of anyone fitting an alarm having their insurance invalidated if having an alarm is not part of the insurance contract.

Dear me...Bernard your quest is at times out of proportion to the overall risks involved but your statement above beggars belief.

Strangely despite what you say there is no mention anywhere on alarms warning that the product may invalidate the home insurance...


What next fitting a padlock on your garden shed will invalidate your insurance?
upgrading your eurocylinder locks to snapsafe will invalidate the insurance?


I mean you seem to know Bernard , Can we have a list of all the security devices that we cannot fit?

Does fitting a dummy box invalidate your insurance..

I think we need to know.

I mean I was considering fitting a safe but now that you have said it could invalidate my insurance I must be better off just leaving things lying around..

 

[dpt]

tataylor1

I'm sorry you have had all this heaped on you.

As you can see, there are some people who really don't like DIY alarms and are not much help to you.

I have spent little time here, what I have seen is you and mdf aggressively posting, contradicting almost everything advised by professionals.

Maybe it's you who doesn't like professionals because you can't make the grade?

 

[JohnD]

this was my initial post that set euro bitch ing

which are the parts you disagree with, dpt?

have you decided how much to spend?

you'll be installing yourself, I gather?

have you allowed for a system that will phone you and other local keyholders in the event of an alarm?

If the siren goes off, your neighbours will probably ignore it, except they will complain about the noise nuisance.

Some people say it is an advantage to have a extra siren inside the house (but out of reach) as it will upset intruders. It will also wake you up if you are asleep. A sound bomb may not be loud enough.

You can look up the EN50131 series grading system if you like. Your insurers may specify what sort of alarm system you have, who it it installed by and how it is maintained, or they might not care. They might give a small discount off the premium, but this may be on the condition that they will not pay out on a claim if the alarm had not been set, which might be a risk you do not wish to take. The grading system itself is no guarantee that the alarm is any good or is suitable for you, or that the installation has been well-designed.

If you are a person who might be thought to have large amounts of gold jewelry at home on the eve of a family wedding, for example, then you will be at much greater risk of professional and determined attack.

Some of the old hands that Europlex mentions are not mentally attuned to the concept of the low-cost, simple, DIY installation.

You do know this is a DIY website, don't you?

If I was an alarm fitter, I would try not be too disheartened at my career. However I have no wish to be one.

 

[dpt]

this was my initial post that set euro **** ing

which are the parts you disagree with, dpt?

have you decided how much to spend?

you'll be installing yourself, I gather?

have you allowed for a system that will phone you and other local keyholders in the event of an alarm?

If the siren goes off, your neighbours will probably ignore it, except they will complain about the noise nuisance.

Some people say it is an advantage to have a extra siren inside the house (but out of reach) as it will upset intruders. It will also wake you up if you are asleep. A sound bomb may not be loud enough.

You can look up the EN50131 series grading system if you like. Your insurers may specify what sort of alarm system you have, who it it installed by and how it is maintained, or they might not care. They might give a small discount off the premium, but this may be on the condition that they will not pay out on a claim if the alarm had not been set, which might be a risk you do not wish to take. The grading system itself is no guarantee that the alarm is any good or is suitable for you, or that the installation has been well-designed.

If you are a person who might be thought to have large amounts of gold jewelry at home on the eve of a family wedding, for example, then you will be at much greater risk of professional and determined attack.

Some of the old hands that Europlex mentions are not mentally attuned to the concept of the low-cost, simple, DIY installation.

You do know this is a DIY website, don't you?

If I was an alarm fitter, I would try not be too disheartened at my career. However I have no wish to be one.

I just think your whole tone is aggressive at worse and argumentative at best.

I would expect a professional is better qualified to advice the DIYer.

 

[JohnD]

"aggressive at worse and argumentative at best" you say?

have you decided how much to spend?

you'll be installing yourself, I gather?

have you allowed for a system that will phone you and other local keyholders in the event of an alarm?

If the siren goes off, your neighbours will probably ignore it, except they will complain about the noise nuisance.

Some people say it is an advantage to have a extra siren inside the house (but out of reach) as it will upset intruders. It will also wake you up if you are asleep. A sound bomb may not be loud enough.

You can look up the EN50131 series grading system if you like. Your insurers may specify what sort of alarm system you have, who it it installed by and how it is maintained, or they might not care. They might give a small discount off the premium, but this may be on the condition that they will not pay out on a claim if the alarm had not been set, which might be a risk you do not wish to take. The grading system itself is no guarantee that the alarm is any good or is suitable for you, or that the installation has been well-designed.

If you are a person who might be thought to have large amounts of gold jewelry at home on the eve of a family wedding, for example, then you will be at much greater risk of professional and determined attack.

Some of the old hands that Europlex mentions are not mentally attuned to the concept of the low-cost, simple, DIY installation.

 

[dpt]

"aggressive at worse and argumentative at best" you say?

have you decided how much to spend?

you'll be installing yourself, I gather?

have you allowed for a system that will phone you and other local keyholders in the event of an alarm?

If the siren goes off, your neighbours will probably ignore it, except they will complain about the noise nuisance.

Some people say it is an advantage to have a extra siren inside the house (but out of reach) as it will upset intruders. It will also wake you up if you are asleep. A sound bomb may not be loud enough.

You can look up the EN50131 series grading system if you like. Your insurers may specify what sort of alarm system you have, who it it installed by and how it is maintained, or they might not care. They might give a small discount off the premium, but this may be on the condition that they will not pay out on a claim if the alarm had not been set, which might be a risk you do not wish to take. The grading system itself is no guarantee that the alarm is any good or is suitable for you, or that the installation has been well-designed.

If you are a person who might be thought to have large amounts of gold jewelry at home on the eve of a family wedding, for example, then you will be at much greater risk of professional and determined attack.

Some of the old hands that Europlex mentions are not mentally attuned to the concept of the low-cost, simple, DIY installation.

Yes you are aggressive and argumentative.