Hardwired vs. Wireless: Which is Better For Your Home Alarm System?

Your home security system should make you and your family feel safer and more comfortable, whether at home or on vacation. A wireless home security system can enhance your home’s security and provide convenient security features that other systems do not. Here are some of the reasons that a wireless home security system is the best system for your needs.

Remote Home Monitoring System

A wireless home security system typically consists of a wireless surveillance or security camera system, a wireless home alarm system, and a wireless smoke and fire alarm system. All of these elements of the wireless home security system can be controlled remotely via a computer, laptop, smartphone, or tablet.

A wireless home security system can continue to function even if your phone lines are cut, your internet is down, or your power is out. 

This means that you have access to the feed from your home video security system even if you aren’t at home. You can also monitor and control your home alarm system and smoke and fire alarm system with the push of a button.

Operates Even if the Power is Out

A wired home security system relies on your phone line, internet connection, and power grid in order to be operational. A wireless home security system can continue to function even if your phone lines are cut, your internet is down, or your power is out. They operate on a battery backup system that ensures you and your family will still be safe and protected.

Remote Troubleshooting and Repairs

If your wireless home security system is malfunctioning, a technician can almost always identify and repair the problem remotely. This saves you time, money, and stress, and guarantees that your home security system will be back up and running as quickly as possible.

If you’re looking for the best security system in for your home, come see us today. Our experienced and knowledgeable alarm system technicians can tell you about all of the advantages of a wireless home security system.

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Holiday Vacation Checklist To Keep Your Home Safe While Traveling

Whether you will be traveling to visit family or just taking a much-needed vacation, there are some very important security measures to put in place before you leave. Please keep in mind that thieves don’t take a vacation for the holiday season. In fact the holiday season is their busiest time of the year!  

What You Can Do To Keep Your Home Safe While You’re Away

The following are some simple steps you can take to make your home less attractive to would-be burglars. The best way is to combine the list of ideas below with a professionally installed and monitored electronic security alarm system in your home.        

Before you leave on your trip, be sure to:

  • Get a trusted friend or relative to “house sit” or make sure your neighbors know you will be away.
  • Have a neighbor pick up your newspapers and your mail for you daily.
  • Lock all doors and windows and secure the garage door.
  • Leave a car parked in the driveway, or ask a neighbor to park in your driveway.
  • Leave a house key — and a number where you can be reached — with a trusted friend or neighbor.

Pro Tip: The best way is to combine the list of ideas below with a professionally installed and monitored electronic security alarm system in your home. Ask us how today!

  • Use timers to turn lights on and off at certain times, altering lighting patterns, to create an occupied look.
  • Leave drapes and shades open as normal. (Closed blinds during the day are a sure sign of an empty house, plus they allow a burglar to attend to his business unseen by neighbors.)
  • Arrange to have your lawn mowed.
  • Be sure your trees and hedges have been trimmed. This gives burglars fewer places to hide.
  • Consider upgrading outdoor light fixtures with devices that have built-in motion detectors, which turn on the lights whenever anyone walks past.
  • If you have an alarm system, make sure to arm it EVERY time you leave your home…yes, EVEN if you will only be gone for a short while.

Technology Can Help – Talk To A Security Expert Today!

Following these practical safety tips can go a long way towards keeping your property safe. Adding professional burglar and fire alarm monitoring for your home (or business!), mobile app control and video monitoring can take your family’s safety to a new level. Contact us today to speak to a security expert and schedule your free consultation today!

 

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Home Fire Safety Tips For The Holidays

The holidays are a time to enjoy family and take a relaxing break from work. They’re also a time to be vigilant about the increased chance of a household fire. Read through these fire safety tips and review them with your family so that everyone stays safe during the holiday season.

Be Aware of Candles

Candles are a hallmark of the winter holidays. As pretty as they are, however, candles are responsible for two out of every five home decoration fires. Never place a candle next to a flammable object such as holiday decorations, and always blow out lit candles when you are not in the room or when you go to bed.

