Appearance

Also from the outside an intruder can only see your Bellbox, and this will give him a good idea as to the age and condition of your alarm system. I've seen bell boxes hanging off walls, I've seen boxes that are so rusty and old looking that there's every chance they wont work, I've even seen bell boxes fed with a cable that has been tacked up the wall.

Get your Alarm System Serviced:

I cant express enough on the importance of at least getting your alarm system checked over and serviced by an approved company every year (most home insurance companies require evidence that your alarm is maintained by an approved company), if you cant afford that then at the very least every 4 years because by then the systems backup batteries will almost have come to the end of there lifespan. If its been regularly serviced and maintained then your system should give you many trouble free years of service, but I would suggest you still think about getting it fully upgraded every 15 years or so.

Getting your alarm serviced and fully tested on a regular basis is a wise investment in your alarm system, an annually maintained system is proven to be much more reliable than one which isn't, I don't understand why but so many people have an alarm installed and then expect it to run trouble free for the rest of its lifetime, it just doesn't work that way and this catches so many of you out.

The average house alarm system only takes about an 40 minutes to service (about 1 hour with a cup of tea), the engineer will check the Control panel, detector, Bellbox and battery supply voltages and current draws, backup batteries to ensure a minimum 12 hour backup capacity (these are recommended to be replaced every 5 years), Monitoring if installed (monitored alarms would normally be serviced every 6 months anyway), clean and walk test all the detectors (walktest), Test bell boxes, sirens and speakers, and finally test the alarm system is functioning correctly (full-set/part-set & alarm). You of course would be advised of any faults found, and be given suggestions for remedies or replacement parts as required.

Help maintain reliability:

• You should always inform your service company about any un-explained false alarms.
• Be Honest with your engineer, if you have caused a fault (e.g. Tamper), then tell him.
• If during a service the engineer finds faults, either let him sort it straight away or arrange for repairs ASAP.
• Always consider any suggestions for improvement to your current security.
  

The introduction of European standards has made it possible for some servicing of alarm systems to be carried out remotely, without an engineer attending the premises. How is this possible? Apart from avoiding the inconvenience of having to be at home when the engineer calls, are there any benefits?

Technically this has been possible for more than 15 years, but was blocked by the then-existing British Standards. Modern alarm control equipment contains sophisticated micro-controllers making possible the continuous self-diagnosis of almost of the electronic operations within the system.

The adoption of European standards has lifted this restriction, so that, except for those with the highest security risk, site visits for alarm system servicing can be reduced by 50%.

Whilst clearly certain aspects of servicing a security system cannot be carried out remotely (eg checking the physical condition of system components, etc.), almost all important system parameters can be checked - even walk-test requirements can be carried out automatically by the system responding to the normal use of the premises! Significant benefits can thus accrue to the customer, as well as the maintenance company, including:

• Domestic users have to wait at home for service engineer visits less often.
• Electronic aspects can be carried out in greater detail than otherwise practical.
• Servicing can be carried out far more frequently (e.g. monthly) for peace of mind.
• Reduced handling of system components, wiring and (especially) connections by service engineers actually results in greater system reliability.
• Better direction and utilisation of servicing engineers’ time and efforts.

This does, of course, need to be done correctly – both from the point of view of the effectiveness of the maintenance and the security of the system (and thus the premises in which it is installed). As the European Standards do not include any specific guidance for this, appropriate guidelines have been prepared by the British Security Industry Association, which is now forming the basis for preparation of a new British Standard.

Contributed to by "Castellan".