Burglar alarms

Probably depends on where you live, in my last house in a small village, neighbours came out and checked whose alarm was going off and walked round the property, making sure all was secure.

Might be different in a busy town or city.

We had one after an attempted breakin, I asked the police officer who called around to look at our security and he said where we live, London people often ignore a triggered alarm but it might be enough to frighten off a burglar. I’m scared of mine I’m frightened it might go off while on holiday for some reason and I’d get a text from a neighbour telling me to turn the blasted thing off.?

I have a burglar alarm - a neighbour has a key and the code in case it goes off while I am out or away.

The fact there is an alarm box on the wall will make most burglars think twice and even if no-one investigates an alarm, it would scare the burglars away. Living alone the alarm makes me feel more secure when going to bed at night.

It is just one of the measures you can take if you feel vulnerable. I think that movement sensor lights are a really good idea and would deter anyone approaching the house.

I read that burglars like the easy option so if your home looks more secure they will choose another unless of course they know you have valuable antiques etc!

Our neighbours would come to investigate straight away if they heard anything untoward.

I have alarm and CCTV and a neighbour has a key in case of problems. I think the large yellow notices declaring 24/7 video recording work as well as the alarm box on the wall.

I've never had one either, and my husband reckons that they just alert anyone to the fact that the house is empty.

We've got CCTV, which I believe is more useful - ours at the front, side and back of the house (3 in total), so we'd see anyone on it, and see any vehicle too. My husband has got an app on his mobile and watch so that he can have a look at what's going on (to my annoyance, he does that a lot). We even saw that the cat-sitter we'd arranged had been calling in for 3 minutes(!) instead of the 30 minutes we'd agreed on!

An alarm sounds inside the house as well as out so that the intruder will be driven out of the house by the unbearable noise - and it is unbearable, believe me, squirrels nibbled through our alarm in the middle of the night, the alarm sounded inside but not out and it took the emergency repair man an hour and a half to reach us. the alarm rang indoors all that time. We had cushions on our ears but our ears 'rang' for ages afterwards.

I think all approved alarms have to stop sounding outside after 20 minutes.

We live in a village in a row of 4 houses, with more opposite and anyone's alarm going off rapidly brings the neighbours out.

I had one installed when I moved into my current house 20 years ago. It certainly doesn't alert anyone to the fact the house is empty, it just alerts them to the fact there is an alarm. I've never been burgled but I've had an alarm for 20 years plus I've always had dogs. If you get on with your neighbours as we do, the chances are they will investigate if the alarm goes off. Monica is right approved alarms have to cease after 20 minutes before going off again. I too have had a fault when the alarm sounded for 24 hours before the engineer sorted it, not funny at all so we removed the fuse.

Monica ours doesn't ring inside the house. I once slept through mine going off and was only made aware the next day when the neighbours came to check I was ok. I don't know what set it off!

We’ve never managed to set ours successfully. Even if we did I doubt it would be used.

Thanks everyone. I’m still undecided. Obviously I won’t know any neighbours for a while after I move in. Perhaps Ill see how many other houses in the road have alarms. Wouldn’t want mine to be the only one without!

I got home after Pilates one morning to find a police car in the drive.
The electric had gone off and set the damn thing off.

We live in a quiet terrace and have a back door which is not overlooked at all. We’d three opportunistic break-ins within two years before installing the alarm, and haven’t had one (touch wood!) in the 25 years since. So I’d say it worked for us! We never set it at night, after a false alarm woke us all up. It was terrifying! I can’t imagine anyone who’d broken in would stay with that racket going on.

I’ve noticed that some alarms around us go off during a power cut, Pamelaj1. Ours doesn’t, thank goodness.

We have our alarm linked to an app on our phone so we can turn it on and off remotely. So if it went off in error we are sent a notification and can switch it off. We would get a neighbour to pop round to double check everything ok. if we are out.

My alarm came with the house. I have a cat so can't use it anyway. Whenever there was a power cut it would make a racket when the power came back on which was very annoying.
I had it serviced and the chap said that the reason that happened was that it should have had a battery inside which was missing. It doesn't do that now. He put one in and changed the code to something meaningful.
If I used it and it went off I think it would scare the life out of me.
By the way, I'm stating the obvious but if your code was put in by the builder and it's 1-2-3-4 get it changed as most burglars try that, apparently.

I believe they act as a deterrent. Certainly in our area it is the ones without which get burgled. Always leave fob and keys with neighbour opposite if away and we do the same for them.
I find it gives peace of mind during the night. Ours has a nighttime downstairs only setting, so if I hear a worrying noise, I can tell myself it’s nothing or the sensors would have picked it up? And DH no longer sleeps with an axe under his pillow which is a relief all round.?

Purpledaffodil!!

I suppose it might depend where you live, to some extent.
We live with neighbours very close around us, and are all on chatty terms with each other, so if one of our alarms goes off, the rest of us (well, those of us who are in, anyway), are out checking that everything is ok.

We put in an alarm after we had break ins in two consecutive houses, one rural, on urban. We have moved back to a village now and the alarm in the urban house and the one in our current house saved us from two other break-ins. The intruder scarpered as soon as he alrm went off.

When we had our alarm system put in we deliberately put no alarm sensors in the large kitchen breakfast room so that pet owners could have a cat flap in the kitchen door and could safely give the cat the run of the kitchen without the alarm going off by simply making sure the door between the kitchen and the rest of the house was shut. Equally a dog could be left in the kitchen with the door shut.

I wonder whether your local community police officers may offer advice about this issue? Might be worth checking this out? (Online searches might be helpful here initially.) My own advice would be to invest in excellent locks, lighting and general security areas, rather than an alarm. But it has to depend on where you live, and your own circumstances - hence the suggestion that you get advice from the local police.

lovebeigecardi Pet sensors are available instead of the ordinary sensors which are not set off by one's pets. I have them and can still set my burglar alarm at night time and when I go out and let my cat have the run of the house. This house was burgled 3 times before I moved in, so the neighbours told me. I had an alarm installed immediately, and so far .... 22 years ... touch wood.

My detective ex-husband said that burglars will always choose the easy option unless you are known to have antiques, thousands stashed under the mattress, etc. A brightly illuminated alarm box on the wall plus sensor security lights will usually be enough to make them look elsewhere.

We have had one for the last twenty years and the smoke alarms are part of it too. There is also a button on the key fob and the also hub you can press to start it yourself if you answered the door and were attacked for example. We set ours each night.

Our burglar alarm has gone off so many times the neighbours just ignore it, but one of them keeps a diary of when it goes off and presents it to us every so often as proof of how annoying it is! Problem is there doesn't seem to be a pet sensor that can come with cats climing into high places, such as the top of the large American fridge, or the cat tree.

We set the alarm when we go out, and overnight, with the cats only having access to hall, stairs and landing (and utility and downstairs loo for their litter trays), and that largely seems to work, but if a door isn't shut properly they will make their way in and trigger the alarm.