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Security Articles

Home Alarms: Using them to Provide Optimal Security

Home Alarms and Keeping You Safe

There are a number of reasons to install home alarms on your property. They provide safety and security for your home, your belongings and your loved ones. They are able to immediately provide an alert if there is an issue, crime or other trouble condition detected. They deter criminals from even considering your home a target. They provide great peace of mind.

home alarmsHome alarms are a vital piece of security technology that every home should seriously consider installing. Unfortunately crime rates in many areas are very high and criminals often think nothing about disturbing your sense of comfort, safety and security. Home alarms are needed to keep people and their properties safe. When you install home alarms on your property, there are a number of different things to consider. First of all, you will want to ensure that you choose the right security set-up for your particular property.

There are a lot of different types of home alarms and, perhaps even more importantly, you need to remember that each property is unique. When looking at different home alarms and security setups, it’s important to keep the unique nature of your property in mind. You’ll want to know the particular details of your property, including any security weaknesses, so that you can choose a system that best meets these needs.

Speaking with security advisors from different providers of home alarms can give you some added insight into your situation and your needs. Another thing that you will want to keep in mind when considering different alarm systems is what additional security services you would like. While alarm systems on their own are certainly much more effective than having no security installed on your property, you can greatly improve the effectiveness of your security system by installing additional security and surveillance tools. These other types of security technology can be strategically combined with alarm systems to improve their effectiveness and to provide greater security, convenience and peace of mind than alarm systems on their own can provide. You should speak with various providers of home alarms and find out more information on how they combine home alarms along with other security services in order to improve security. Some providers will have much more experience and knowledge with this technique than others will.

Combining Security Tools with Home Alarms

In order to improve security and to create a safer environment, you may want to consider combining other security tools with your home alarms. Doing so adds a great deal of functionality, security and peace of mind. There are a number of different security tools that can effectively be combined with home alarms.

Once you recognize the vast number of ways to increase the effectiveness of your home alarms, you will understand the incredible advantages of doing so. One of the best tools to combine with your home alarms is video surveillance cameras. Statistics show that while the number of break-ins and other crimes drop when there are home alarms installed at a property, incidents of these crimes drop even more in properties that have both home alarms and security cameras installed. Why? This is because video surveillance footage is very powerful evidence. Criminals do not want to be caught in the act of committing a crime. Being captured on video surveillance presents a number of problems for criminals. First of all, the video will likely be able to identify them.

Police can use this information to catch and bring criminals to trial. In addition, video surveillance footage can be used to determine what took place at the scene of a crime. In addition to identifying the criminals, police and courts can use the footage to figure out exactly what happened and who was responsible. Again, this is very powerful evidence. Video surveillance footage can be used in so many different ways to make criminals pay for their crimes. For this reason, criminals often avoid striking properties that have security cameras installed alongside home alarms. Another powerful security tool that can also be utilized in conjunction with home alarms is their monitoring. This tool protects your home by connecting it to a 24-hour monitoring station.

In the event of any trouble condition, the monitoring station is alerted right away. The monitoring station can then immediately contact the homeowner to alert him or her of the crime. In many cases, the monitoring station can also contact the appropriate authorities. This is obviously an excellent way to protect your home. You do not have to worry about your alarms sounding and no one being around to hear them. No matter what time of day it is or where you are, you can always have the extra peace of mind in knowing that your home alarms will be responded to quickly and efficiently.

When you add additional types of security tools to your home alarms, you increase their effectiveness. You also drastically decrease the likelihood of a criminal striking your property. How? Criminals know exactly how effective these security tools are. For this reason, they often avoid locations that have home alarms and other security tools installed. The risk of being caught and forced to pay for their crimes is simply too great. By effectively utilizing security tools, you can ensure that your home alarms provide you with the added security that you need. Not only does this reduce crime at your property, but it also gives you added peace of mind.
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Medical Alert Devices Reduce Worry and Injury

Medical Alert Systems Save People & Provide Peace of Mind

medical alertHaving a medical alert system installed has many, many benefits. Many seniors and those who suffer from medical conditions have difficulty performing various tasks around their homes. It may be tough for them to go up and down stairs, enter or exit the bath, walk out to the garden or the garage, or perform a number of different activities. Not only does this limit what they can do around the house, but it also makes difficult for them to live their daily lives with confidence. They may worry about their own health or safety. They may not want to perform certain tasks because they are afraid of what may happen if they do. This can often lead to fear, loneliness and sadness.

