Our new home has a nice, fancy alarm system which we didn't hook up. It was just one of those things on my "To Do List" in the midst of December craziness of trying to get the house finished before we had to be out of our rental, relative visits, school events, Christmas, two daughters birthdays and moving that got a pretty low priority ranking.
Right after we moved in the carbon monoxide alarm in the basement went off. I called the company who had installed the alarm but since we had not yet contracted them for monitoring they were completely unhelpful. The guy on the phone said it was "probably a mistake." I told him I wasn't super comfortable going to bed with my kids while a colorless, odorless, tasteless, fatal gas could be filling the house. He told me if I was worried I should call the fire department - which I did. As soon as they saw the name of the alarm company (on the sticker on the control box) they groaned and told me that alarm company is terrible. I asked who I should go with instead and they said "Anyone but them." (They cleared out our carbon monoxide issue and left.)
I did some research, got some quotes and we had the alarms all hooked up and ready for monitoring. As the guy was leaving he handed me a small device that looks kind of like a garage door opener. "What's this?" I asked. He told me it was the "panic button" - something I could press even if I was far from the key pads, the alarm wasn't armed, etc and it would automatically set off all the alarms.
I instantly thought what a dangerous thing that is to have in a house full of kids. I decided NOT to even tell the kids it existed but to squirrel it away where I would have access to it and they wouldn't ever even see it. That was Friday at 5pm.
On Sunday I was in the kitchen when suddenly the alarms started to go off and the loudspeaker repeatedly blared "INTRUDER. LEAVE IMMEDIATELY, THE AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED."
Yep, Jacob.
We didn't even last 48 hours before he found it - and what else do you do when you find something with a button on it?
Tuesday night as I went to bed I told Rick "The alarm is on, remember to turn it off before you leave in the morning." 6am the next day the whole family woke to the alarm going off again. Brother!
Maybe we are not the right family to have an alarm system.
I did some research, got some quotes and we had the alarms all hooked up and ready for monitoring. As the guy was leaving he handed me a small device that looks kind of like a garage door opener. "What's this?" I asked. He told me it was the "panic button" - something I could press even if I was far from the key pads, the alarm wasn't armed, etc and it would automatically set off all the alarms.
I instantly thought what a dangerous thing that is to have in a house full of kids. I decided NOT to even tell the kids it existed but to squirrel it away where I would have access to it and they wouldn't ever even see it. That was Friday at 5pm.
On Sunday I was in the kitchen when suddenly the alarms started to go off and the loudspeaker repeatedly blared "INTRUDER. LEAVE IMMEDIATELY, THE AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED."
Yep, Jacob.
We didn't even last 48 hours before he found it - and what else do you do when you find something with a button on it?
Tuesday night as I went to bed I told Rick "The alarm is on, remember to turn it off before you leave in the morning." 6am the next day the whole family woke to the alarm going off again. Brother!
Maybe we are not the right family to have an alarm system.
3 comments:
I am laughing because this is so our family, too! We have had so many false alarms from opening a door with it on. Still waiting for the day they take a chair up to the control panel and press the buttons with pictures that call the fire dept and police immediately.
I can't stop laughing! However, I was horrified at the response from the carbon monoxide bloke. Glad you have changed that. False alarms are one reason we don't have an alarm system - they go off regularly around here. However, with a house like yours I'm sure it's a good idea to have one - as long as you keep Jacob away from the panic button!!!
That is so funny. Jacob is such a character.
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