Burglar alarm question

I've been reading the back posts here on uk.d-i-y about burglar alarms. I'm thinking about instaling an alarm, and I had a professional installer out, who recommends Bosch kit. It looks very smart, and I was impresssed.

He also recommended installing some smoke alarm sensors. I wired the front of the house for an alarm installation a few years ago, but I forgot to consider wiring for smoke sensors. Where's the best place to site them? I could probably connect one to the alarm if it it was located in the hall, but this would be impossible if it was located on the landing upstairs. Are the wired ones worth the money, or should I just go for a couple of those battery Black & Decker alarms?

For the alarm installation itself, my original intention was not to install an external siren, because I thought that it would just attact attention to the house. I was thinking of the saying never be the first or last in a street to install an alarm. The installer recommended that I should mount an external siren. On our block of about 100 houses, there are probably 3 alarms installed, and none so far on our street. This is why I was thinking of only going for an internal siren. Any ideas?

Thanks, Paul

Reply to
Paul Moore
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Not really an answer to your question but I've had one of these for about 6 months and it's excellent

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Very easy to install and set up and - so far - very reliable, with no false alarms at all.

I already have mains powered, battery backup, interlinked smoke alarms on their own MCB back at the consumer unit so I don't need that functionality from the "burglar" alarm (I put "burglar" alarm in quotes because this unit can do so much more. Of course, it's all extra expense but, if you wanted to, you can get it to close your curtains, switch on your lights and other things as well).

And definitely go for an external siren. It's all about deterrent. Hopefully the scrotes will see it and decide they don't want the hassle and just break into somewhere else.

Jelly.

Reply to
JellyBelly

I would recommend an external siren (or two - front and back) not just because of the noise they make but also because they can have strobes. Without the strobes, it can be difficult to tell in built-up areas whose alarm is sounding.

Strobes can also be set to continue flashing after the siren times out, providing you with a warning when you return to the house than an intrusion may have occurred.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

But install a painfully loud internal siren too....it's very disorienting, and means they won't stay long enough to grab much, even if they manage to think straight.

Reply to
Bob Eager

The message from "Bob Eager" contains these words:

Smoke's good, too. Attracts attention from all over, needn't damage the premises if you're sensible, and can make finding your stash darned hard.

Reply to
Guy King

Upstairs landing is the number one location.

It's a good idea to delay installation of the external siren until you have had at least a couple of months with no false alarms.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

In article , Andrew Gabriel writes

Pussy :-P

ps: Yes to multiple sounders, inside & out, they're cheap and a deterrent. Outside, one front, one back, inside, depending on the volume, one downstairs, one up, all 115dB.

Reply to
fred

What sort of alarm? They come in different flavours :-

Bells only, attract no police response, make a noise, annoy the neighbours, deters no one.

Dial up, favoured by installers everywhere, attract no police response (despite what the installer tells you) but will annoy the fire service as well as your neighbours after the third false alarm so don't be too surprised to find your door kicked in "to find the fire". Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) will phone you up to tell you the alarm has gone off - really useful if you are in Ipswich and the house is in Cleethorps. Trivial for a burglar to defeat (despite what the installer tells you). Great for annual fees to the alarm company for doing nothing.

Redcare monitored. Attracts police response until you have had two false alarms after which you are on your own, annoys the neighbours. Very good, especially if you like living in a Gulag and have neither pets nor children. Not difficult for a burglar to defeat in most houses if they know a bit about how Redcare works. Great for annual fees to the alarm company for doing nothing.

They do. It is usually a waste of time as the things false alarm fairly frequently (unless you live off warmed up McDonalds in a microwave). There is no evidence the remote link to the fire service via the ARC helps save lives or property and some that they do the opposite. After the second false alarm which entails explaining to a sodding great fire engine and crew why they have been called to a slice of toast many people disable the sensors.

The landing upstairs is the single most important point, especially if there are smokers in the house.

Battery ones are fine as long as you change the batteries yearly or if the low battery indicator sounds (which it always does at 03:00 in the morning).

I wouldn't worry too much. If you have much worth nicking then realistically how secure do you think the alarm installers staff or database are?

Alarms are not much of a deterrent. You are better spending the money on improving physical security such as doors and locks and improving perimeter security with simple things like thorny shrubs and good fences.

Get your local crime prevention officer to pop in for a chat before deciding to go for a fancy alarm. Their advice will be better and less biased than any alarm salesman.

If you do fit an alarm beware of the insurance trap. It is usually better to tell the insurance company you have an alarm but will not be using it than it is to claim their meager discount for having one. If you do the latter it can give them a big let out clause on many claims.

Reply to
Peter Parry

On Sun, 03 Dec 2006 23:33:07 +0000 someone who may be Peter Parry wrote this:-

Something on which I agree with you about, at least as far as commercial alarms are concerned.

Reply to
David Hansen

"Paul Moore" wrote

I presume your questions re: linked smoke alarms refers to units which are interlinked rather than linked to an independent home security monitoring service?

I am in the process of installing linked fire detectors. Depending on the size, construction and layout of your house, it may no be possible to hear an alarm from some parts of the house. My install has been prompted by the need to have a heat detector in a re-worked kitchen layout to satisfy building regs. As our kitchen is an extension, it would not be possible to hear the detector sounder from the more remote upstairs rooms.

I have chosen the Aico EI16* series see

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If you check out their site, they show which detector to use in each location.

Personally, I am not convinced about radio linked models (potential conflict with RF heating controls etc), so I have gone for the hard wired versions. One good feature is that each detector type (within the same range) has a common baseplate. So you could swap alarm types around if one specific type generated false alarms in a specific location.

Final point, I will also be fitting a battery type smoke detector in the kitchen to tell SWMBO when the toast is done!!!

HTH

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster

They're not, alarm companies employ whoever they can get, no security checks required!

Yep.

Er, no, often they seem to over spec what you need, and they like the fire lot have prefered suppliers and the like.....

Big internal sounders, several together even better, don't shut up after

20 mins so still audible from outside too...
Reply to
badger.badger

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