It can also lead to people moving out of their own homes. Medical alert systems can make it easier to live your life with confidence and to stay in your own home longer. Medical alert systems allow you to be a button press away from assistance at any time. This gives you the peace of mind in knowing that you are never far away from help and that you are never alone. When you press the button on your medical alert system, you are immediately connected to the 24-hour medical alert monitoring station. The central station can then talk to you in order to understand the situation that you are in and send appropriate help quickly. This is one of the many benefits of medical alert devices. They provide safety, security and peace of mind to people and allow them to remain happy, comfortable and confident in their own homes. However, medical alert systems do more than just provide peace of mind to those who use them. They also make it easier for loved ones to live without worry.

Peace of Mind from Medical Alert Devices

Many loved ones worry about the safety and security of their elderly relatives. They live in fear of what would happen if an emergency situation occurred when they were not around. They have visions of their friend or family member falling on the stairs and laying their without help for hours and hours. They may be afraid to leave their loved ones alone for this reason. They may feel that their loved ones should no longer be living by themselves. This can cause a great deal of stress and worry. Thankfully, medical alert devices alleviate this worry. They make it easy for loved ones to leave their friends and family members at home alone, since they know that they will never be far from immediate assistance. Medical alert devices provide peace of mind to the entire family. They ease minds and make life easier.

How Medical Alert Technology Keeps You Safe

Medical alert devices are compact, lightweight and waterproof devices that can easily be carried in a pocket or worn on a bracelet or around the neck. They are easy to operate in the event of an emergency situation. All you need to do is simply press the button and you will instantly be connected with the 24-hour medical alert monitoring station. This allows you to have two-way communication with the station’s staff who can then dispatch emergency services and communicate with you until the authorities arrive. Medical alert devices and pendants are easy to use and affordable. They give seniors the ability to live independently knowing they are protected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by a central monitoring station. The medical alert devices that we offer are waterproof and small enough that they can be taken into the bath or shower with you. This means you will not have to worry about what happens if you slip and fall while getting in or out of the shower.

Serious accidents can happen in the bath or shower. This device makes it easy to call for help. Medical alert devices can even be used outside of the home. Many medical alert pendants have a range that is long enough to cover the garage, driveway and backyard, depending on the size of the specific property. This means that you can continue to do the tasks that you love and the chores that you need to without worry. Many seniors and those with medical conditions are afraid to step outside for even a moment because they have no way to call for help in an emergency. A medical alert devices eliminates this fear. Since medical alert devices are so easy to use, they can be used to call for help quickly and without hassle. You do not have to worry about turning them on or dialing a number. All you have to do is press the button and you are immediately connected to the central station. When you have a medical alert device, you can live life with more freedom.

You do not need to worry about what might happen if you suffer an emergency and no one else is around. You do not have to be afraid of being alone. Loved ones also do not need to worry about these issues. Medical alert systems give them the peace of mind that they need to leave their loved ones at home without constant fret and worry. They make it easier to live life without stress. Medical alert devices provide safety, security and peace of mind.
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Alarm Monitoring Tools at Your Home

Alarm Monitoring Tools Improve Home Security

Having an alarm monitoring system installed in your home greatly improves the level of security at the property. Alarm monitoring tools provide a number of benefits that keep people and property safer and more secure. These systems also provide peace of mind for the people who live with them and deter criminals from striking. Alarm monitoring tools work by connecting your property to a 24-hour monitoring station. This station receives a signal whenever your alarm system senses any issues. For example, the alarm system can send a signal to the alarm monitoring station whenever a window has been opened or whenever a particular motion detector senses motion. If the alarm sounds and is not deactivated with the proper security code, the central alarm monitoring station determines that there is a crime in progress and the staff at the station begin to follow the appropriate protocol for the situation. This often includes contacting the police or other authorities.

