Home Security Systems Protect You When the Weather Outside is Frightful

By: Gregory Santore | in Categories: Safety and Security | Updated: November 17, 2016

If you have a newer home alarm system, cold weather shouldn’t give you the nervous shivers about burst pipes, carbon monoxide poisoning and fire, the fallout emergencies from plummeting temperatures. Home security systems today contain a range of features that kick in when warm weather check out.

Here are some common home automation features that companies like Frontpoint offer homeowners:

Temperature Control

If you hook up a third-party, interactive thermostat to your security system, you can pre-program heating and control your home’s temperature remotely through any web-enabled device.

Low-Temperature Sensor

These detectors send alerts about a sudden drop in temperature, like if your heat goes out on a cold day. Guardian’s low-temp sensor kicks in at around 45 degrees, the temp that can harm pets left home alone and uninsulated water pipes, which can burst.

Smoke and Extreme Heat Detectors

Space heaters, which many homeowners use to supplement their heating system, cause more than 25,000 house fires and 300 deaths every year, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Luckily, many security systems now offer detectors that measure ambient heat and smoke – in other words FIRE! — and set off an alarm and send an alert.

Carbon Monoxide Sensors

Older heating systems, gas-burning appliances, wood-burning stoves, even fireplaces can emit carbon monoxide, an invisible gas that, in high amounts, can kill you. Security systems with home automation options often offer CO detectors that emit an alarm and send an alert when gas emissions rise to dangerous levels.

Water Sensor

SimpliSafe is just one alarm company that offers a sensor that triggers an alarm when it comes into contact with water from a laundry room flood or burst pipes on frigid nights.