Five Common Causes of False Alarms and How to Prevent Them
There’s nothing more startling than suddenly hearing your alarm system go off. Together with the blaring siren, your adrenaline goes off. You rush to see what is going on… only to find that it’s just a false alarm.
There is instant relief then, but your heart keeps thumping for a while!
While false alarms do happen, it’s good to keep them at a minimum. Not only for our peace during the day- and especially the night- but also to ensure that police get to actual emergencies faster.
Luckily, most false alarms happen for similar reasons. Reasons that are quite preventable! Here are some of the most frequently occurring ones below, including suggestions on how to prevent them.
Tripping it by mistake
We might forget that our alarm is armed and open a window, which trips the alarm. Or our children may play with the access panel. Or our pet might get caught by motion detectors and trip the alarm. We may even forget the code and trip the alarm that way.
A good part of false alarms occur out of sheer human error, from unsecured windows or doors to pets that escape their designated area for when the alarm is armed. To prevent such false alarms from happening, or at least limiting the occurrences to a minimum, you should do the following:
Primarily, all adults and teens who will be using the alarm system’s access panel should be properly and fully trained on how to do so. This can be accomplished by running drills or even have a technician do it for you as part of customer support.
The access panel should be out of reach of young children. You should also make sure they understand that the access panel is for emergencies and not a toy. Pets should be limited to areas where there are no motion detectors. Otherwise, you should make sure that your motion detectors can be programmed to exclude your pets from detection when they roam about your house. This feature is becoming standard technology, so make sure you discuss it with your alarm system provider and support.
Before arming the alarm make sure that windows and doors are secured so that they don’t open by mistake. Lastly, remember to disarm the alarm before opening them!
Insufficient maintenance
As a rule, alarm systems are quite low maintenance. They only require a few things to run smoothly and seamlessly, but these few things need to be consistently addressed. False alarms may occur if the system isn’t properly maintained because of fluctuations in power or other malfunctions.
To avoid such false alarms, make sure that batteries are periodically tested and replaced when necessary. At Krypto, we have dedicated programs designed to upkeep your alarm system’s maintenance around the year, with regular visits by our expert technicians.
Make sure that your system’s hardware is well maintained, including dusting the sensors and protecting them whenever especially dusty projects are happening in your house (e.g. construction or refinishing floors).
Equipment issues
Though alarm system hardware is quite durable, there will come a time when it is too old. Equipment that has been worn out is more likely to create false alarms. The same goes if it is quite outdated, as older systems are less sensitive to environmental cues and less able to discern them from stimuli that require the alarm to be tripped.
This issue is easily resolved by having your alarm technician periodically overview your system to make sure that your equipment is running as it should, and to let you know when it’s advisable to renew parts of it. At Krypto, our expert technicians ensure your system runs as it should and will give you a heads up when the time to replace parts of it is coming up.
The environment
The weather and various changes around your house may be the cause for a rise in false alarms. Anything from severe weather (like storms or hurricanes that rattle the windows) to a new pet or even billowing curtains can trigger your alarm.
To prevent such occurrences it’s vital to know what parameters to include when you arm your alarm: when heavy weather is coming, it might be prudent to turn off some sensors that will be triggered by the elements shaking doors or windows. Adjust sensors and motion detectors for any new pets and make sure they are placed in such a way that curtains or such motion won’t be triggering them.