How Alarm Monitoring Tools Keep you Safe

alarm monitoring toolsInstalling alarm monitoring tools in your home will protect your property, your belongings and your loved ones. When you have a 24-hour monitoring station watching over your property at all times, you do not have to worry about what could happen on your property while you are away. This provides you with much greater security and much more peace of mind than a traditional alarm system. The central station can also provide more than just alarm monitoring. In addition to watching over your alarm system, you can also have your security cameras, fire detection and many other security devices protected 24 hours a day.

This not only provides you with better security, but it also deters criminals. Criminals do not want to get caught. They know how effective alarm monitoring tools are and they certainly know that combining this service with monitored surveillance cameras and other security tools makes it much more likely that they will be caught in the act. When you have your security cameras monitored, the alarm monitoring station can access live and recorded video footage to determine exactly what is going on inside your home. Not only does this increase the likelihood that those responsible will be captured, but this information can be provided to the authorities in order to aid the investigation. This is just another way in which alarm monitoring tools make you safer.
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Alarm Monitoring Services Provide Many Benefits

Alarm Monitoring Services for Homes and Businesses

Alarm monitoring services keep homes and businesses safe. When you have alarm monitoring services installed, you always know that you are protected. No matter where you are, no matter the time of day and no matter what happens, your property is always watched over by the dedicated and experienced team at the central alarm monitoring station. This provides you with excellent peace of mind. You know that, regardless of the situation, you will be protected. Knowing this is incredibly important. It takes away the fear that you may have of leaving your property unattended. When you have your property watched over by a central alarm monitoring station, it reduces stress a great deal. It allows you to leave your property without worry.

alarm monitoring servicesIt also ensures that your property is always safe and secure. This is why alarm monitoring services provide such peace of mind. They keep locations safe. In the event of any criminal situation or other type of emergency, the staff at the central alarm monitoring station receive a notification. They can then take steps to react to the crime and ensure that the criminals who attempted the crime are caught. The central station can contact the property owner to let him or her know that there is a criminal situation in progress. The central station can even contact the appropriate authorities or a private guard service. The service that is contacted is decided beforehand by the property owner. Since the staff at the central alarm monitoring station act quickly and efficiently, the police or security service will arrive at the scene of the crime much more quickly.

The staff at the central station are specially-trained to ensure that they provide the authorities with all of the information they need about the crime. This makes stopping the crime much more likely and it means that criminals are much less likely to escape from the situation. This means that more criminals are caught. Simply put, alarm monitoring services are effective at stopping crime. They are effective at catching criminals. For these reasons, alarm monitoring services are also effective at deterring crime.

How Alarm Monitoring Services Deter Crime

Alarm monitoring services deter crime. They do this by being incredibly effective at catching criminals in the act. Criminals know how effective alarm monitoring services are. They know that these services make it significantly more difficult for a criminal to escape a crime scene without being noticed. Obviously criminals do not want to be caught in the act of committing a crime. They do not want to pay for their crimes. They want to strike locations where they can easily break in, where they can steal from or vandalize a location without being noticed and where they can escape the scene of a crime without anyone knowing what took place. Alarm monitoring services make this nearly impossible.

When you have alarm monitoring service installed at your property, the central monitoring staff are always aware of what is taking place on your property. They always know what is going on. Therefore, criminals cannot act or cause trouble without being spotted. Since criminals prefer to strike locations where they will not be noticed, they often avoid considering locations that have alarm monitoring services installed. It is simply not worth the risk to them. They know that there is a much greater chance that they will be caught in the act and made to pay for their crimes. They wish to avoid being caught and thus they do not attempt to break into locations that have alarm monitoring services installed.

As you can see, just the act of installing an alarm monitoring service on your property can protect you from crime. The incredible effectiveness of the alarm monitoring technology makes it significantly less likely that criminals will attempt to break into or vandalize your location if you have alarm monitoring installed.