Keep Decorations Away from Heat

Half of holiday decoration fires occur because the decorations are too close to a heat source. Shop for flame-resistant and flame-retardant decorations, and hang them far away from sources of heat such as the heating vent, fireplace, and lights.

Hang Lights Safely

To avoid a fire hazard, do not hang outdoor lights indoors, and vice versa. If you notice any loose bulb connections or a patch of cord that is worn or broken on your lights, replace them. Read the instructions provided with your lights to be sure that you aren’t stringing too many lights together. When hanging the lights, use clips rather than nails to avoid damaging the cords.

Test Smoke Alarms

You should test your smoke alarms several times throughout the holiday season by pressing the built-in test button. If the smoke alarm chirps, it means it is running on low batteries that need to be replaced immediately.

About

Sometimes, following all of the advised fire safety tips is not enough to protect you from a fire. At Security Instrument, we offer advanced fire alarms that detect both heat and smoke and that alert us to call the local fire department on your behalf as soon as a fire is detected.

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Practical Home Security Tips For The Holidays

Enjoying the season of giving is what the winter holidays are all about. However, because thieves know that homes during the holidays are filled with gifts, it should also be a time of vigilance. Take these precautions to ensure that your home is protected from a holiday break-in this winter.

Lock Up

Always close and lock the doors and windows of your home if you’re leaving, even if just for a short trip. The garage door is also a popular entrance point for thieves, so keep it closed even when you’re home. Don’t forget to lock the door to the garage in the event that thieves gain access to the garage. Be sure to never leave a spare key outside the house—thieves know where to find them.

Always Make it Look Like Someone is Home

Automate your lights in and around your home and put them on a schedule (using your Virtual Keypad App) to come on at certain times, for example at sunset. This will serve as an excellent deterrent whether you are away from home for a brief period of time or out of town on vacation. If you leave town, have the mail and newspaper picked up by a neighbor or request to have it stopped. You may even want to hire a house sitter for extra protection.

Store Valuables in a Safe

Jewelry and other small objects of great value should be kept inside of a safe. If you don’t want to have a safe inside of the home, use your bank’s safety deposit box to keep items you don’t regularly need.

Invest in a Quality Home Security System

Nothing will deter a thief like a cutting-edge, professionally installed home security system. A high-quality system should include motion detection triggers, video surveillance, and central monitoring features.

About Security Instrument

Founded in 1960, Security Instrument Corporation, a privately held U.S. Corporation, provides electronic security and life safety detection and associated monitoring and support services.

 

 

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Essential Tips For Avoiding CO Poisoning

When you purchased those smoke detectors you so responsibly installed in your home, did you notice a similar-looking detector for carbon monoxide? If you have any products or equipment in or near your home that burn fuel, you might want to pick up a few carbon monoxide detectors too.

Unlike smoke or natural gas, carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, but it is just as poisonous. In the U.S., between 150 and 200 people die annually from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning produced by malfunctioning furnaces, ranges, water heaters, space heaters, fireplaces, charcoal- or gas-fired grills and engine-powered devices such as portable generators.

Even more lose their lives when CO accumulates after people leave their cars running in garages. And every year, thousands of people wind up in emergency rooms for treatment as a result of CO poisoning.

Prevention involves following these basic safety procedures.

  1. Install all appliances following the manufacturer’s instructions as well as local building codes – generally by qualified professionals.
  2. Unless you have the proper knowledge and skill as well as the appropriate tools, do not service fuel-burning appliances yourself.
  3. If your home has a fuel-burning heating system, have it serviced and inspected annually by professionals. Be sure to include chimneys and flues.
  4. Operating a portable generator or another gas-powered tool in or near an enclosed space can trap CO, leading to potentially lethal levels of the gas. Open doors and windows do not provide enough ventilation.
  5. Never use camping stoves designed for outdoor use only in an enclosed vehicle, tent or building. Some of these products may be designed to work in enclosed spaces, but they will specify that on the packaging and provide instructions for their safe use.
  6. Never burn charcoal in any kind of enclosed space such as a building, tent, or vehicle.
  7. Never leave a car running in a garage, even if you have the door open.
  8. Don’t use gas appliances such as ovens or clothes dryers as space heaters for your home.
  9. If you use a natural gas or propane oven, don’t cover the bottom with aluminum foil the way you can with an electric oven. You can block the oven’s combustion flow, producing CO.
  10. Re-check all gas appliance vents, heating vents or chimney flues after any home renovations. These can easily be blocked by forgotten tarps or debris.
  11. Install carbon monoxide alarms in hallways near every sleeping area and in living areas in the neighborhood of fuel-burning appliances. The recommendation is one alarm installed in the hallway outside every bedroom. Make sure the alarms aren’t blocked by furniture or window coverings. CO alarms should not be installed in kitchens or directly above any fuel-burning appliances. Test alarms regularly and replace following the schedule recommended by the manufacturer.

