For many homeowners, protecting their family and property is a top priority. Your alarm system responds when your home is in danger, and you trust it to do so accurately. Accidental security alarm notifications can shake your confidence and leave you feeling vulnerable.
At Prestige Security, we’re here to help homeowners understand the causes of false alarms and prevent them from occurring. Our comprehensive security solutions are homeowner-friendly and tough on threats. Should a false alarm trigger, here is how to resolve false alarms.
Make Sure It’s a False Alarm
As a general rule, you should trust your home alarm system when it triggers. Exercise caution in your response to an alarm by finding a safe way to verify its legitimacy. If you’re away from home and receive a notification from your smartphone-compatible security system, assess the situation remotely before returning home. If you are home when your alarm triggers, take your first few steps as if you were responding to a verified threat.
When It’s a Real Emergency
Homeowners should approach real security alarms carefully to ensure everyone in the house is safe. When your alarm sounds, follow home security breach practices that reliably de-escalate conflicts and protect your family.
If you are out of the house when a legitimate security breach occurs, contact local law enforcement and remain in a safe location until they verify you can return home. If the security breach occurs while you are in your house, avoid direct contact with the intruder. Instead, make a noise or flicker a light to alert them of your presence. In many cases, intruders will flee when they learn people are home. Alert the police when you can do so safely.
After the break-in is over and the local authorities have responded to your call, you can take a few steps to recoup your losses and cope with the experience. Start by filing police and insurance reports, detailing the damage and anything the intruder stole. Contact your security system provider to schedule repairs if necessary.
When you feel comfortable doing so, cleaning up the mess can help you regain control of the situation. Start with small projects like sweeping up glass and save larger ones — like replacing broken doors — for last. Break-ins may be overwhelming or traumatic. If you’re having trouble coping, we encourage you to seek professional help.
Troubleshooting False Alarms
False alarms happen, but with close attention to the responsible factors, you can reduce their frequency. Understanding the most common triggers can help you prevent false security alarms and feel more confident in your home’s safety.
1. User Error
User error is one of the most common reasons why alarms trigger without actual danger. Your security system would rather be safe than sorry, so it prioritizes protection through unbiased response to unauthorized stimuli. Inputting an incorrect passcode or entering it outside of your system’s disarmed window may trigger your alarm.
To reduce your chances of accidentally setting off your alarm, practice your security system’s arming and disarming processes. It’s also important to memorize your passcode, but everyone forgets occasionally. If you decide to write it down, keep it in a secure place or within your password-protected smartphone. Also, share your code with your family and friends you trust, so they don’t accidentally alert your security system.
2. Pet Problems
Pets are another common cause of false alarms. Some security systems are particularly susceptible to motion, so even your pets scurrying around may register. Positioning your motion sensors above waist level can stop false alarms from your four-legged friends. Some systems may include pet-friendly settings that only trigger if the moving object is over a specified weight.
3. Cracked Openings
To ensure your safety, armed home alarms sound when doors and windows move or open. Before you arm your sensors at night, check that all of your doors and windows are completely closed and locked. If a door is slightly ajar, a gust of wind could force it open, causing a false alarm. Even a tiny nudge will trigger some alarm systems.
To prevent false burglar alarms, regularly inspect the locking mechanisms on all your doors and windows. Try locking each opening and testing its range of motion while locked. If your door or window has more than 2 inches of wiggle room while locked, it is susceptible to triggering false alarms and should be repaired.
4. Sensitive Monitors
Some security systems can become overly sensitive, particularly glass break detectors. While glass break detectors should only respond to actual damage, other stimuli like loud noises can trigger their alarm. Occasionally, noise from a slammed door, fallen furniture or a loud bark may register to your glass break detector as a broken door frame or window.
If you notice your glass break detector is overly sensitive to sound, contact your security company to discuss your experiences. Service technicians can adjust your system’s sensitivity to prevent further false alarms.
5. Inclement Weather
Heavy storms can exacerbate other issues that cause false alarms. If a glass break detector or motion sensor responds to relatively light stimuli, then thunder, wind, hail and other factors become likely offenders.
In addition to securing and adjusting your sensors, locks and other security features, stay up to date with your local weather reports so you know when to expect storms and hurricanes. You should also pay close attention to your alarm system during a storm so you can discern between a genuine threat and a false alarm. If severe weather damages your security system, contact your service company to schedule repairs.
6. Faulty Equipment
Frequent false alarms may also be a sign that your security equipment is damaged, out of date or low on battery power. Be sure to stay current with any routine maintenance recommendations from your security provider so you can confidently trust each feature. When a technician arrives for system maintenance, inform them of any issues or common links between false alarms. They’ll repair faulty components, replace outdated features and change dead batteries so your alarm system responds reliably and accurately.
Contact Prestige Security Solutions
The best way for homeowners to prevent false alarms is to install a high-quality security system and train any authorized people to arm and disarm it correctly. At Prestige Security, we carry effective and precise alarm systems that give residential customers greater confidence in their home security. To receive a no-obligation quote on our products or services, contact Prestige Security today!
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