Increasing the Effectiveness of Alarm Monitoring Services with other Security Technology

As effective as alarm monitoring services are at preventing crime and catching criminals in the act, they can be made even more effective by combining the service with other types of security technology. For example, you can combine alarm monitoring services with video surveillance cameras to increase the effectiveness of the entire system. When you monitor your security cameras, the staff at the alarm monitoring station are able to access live and pre-recorded video footage from the cameras in the event of a trouble situation. This video footage can provide them with a great deal of information about the crime that is taking place. They can then pass this information on to the appropriate authorities. Since the authorities will know for certain that a crime is actively taking place, they will often place a higher priority on the situation. If you are planning on installing alarm monitoring services on your property, you should certainly speak to the security company that you are dealing with and find out more information about how the company combines different types of security technology together.

Trained and experienced loss prevention professionals are able to effectively combine different tools in order to make a security system much more effective. Before you install an alarm monitoring service, you should certainly ensure that the company you are working with is experienced enough to do so correctly. Alarm monitoring is an incredibly effective security tool that provides homes and businesses with great protection and provides property owners with excellent peace of mind in knowing that their properties are always safe and secure.
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Home Security Alarm Advice

Home Security Alarm Tips, Advice & Suggestions

When you install a home security alarm on your property, you are protecting yourself, your belongings and your loved ones from crime. Most people understand the advantages of having a home security alarm installed. However, with so many different types of home security alarm technology available, it can be difficult and even confusing. Choosing what type of alarm, what type of service and which company should perform the installation and service are all questions that need to be answered before you install a home security alarm on your property. However, these questions can be difficult to answer. Here are a few tips for choosing an alarm system, choosing the security services that you want, picking a responsible security company to work with and a number of other crucial tips.

Choosing a Home Security Alarm

home security alarmWhen it comes to selecting the right home security alarm for your property, it’s important to remember that each property is different and the needs of each person and family are different. Therefore, you need to make the right choice for you. The alarm system that your sister or your friend has may not be the best possible option for your unique situation. When you are choosing a home security system, you’ll first need to consider the layout and design of your home. This will play a big part in the system that you choose. For example, if you have a property that had a large number of windows, the security system that you require will be different from someone who lives in a home with only a few small windows.

If your home has many entrances (front door, back door, side door, basement door, etc.) you will also want to keep this in mind. If you have a very large property with a lot of land, the home security alarm that you choose will be different from someone who lives in more urban location with less land and closer neighbours. Take a good look at your property and determine what you will need. A good way to do this is to look at your home and try to spot the weaknesses. Are there a lot of hiding spots for criminals? Is it very dark around your property? Is the back door hidden from view?

All of these aspects are important to take into consideration when you are choosing a home security alarm. Determining the weaknesses of your property is also important when you are choosing which home security alarm features you are going to install. For example, if it is very dark around your property, you may wish to install motion-activated lighting in addition to your alarm system. If the back door is not clearly visible, a security camera can help you notice what is taking place at that location. As you can see, knowing the specifics of your property and knowing the weaknesses of your home will provide you with the critical information that you need to help you choose the most effective home security alarm for you.

Combining Other Security Technology with your Home Security Alarm

In order to truly receive superior protection, you should consider combining other types of security technology along with your home security system. The two examples provided above (motion-activated lighting and video surveillance cameras) are two examples of additional security technologies that can work in conjunction with your home security alarm system. Criminals like to act without being seen. Both additional lighting and security cameras take this advantage away. With these additional security technologies installed, criminals will be spotted in a wide variety of situations. Since criminals do not want to be caught in the act of committing a crime, they often completely avoid properties that have security lighting and surveillance cameras installed.