Signs and Symptoms of CO Poisoning

Initially, CO exposure has symptoms that resemble the flu without any fever. These include headaches, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue. Further exposure can lead to vomiting, mental confusion and loss of muscular coordination. The end result is loss of consciousness and finally, death. The exposure levels and duration can affect the severity of the symptoms.

If you find yourself experiencing any of these symptoms unexpectedly, don’t wait for the CO alarm to go off to confirm it. Leave your home immediately and call the fire department on your cell or at a neighbor’s home. If they find evidence of high levels of CO, be sure that you and any family members who were exposed see a doctor immediately, letting him or her know about the CO exposure.

The Best Way To Avoid Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Finally, have all of your appliances checked for problems before re-using them. If one or more CO alarms go off in your home, leave immediately with all family members and pets. Call 911 and do not re-enter your home until the emergency specialists have ensured you that it is safe. Even a few minutes can lead to loss of consciousness and death if the exposure is high enough. Do not use the problem equipment again until a qualified service technician checks and repairs it.

We Can Help – Contact Us Today.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is an easily avoidable risk, yet every year too many people succumb to it. Like wearing a seatbelt, you may never need a CO detector, but why take a chance? By following these few simple steps, AND installing a carbon monoxide detector by a qualified professional security company, you may become a lifesaver for the ones you care about most.

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National Fire Prevention Week: Kitchen Fire Prevention Tips

Every year, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) devotes the third week in October to National Fire Prevention Week. The theme for this year is “Prevent Kitchen Fires,” with fire departments throughout the country holding local community events designed to educate the public on preventing fires in that busy area of the house. Here are some valuable tips they will be sharing:

  • Stay in the kitchen when you’re cooking on the stovetop. If you are frying, grilling, broiling or boiling food, you must be in the room to make sure your food doesn’t burn. The safety concern is not only for burned food, but for smoke in the air and the pan catching fire.
  • Stay in the home when you’re cooking in the oven. If you are baking, roasting or braising food in the oven, you don’t necessarily need to be in the kitchen, but you do need to be in the home – and you definitely need to use a timer to prevent any fire risks.
  • Keep your smoke alarm on while cooking. Some people are tempted to remove their smoke alarm batteries when cooking certain dishes. But whether you are baking cookies or frying up bacon, your smoke alarm should stay on. Disabling it could put your family at risk of harmful smoke inhalation.
  • Keep your kids and pets safe while cooking. Young children have been known to burn themselves on front burner pots and pans. Teaching them not to touch is good, but putting things on the back burner to remove the risk is better. Pets should also be kept at least three feet from the stove.
  • Keep flammable items away from the stove. Avoid cooking with loose-fitting sleeves. Hanging sleeves can easily catch fire. As for necessary items like potholders and kitchen towels, they should be safely to the side on the counter – not the stove.

These are just some of the tips that fire departments want citizens to know when it comes to preventing kitchen fires. If there is a National Fire Prevention Week event going on in your community, we encourage you to attend. Search #NationalFirePreventionWeek on Twitter to find an event near you!

About Security Instrument

To learn more about a remote access solution that leverages your lights to the fullest for the sake of security, contact Security Instrument today. We will be glad to answer your questions about your lighting control and smart home security options.

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DIY Home Security Doesn’t Measure Up. Here’s Why.

