[Phil A]

With all the security alarm systems I've seen, they divide things into zones and when arming them you can not arm that zone.  In the old place, I'd turn off the motion detector in the basement (they would have set off the alarm before that going through the windows or sliding glass door) as for a long period my dog was down there roaming around.  For those with sensors on the garage doors, it may be better to disarm those in case you come back home and end up chatting with a neighbor.  The glass break detector they had in my old house was almost useless as it was a good 15-20 feet from the windows (and that was likely at the edge of their range). There are also good and bad monitoring companies.  Sometimes the bigger they are, the worse they are.

[TomS]

JLM, there is a lot we could talk about here but let me address the issues you mentioned.

It sounds like your keypad is in the garage rather than inside the house. The reason the keypad should be inside the garage entry door is so you have a reminder tone when the door is open and a delay so you can turn off the system before it goes into alarm. We never put keypads in the garage for just the reason you mention, it's too easy to forget about the alarm.

You are correct that building code does not allow security system smoke detectors in place of the 120v interconnect type even thou they are miles ahead in everyway possible. We usually just put one on each floor in the hallways outside the bedroom areas so that the fire dept. is called whether you are home or not. On a side note your insurance company will give you a discount for having a monitored burglar alarm and even more with the monitored smoke detectors so if you're not taking advantage of that you should give them a call.

Regarding procedure, you need to let your alarm company know that on any alarm you want the home number called first "assuming you have a land line" then call at least two more numbers that you provide. This would be your cell or work numbers. Most alarms are caused by the people that use them or people trying to use them that aren't familiar with how they work. Give your alarm company a password or two that both of you can remember so when they call you, you don't have to come up with the system/account number of the system. This can be any word or number you provide and will allow you to cancel the police response. The alarm panel can also be set up in programming by your alarm company so that it sends a "cancel" signal when you disarm the system after an alarm so the central station stops the process and they don't even need to call you.

When the power goes out the central station gets a signal, once again you can have them respond anyway you like. If you feel you don't need to know about it just have them ignore the signal, there's no reason to call you at home in the middle of the night when the power goes out, especially when you already know about it.

Regarding the cats, In 35 years in the business I don' think I recall a cat knocking a dish off of a counter and tripping a glass break but I'm sure it could happen. Normally they are a good solution for additional perimeter protection. When we set up a system for cat(s) or dogs we usually install a motion detector with what we call a pet alley. What this means is we mount the detector at about chest high and turn it upside down. What this does is create an area below the detector which allows animals to roam free with out tripping the detector. The detector has to be installed in an area where there isn't furniture for the pets to get up on such as a hallway, across a stairway or entry way. The motion detector becomes more of a "trap" and doesn't cover as much area but it works very well for the application.

If you'd like to discuss other options you could talk to your alarm company about feel free to PM me, I'm happy to help.

Thank you for a VERY informative post. I'm wading into the research phase of a monitored alarm system for the first time, and getting meaningful feedback is even worse than high end audio. It seems choosing the right company is the most difficult (important) part.

[gregfisk]

With all the security alarm systems I've seen, they divide things into zones and when arming them you can not arm that zone.  In the old place, I'd turn off the motion detector in the basement (they would have set off the alarm before that going through the windows or sliding glass door) as for a long period my dog was down there roaming around.  For those with sensors on the garage doors, it may be better to disarm those in case you come back home and end up chatting with a neighbor.  The glass break detector they had in my old house was almost useless as it was a good 15-20 feet from the windows (and that was likely at the edge of their range). There are also good and bad monitoring companies.  Sometimes the bigger they are, the worse they are.

Phil and Tom,

Yes, all of the systems today have several zones whether they be hardwired or wireless. You can bypass any zone that's are not a 24hr zone like smoke detectors, flood detectors, panic alarms and so on. Some people only use their perimeter zones and not their motion detectors because they have pets and the detectors are not set up for those pets like I mentioned earlier. The problem with only using the perimeter doors and windows is if someone breaks the glass and crawls thru the window or sliding glass door without opening it they just beat your system. Glass break detectors only work in the room they are in and it gets expensive to put them in every room.

You are both correct that it is very important to have the right alarm company and monitoring service. As a rule, the bigger the company the harder it is to work with them and the higher their monitoring rates are. Their rates are higher because they offer systems for very little money down and subsidize the loss with a higher monitoring rate which they lock you into under contract. In the end you pay a lot more for your system than you would have if you purchased the system at the time of installation and gotten a much lower monthly payment.

Tom,

you are very welcome, if you have any other questions feel free to ask, I'm happy to help. If or when you are looking for a good local alarm company in your area shoot me a PM and I will call my supplier ADI. They usually have a list of local companies they work with at each branch and they won't give them out unless they are comfortable with that company. I suggest you stick with a local company who owns or uses a local monitoring service. You will typically get better service and if the central station is local they have a much better idea of what's going on such as a wind storm or a power outage or what ever natural disaster is happening at the time.

Take Care,

Greg

[SteveFord]

Good old water damage.
The other day I was thinking how risky it was to start a load of laundry and leave the house.  I just kind of dismissed it as an errant thought and went to work.
I went down into the basement today to build a new furnace chimney and water was pouring into the basement. 
I shut the water off, built the chimney and then started to investigate the water flow.  It's was the weirdest thing: the faucet for the cold water to the washing machine had sprung a leak and water was just squirting out of it like crazy, going through the opening for the washer drain, soaking the insulation and flooding the basement.
Hunka junk!