Security cameras provide additional protection as the video footage that is obtained from these cameras can be utilized by the authorities to identify, catch, charge and prosecute criminals. This video footage is very powerful and criminals understand how it can be used against them. By installing security cameras at your home, and having them work in conjunction with your home security alarm, you are keeping criminals away from your property. They won’t even consider your home to be a target because it would be too risky to attempt a break-in! Another way to secure your property is to have your home security alarm monitored by a 24-hour central monitoring station. Home alarm monitoring is another incredibly powerful tool that can keep you and your family safe. When you have a monitored alarm system, you can rest assured that your property will be watched over by trained professionals at all times. No matter where you are or what time of day it is, the staff at the central monitoring station will be able to quickly respond to trouble conditions at your home. You will no longer have to worry about whether or not someone can hear your alarm system if a criminal strikes when you are away.

The central station will always be notified. The staff at the station can then contact you to alert you of the situation. They can even contact the authorities directly! This provides a very strong layer of protection for your home. You can even combine all of this home security alarm technology together! That means you can have your security cameras monitored by the central station in addition to your alarm system for added protection. As you can see, with some key information and security services, a home security alarm can provide you with safety, security and peace of mind.
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Home Alarm System Services That Can Improve Your Safety

Home Alarm System Services for your Home or Business

Installing home alarm system services is an excellent way to protect your property. However, did you know that there is a wide variety of new alarm system and security technology available that works alongside your existing alarm system to improve its effectiveness, make your life easier and improving your safety?

Home alarm system services and technology have changed a great deal over the last little while. They have become more effective, more efficient, more versatile and better at protecting homes and businesses than ever before.home alarm system servicesIn addition to using home alarm system services to sound an audible noise when there is a break-in or other issue, you can connect your alarm system to a central monitoring station. This will ensure that your property is watched over at all times and that, regardless of what happens or where you are when it happens, the appropriate authorities can be contacted. It provides great peace of mind to have a monitored alarm system on your property. In the event of a trouble condition, the central alarm system monitoring station receives a notification that there is an issue at your property. The central station then takes steps to investigate the issue and contact you to let you know what is going on. The staff at the central alarm system monitoring station can even contact the appropriate authorities for you.

In addition to having an alarm system monitored by a central station, you can also have your home or business surveillance cameras monitored. There are a number of benefits to having security cameras monitored along with your alarm system. One major benefit is that the alarm system monitoring station can access your security cameras in the event of a crime. They can view both live and pre-recorded video footage to determine other crucial details about the crime in progress. This information can then be passed on to the authorities.

Not only would this mean that the authorities will have additional details when it comes to dealing with the situation, but it also means that the alarm condition will be verified. Police officers and other emergency response teams often give crimes in progress a higher priority. If the central station informs them that they can see a crime taking place in real time, this call will receive this higher priority status.

A monitored alarm system and a security camera system are excellent ways to protect your property and deter criminals. Criminals know how incredibly effective these types of home alarm system services are and they often avoid striking properties that have them installed. Attempting to break into a location that has an alarm system installed or one that contains security cameras is simply too risky. The likelihood of being caught in the act and punished for their crimes is too high. Criminals prefer to strike locations where they can get in and out without anyone noticing. A monitored alarm system and a surveillance camera set up make doing so highly unlikely. It’s not just criminals who understand how effective these tools are. Insurance companies also recognize this fact. For this reason, they often provide discounts to customers who have home alarm system services installed on their properties. You can save money while protecting yourself.

Using Alarm system services and Technology to Improve your Life

Home alarm system services don’t just allow you to connect your home security system and your surveillance cameras to a central monitoring station. It also lets you perform a wide variety of other tasks that both offer additional protection and keep your property more secure.

For example, smart home monitoring is just one of many home alarm system services that adds extra protection and that makes your life easier. A smart alarm system is one that allows you to view and control many aspects of your home remotely. You can control your alarm system, lights, heating, air conditioning and many other aspects of your home from just about anywhere with this technology. All you need is a smart phone, laptop, tablet or other Internet-enabled device. You can then utilize this device to monitor and adjust the various systems in your home.

For example, if you forget to set you alarm system in the morning when you leave for work, you don’t need to drive all the way back home to do so. You also don’t need to actively worry about this issue for the entire day when you are away. Instead, you can log on to your alarm system remotely and activate it from your desk at work. As you can see, this feature improves the security of your home and it also gives you incredible peace of mind. A smart home monitoring system typically allows you to control more than just your alarm system. If you forgot to turn down the heat or shut off the lights in the morning instead, you can also fix these problems remotely.