In many cases, DIY is a great, affordable option. It is easy to see why it is an attractive consideration even in home security. But do DIY home security systems measure up to consumer expectations? In most cases, the answer is a resounding, no. In home security, the stakes are high and the system’s capability and functionality matter. While many tout the ease of installation in DIY systems, most consumers do not realize these systems lack the very features that make home security alarm systems desirable.

Here are some important ways DYI products do not measure up:

1. Installation is not as Easy as You Think

The installation of DIY systems may seem simple, and that fact alone may be a red flag. High-quality home security systems have many components that need expert placement. A system that is too simple may not provide they type of security coverage necessary to protect your family. A complex system requires expert installation of the components is crucial so that you do not leave gaps in your security. Improper installation can lead to a system failure which can place your family or property at risk.

2. Proper Placement

Setting up a DIY security system might seem like a slam dunk, but underestimating the importance of expert placement is a disservice to your security. Home security systems are highly technical systems that require professional knowledge to gain the most advantage from them. Not only can improper placement make components less effective, it can make the system nearly useless!

3. DYI Systems Cost More Than You Expect

Contrary to popular belief, DIY home systems are not the most economical choice in home security. Most DIY home security systems come with a few components, such as window sensors, with the expectation you WILL need more. Those expensive components add up quickly.

4. Incompatibility Issues

The technologies used to support home security systems are constantly changing and needing product support. With professional systems, these updates are never a problem to the end user, the consumer. With DIY systems, a simple computer system upgrade can make the entire system incompatible. Further, should technology advances make the system outmoded, the manufacturer of the DIY system may no longer provide any updates or support if they ever provided these at all.

5. No Connection to Police

Your home alarm system is your lifeline. At least that is what most people intend and expect. One of the most important components of any home security system is the connection to emergency services such as fire or police, something DIY systems do not offer.

6. A DYI System is not the Same as Professional Systems

While a DIY security system can provide some of the same features of a professional system, it is important to realize that it is not a comparable substitute. DIY systems meet a few needs specific to the widest number of people possible. A professional system is designed to meet the very specific needs of your family and the home structure. The technologies used are often different and the capabilities of the systems vary dramatically.

About Security Instrument

Headquartered in Wilmington, DE, Security Instrument is proud to offer quality home security options and a dynamic pricing model, so you can customize your security investment to fit your budget. We are here to answer your questions with unparalleled 24/7 customer support. Call us today for a more secure tomorrow.

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3 Simple Tactics To Avoid Home Burglary

It’s not fair to blame the victim of any crime – but if you become the victim of a crime like a burglary, it’s tempting to be hard on yourself. It’s not uncommon for victims of a burglary to ask themselves, “Is there anything I could have done?” To save yourself from the unnecessary heartache of being burglarized and the guilt that sometimes follows, make sure you always, always, always:

Lock all the doors in the home.

It would be great if we lived in an era when “you could leave your front door open,” but those days have long since passed. It just isn’t safe to leave doors unlocked anymore, no matter how safe you perceive your neighborhood to be. Lock your front door, back door and even the door that leads to the garage. Any entry point to the home is a potential access point for an intruder. With smart locks, you can even do this from your mobile device, from anywhere.

Use common sense.

That means don’t leave a key under the door mat; it’s just too big of a risk, because burglars expect people to do it now. It also means don’t give your alarm code to a service person or a neighbor. There are temporary codes you can give those people when necessary; ask us how to program your system with temporary sub-user codes if you are interested in doing this.

Arm your security system.

There are three reasons you have an alarm system: 1.) So that you can be alerted to the presence of an intruder, 2.) So that you can scare that intruder off with an audible alarm, and 3.) So that the authorities will be contacted automatically if the alarm is activated. Unfortunately, none of those things will happen if your system isn’t armed. Arm your security system before leaving the house, and place it in night mode before going to bed.

These are some of the best ways to prevent burglary and the unfortunate guilt that follows. Rest assured that you did your part in preventing a home burglary by following these steps.

