In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 5 Jul 2018 07:55:13 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Thursday, July 5, 2018 at 12:00:57 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 4 Jul 2018 13:54:43 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, July 4, 2018 at 9:54:40 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
How do I get my home's smoke alarm to not send a signal to the
monitoring company right away?

Even though the system is grounded through a 6' copper rod, there was a
lightning strike that set off the smoke alarm which called the
monitoring company.

A week later, I was broiling something and I left the oven on in case I
needed to put the food in for more time, and though I didn't smell
anything, the smoke alarm went off and it started dialing the monitoring
company within about 2 minutes. I called them and cancelled, but now
I'm afraid to cook anything except by boiling.

What key words should I look for to buy something new?

Modern alarm system panels are highly programmable and the delay for various trips before it sends an alarm can be set. Find the installation manual for your. If you bought it from an alarm monitoring company you won't have the install code ti change it though. But they can change it, probably for the cost of a trip, even though modern ones can be reconfigured remotely.

I have the install code but it seems the delay is not adjustable. Lots
of other things are, but not that. My friend who owns the alarm company
uses newer boards now but I don't want to bother him.

I was hoping there were smoke detectors that themselves had the delay,

I've never seen one that had any delay.

I went to my friend's website to try to find the installation manual for
the panel he uses now. I dl'd one and searched for "delay" and found
in an Impasse manual: "Note that fire-type alarms are normally reported
without a delay".

My friend has bought maybe 10 smaller companies, so he has customers now
that use, or used when he got them, lots of different panels. So he has
manuals online for lots of panels that either he uses now or has used in
the past. As he has time, he replaces the panels with his favorite
panel. And I guess if I want to know what that is, I'll have to ask
someone there.

that squealed locally at the first notice of smoke, but didn't alert the
monitoring company until some later time.

I don't think any panel has a smoke input, only fire.



Seems to me if you had all kinds of alarm inputs that had their own delay, it
would make the whole system more complex and confusing.

It would require documentation,

Having the alarm
panel control how long a delay there is and for what types of trips is the
more logical approach.

I have no objection to that, and unlike Impasse, my panel gives me 30
seconds. As you can imagine, there is no way I can get upstairs and
wave away the smoke (which is inside the detector by now).

30 seconds just isn't
enough.

Oh, I said that.


Are you sure you're looking at the right settings? If you're looking

You may be right**. i will look some more. The installation manual is
very complicated. I installed my own alarm 35 years ago and that manual
was complicated with some argot I didn't undestand. I read it over and
over and over and over, over 5 or 10 hours before I knew it well enough.
And this one is worse.

at the alarm panel settings specific to fire alarms, that may be the
wrong place. There may be a general setting that changes the delay time

I've been relying on searching for delay or fire. Later I found out
that PDF-XchangeEditor will let me search for two words at the same time

But maybe that doesn't find everything.

before *all* alarms are reported to the monitoring company. Generally
these home monitored alarm systems are more trouble than they are worth.
Police don't give them much priority because 99% are false alarms, so

That's why monitoring companies were created. They are supposed to
verify the problem and when they can't get a phone reply and the
password, they should call the police or fire that should consider it
NOT a false alarm. And indeed, it was only 5 or 10 minutes after the
alarm went off before a policeman showed up. And part of that time was
spent before the dialer dialed (30 seconds) and then by the monitors
trying to reach me.

they may take quite awhile to arrive. Many places also start fining
people after a couple false alarms. IMO, an alarm with a good siren
that can be heard is good enough, unless you have the Hope diamond

You're the first person I've met who agrees with me on that. Even 35
years ago, I bought a separate amplifier panel to run the siren off of
18 volts instead of 12 to make it louder. And I have a siren under the
eaves and another in the attic. Which is sort of ridiculous. I have a
2 story house plus another foot of the basement is above ground and no
one here is going to climb up and cut** the wires to the siren, or fill
it full of foam. **If they did cut the wires, it has 4 wires instead
of 2 and cutting the other 2 will set off the alarm.

And it seems true that my neighbors ignore the alarm when it goes off,
even though they are not common here at all.

But I think the burglar will hear the alarm the moment he breaks the
door or window, and why would he possibly stick around? It's not like
this is Topkapi.

in your house. Any burglar is going to hear the siren go off, they
don't know if it's monitored or not, and they will almost certainly
beat it. Put a sign in the window that says "Monitored Alarm System"

I've got that.

and stop paying monthly monitoring fees, that's my advice. That saves
you money and solves the problem.

80% or more of the fire danger is when I'm home causing fires. I can
call the fire department

I don't even set the alarm when I'm in town. I wanted it mostly for
trips, 3 weeks to drive to Florida and back, and 3 months abroad in
2017, 2 months in 2018, and a similar trip planned for next year**

When I got back from every trip I've taken, everything was like I'd left
it, including the car, but a vacant house a few blocks away was broken
into and used as a "clubhouse" by teenagers, who also did a lot of
damage. I guess the siren is enough to stop that.



**BTW the 3 month trip was iirc only 7500, including everything,
airfare, room, car, phone, meals, souvenirs. The 2-month trip was
$4500. That's how I can afford to take such long trips. Last year
rented a room for $900 a month. This year lucked out, better roommmates
and only $450/month. Older, smaller, more rundown apartment but I don't
care about that.