Another way that smart home system services improve the standard alarm system is that they can work in conjunction with security cameras. A smart alarm system allows you to view live security camera footage from your Internet-enabled device. This means that you can check your cameras to ensure that your children got home from school, for example. This is just another way that these systems provide great peace of mind.

There are a number of home alarm system services that make life easier and safer. For more information, please contact a local loss prevention expert and see how you can keep your home or business safe with superior alarm system services.
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Fire Monitoring System Protects you from Deadly Fires

Fire Monitoring can Save your Property, your Belongings & your Life

Fire monitoring system services are incredibly important. In fact, they can often be the difference between inconvenience and disaster. When you have fire monitoring system services installed, the central alarm monitoring station is notified if there is a fire, smoke or other potential fire-related emergency at your home. The central monitoring station can then contact you and/or the appropriate authorities in order to deal with the situation quickly, efficiently and effectively.fire monitoring systemIf your home does not have fire monitoring system installed, a fire can burn, grow and cause an increasing amount of damage for quite some time before anyone notices the situation. This can cause serious trouble, from severe property damage or a loss of personal belongings to serious injury or worse. Unfortunately, fires can spread very quickly. They often start off quite small and controllable, but they grow at a very fast speed. A small fire that is manageable and controllable can very quickly become a large fire that is dangerous and out of control. Therefore, the sooner you are informed about the fire – and the sooner that the authorities arrive on scene – the better. As with crime prevention, every second counts. The longer it takes for you to be informed of a trouble condition and the longer it takes for help to arrive, the more damage is done. By having fire monitoring installed on your property, you are drastically decreasing the time that it takes from when a fire starts to when help is alerted. The central monitoring station receives notice of your particular emergency very quickly after the emergency takes place. The time that is saved here is precious.

How Fire Monitoring System Saves Time, Homes and Families

Imagine if a fire broke out on the second floor of your house while you are in the basement? Even if you have regular smoke detectors installed, it would take quite some time before you could hear the detectors and react to them correctly. The same thing is true if a fire were to take place downstairs while you are sleeping upstairs. You may not noticed the alarms immediately and, even if you do, you will likely not be in the right emotional or mental state to react to them properly. The situation becomes even worse if a fire starts in your home while you are away. Without a fire monitoring system installed at your home, the fire could burn and grow for quite some time before neighbours or passers by noticed that there was an issue. By the time the problem was spotted and someone reacted, the fire would likely be very large and incredibly dangerous.

If you have fire monitoring system installed at your home, the response will be much, much quicker. The central alarm monitoring station will receive notice of the trouble condition very on, likely when the fire is still very small. The central station can then contact you and let you know that there is an issue at your property. This means that, no matter where you are, you can be quickly alerted of emergencies at home. It also means that you no longer have to worry about what may happen when you are away. After the central monitoring station contacts you, you can provide them with permission to contact the fire department and any other appropriate authorities. If you would like, you can even provide the monitoring station with instructions to contact the fire department directly, without contacting you first.

This will depend on your particular plan and also, in many cases, the city that you live in. The reason that the central fire monitoring station often contacts the home owner before contacting the fire department is that, in many cities and regions, there is a very high cost for false alarms. A small kitchen fire that can be put out safely and easily by a homeowner could trigger the fire alarm and alert the monitoring station. If fire monitoring station does not contact the home owner first, but instead contacts the fire department directly, the fire department could send fire trucks to a situation that does not warrant them. For this reason, many cities, towns and regions charge the homeowner for fire trucks that are sent out when they are not needed. For example, The City of Toronto charges $410.00 for each vehicle it sends to a property where the fire department is not needed. Since the city typically sends three trucks to each location, this leads to a $1230.00 fee for the home owner. In order to spare home owners this charge, many fire monitoring agreements specify that the property owner will be called first.