About Security Instrument

Security Instrument is Delaware’s largest full-service independently-owned security and fire company, serving thousands of customers throughout Delaware, MD, NJ & PA.

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Leaving That Door or Window Open Once Might Be All It Takes

Most of us think we have some idea of how burglaries happen. The burglar watches the home for signs of occupancy and when the coast is clear, they break a window or kick in a door and proceed to carry off your jewelry and electronics. The problem with that picture? Many times the burglar does not have to pick a lock, break a window or kick open a door, they just turn a knob and walk in completely undetected.

It’s Worse Than You Think

Of the 1,420,000 burglaries reported in the US in 2014, 504,000 -35.2% were categorized as unlawful entry, where the burglar did not have to force entry but simply walked in. When it comes to prosecution, it can make a big difference. What makes it most disheartening to the resident is that it was an error that could have been avoided.

Pro Tip: When you use contact sensors on your doors and windows, you can check their status via your smart phone security app and take care of the problem.

 

Where Security Slips through the Cracks

Life is busy and checking every window and door each time we leave the house can be a bit laborious. Even when we do check, there is usually another family member that comes along to open what we just closed. That is, of course, if we even remembered to do that as we rush out 10 minutes late for just about everything. It happens, but all it takes is it happening once to give the burglar all the opportunity needed to make off with an average of $2,250 worth of valuables per incident.

Smart Security Picks Up the Slack in a Big Way

While forgetting is normal and human failure to be expected, smart security is the big but simple fix. Here’s how using smart, connected devices, smart security, and home automation technologies can reduce the chance of unlawful entry burglary.

  • You’re immediately alerted if you leave a door or window open. When you use contact sensors on your doors and windows, you can check their status via your smart phone security app and take care of the problem. If it is a smart garage door left open or a smart lock left unlocked, you can even close the door and lock the smart locks from your phone.
  • Your doors can lock automatically. If you use geo-location and triggers, you can have your doors all lock when you leave the house.
  • The system can be armed automatically. Also using geo-location and triggers, you can have the smart security system lock the doors then arm itself when you get a predetermined distance from your home.

About Security Instrument

Don’t leave your door wide open to crime. Founded in 1960, Security Instrument Corp. specializes in smart security and associated monitoring services. Professionally engineered systems backed by unmatched professional support.

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How to Banish Fall Scheduling Horrors Using Home Security and Mobile Control

After a relaxing summer break, the fall season hits many of us like a Mac truck. The schedules are suddenly filled with an increase of activities and responsibilities and end up a tangled mess with plenty of room for error. But before your fall season turns into something out of a horror movie, get everything under control using the tools afforded by home security and mobile control.

Competing Events

You have a teen that needs to be at cheerleading practice and a 4th grader who needs to be at an open house at the exact same time. Getting them there is the first problem. Getting them home is another. So, you take the younger to open house and have the teen ride with a friend to and from practice. When your oldest uses her own code to get into the house, you know she made it home safely.

Who Forgot to Lock the Door?

It happens. With everyone running out the door in one tidal wave of activity, something is bound not to get done. The problem is, some of those things that may get forgotten to be done can cause a real security risk; like not locking the door, or leaving the garage door open, or the stove on. Home automation and security technology help you make sure that forgetfulness doesn’t lead to disaster. An alert to your phone notifies you about the open garage, unlocked door, and the stove. With just a few taps, you can take care of all the issues from wherever you are without having to make the long trek back home.

Everything Else is Held Up Waiting on Someone Else

You’ve been waiting for hours for a visiting friend, family member, or service provider and waiting any longer could jeopardize your job. With secure entry from a smart lock, you can safely and easily let anyone in or out even if you are not home.

Keeping Everyone on Schedule

Keeping everyone on schedule because if one person is late, usually everyone else ends up late as well. By using home automation and mobile control you can prompt action and keep tasks moving along well. For example, use temperature control to create the best climate for sleeping or waking, have the lights come on to wake you up, and the coffee brewing so you can grab it on the way out.

When you use home security and mobile control technologies from Security Instrument, you never have to sacrifice time, convenience, or safety no matter how busy life gets.

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