Freeze Sensors
If you live in a colder environment, then you will definitely want to equip your system with freeze sensors. Countless homes and businesses experience horrific damage due to froze water pipes every winter. A small investment in a freeze sensor can potentially save you thousands of dollars in property damage costs. It also goes without saying that you won't have to expend significant time and energy in repairing frozen water pipes. For many areas, these environmental sensors represent absolutely crucial additions to alarm systems.
It doesn't matter if your home or business has a brand-new HVAC system. Unusual situations happen. There is nothing worse than returning home or coming to work and finding that the building is literally freezing and that the pipes have frozen or burst. A freeze sensor will save you a tremendous amount of trouble. Best of all, these are highly durable and reliable sensors. You can use the same freeze sensor in your home or business for many years, without having to worry about replacement. This is an important long-term investment for your home or business.
Freeze sensors are relatively simple in terms of operation. These sensors alert the system whenever the building is experiencing unusually low temperatures that would only occur if the heater has failed. Most freeze sensors will activate at a temperature that is slightly higher than actual freezing. This is to give the end user enough time to take action before the temperatures fall below the dangerous freezing levels. The typical freeze sensor will activate and alert a system at around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take a few degrees.
It is also important to know what to do with a freeze sensor activates. Fortunately, you will have enough time to take action before damage occurs. You just need to respond immediately. You will want to shut off water immediately to prevent freezing pipes. You will also want to correct the problem with your HVAC system as soon as possible to prevent the temperature from falling any lower. As long as you are aware of the issue and take action quickly, everything will be okay.
In order to take full advantage of your freeze sensor, it is strongly recommended that you have alarm monitoring service. This is the only way to receive alerts regarding system activity while you are away from home. You can have a freeze sensor set to trigger an auxiliary alarm so that the central station notifies you regarding an activated sensor. If you only have self-monitoring, you can still receive text and/or email alerts from Total Connect 2.0 regarding an activated sensor. Either way, you will know to take action.
Freeze sensors are also great for use with smart home automation services. You can pair your freeze sensor with a Z-Wave water valve to shut off the water automatically when the sensor activates. To do this, you will want to create a special scene and rule that specifically tells the Z-Wave water valve to cut water once the Freeze Zone activates. By doing this, your system will automatically prevent damage without you having to take any action. Just make sure to examine the situation as soon as you can to make sure that the smart scene you put into place responded correctly.