Installing Fire Monitoring System Keeps Your Home Safer

Fire monitoring system keep properties safe. They protect homes and they save families. They give you the peace of mind in knowing that, no matter where you are or what time of day it is, your home is being watched over by trained professionals. This can make all of the difference in the world when it comes to lowering stress levels and easily worry. Insurance companies also understand exactly how effective fire monitoring system is. They know that the homes that have them installed are safer and that the likelihood of severe fire damage in a home is that protected by fire monitoring system in drastically reduced. For this reason, insurance companies typically provide discounts to people who have fire monitoring system installed in their homes.
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Fluid Detectors & Avoiding Frozen Pipes

Fluid Detectors and Avoiding Disaster with Frozen Pipes

fluid detectorsDuring the cold winter months, frozen pipes can be a serious issue. Since this winter has been especially cold in many parts of the country, you’ve probably heard some horror stories about frozen pipes already. In Toronto, even the subway system had issues with burst pipes. In early January, both Bloor Station and St. Clair station were flooded on separate days due to burst pipes. Thankfully, there are things you can do to prevent frozen pipes and fluid detectors can be utilized to prevent disasters. People across the country have been forced to deal with the damage caused by their pipes freezing and bursting. In many of these cases, the resulting flood damage is costly and time-consuming to repair, especially if fluid detectors are not installed. Flood damage can ruin homes and personal belongings while also being incredibly expensive to deal with. You can avoid these disasters by taking a few precautions to protect your pipes from freezing as well as by utilizing fluid detectors to prevent floods.

Make sure that exposed pipes are insulated

This is especially true for pipes that may be touching exterior walls, such as those in a basement. You can use specially-designed foam pipe covers or other types of pipe insulation to ensure that all of your exposed pipes are insulated properly.

Shut Off Pipes as Necessary

If you have a hose hooked up in your backyard, remove the hose and shut off water to the pipes that you’re not going to use during the winter. Once your pipes are shut off, open the valve outside for a few minutes to ensure that all water is drained out of the pipe before the winter weather hits.

If you’re going away for a longer period of time or if you end up suffering from a power outage for a few days (such as the one that happened in Toronto and Southern Ontario at the end of December) turn off the main shutoff valve that controls water coming into the house. Then open all of your taps inside the house to make sure that all of the water is out of them.

Keep your Pipes Warm

Make sure that your garage remains closed as often as possible if you have water supply lines or other pipes in your garage. Open kitchen, bathroom and laundry cabinet doors to let warm air reach the plumbing. If Your Pipes Freeze Do not use a blow torch or any open flame to thaw your pipes. This is a serious fire hazard. Instead, use a blow dryer or a warm towel to thaw the pipe. If you’re using a blow dryer, check the dryer regularly to make sure it does not overheat. Frozen pipes can break and, when that water thaws, this can cause serious flooding. Shut off the water to limit the damage.

Using Fluid Detectors at Home

Frozen pipes that burst while you are not home or not near the broken pipe can cause major flooding and an incredible amount of damage. Installing fluid detectors is an excellent way to ensure that you don’t end up with a disaster. A fluid detector can immediately alert you to a flood so that you can take steps to fix the situation right away and reduce the damage.

Fluid detectors are usually installed behind toilets, under sinks or beside drains. If you are only installing one fluid detector the most important location is in the basement beside the main drain because water will follow gravity. Fluid detectors are connected to the premises’ alarm system so that, if the presence of water is detected, the alarm will send a water hazard trouble signal to our 24/7 Central Monitoring Station. Additional water sensors can be installed behind toilets and under wash basins in case these plumbing lines ever become dislodged or rupture for any reason.

Flood damage is the leading cause of property damage in North America and most Insurance companies will give discounts to clients that go to the effort to have a fully monitored flood detection system properly installed in their premises. You can even connect the alarm system to the main water shut off valve so it can be turned off when trouble arises.

Water Damage Protection Special: SafeTech will install a hard wired fluid detection device beside your main sewer drain for FREE with the purchase of any monitored alarm system*. *With purchase of standard 36 month monitoring agreement from $25.95 per month. Speak with a SafeTech Loss Prevention Expert for more details.
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