Adding fire detection equipment to a monitored security system is inexpensive, and it ensures minimal property damage while alerting your family to leave. That second half is the part most people think about. The first half is the part that matters when the house is empty.
A standalone battery smoke alarm has one job: make noise where it is installed. If nobody is in the house to hear it, it makes noise until the battery dies. A monitored detector sends the signal to our central station the moment it activates, and an operator dispatches the fire department for your address without waiting for anyone to call it in.
Serving Polk County: Lake Wales, Winter Haven, Bartow, Haines City, Lakeland, Dundee, Frostproof, Auburndale, Polk City, Davenport, Fort Meade, Lake Alfred, and the surrounding Central Florida communities. Call (863) 223-8324 for a free assessment.
Where monitored detection earns its cost
- A second home or seasonal property that sits empty for months at a time
- A house with a detached garage, workshop or barn where a fire can grow unseen
- Anyone in the household who would struggle to evacuate on their own
- A property where a small fire would destroy something irreplaceable
- Battery detectors that have been chirping long enough that someone pulled the battery
- Any detector more than ten years old, which is past manufacturer service life
- Gas appliances or an attached garage, which is where carbon monoxide exposure comes from
The three detection types, and where each belongs
Smoke detection
- The primary life safety device, placed in sleeping areas and hallways
- Detects the smoke that reaches people long before the flame does
- Not appropriate in kitchens, garages or dusty attics where it will nuisance trip
- Has a manufacturer service life, typically around ten years, after which it is replaced not tested
Heat detection
- For garages, attics, workshops and kitchens where smoke detection would false alarm
- Triggers on a fixed temperature or a rapid rate of rise rather than on particles
- The right answer for a detached shop or barn with dust, exhaust or humidity
- Protects property rather than providing early warning to people
Carbon monoxide detection
- For homes with gas appliances, a gas water heater, or an attached garage
- Detects a gas that has no smell and no colour and produces symptoms people mistake for flu
- Placed near sleeping areas, because the danger period is while people are asleep
- Monitored, so a CO event dispatches help rather than only sounding in an empty house
Why monitored beats battery-only
- The fire department is dispatched even when the house is empty, which is when a fire does the most damage
- Detectors are supervised, so a failed device or a dead battery reports as a trouble condition instead of going quiet
- Signals are prioritised at the central station, because fire is not verified before dispatch the way a burglary signal is
- Detection is placed to code and to the layout of the house rather than wherever there happened to be a stud
- Fire signals are transmitted even when the security system is disarmed, which is the state most houses are in most of the time
- Insurers commonly recognise monitored fire detection, and we can supply a certificate
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Fire & Smoke Detection FAQs
Does monitored fire detection replace the smoke alarms required by code?
It works alongside them. Florida building code requires interconnected smoke alarms in new and substantially renovated homes, and monitored detection adds the central station dispatch that code-required alarms do not provide. We will look at what you already have before recommending anything.
How much does adding fire detection cost?
Adding fire detection to an existing monitored security system is inexpensive, which is the main reason we recommend it so often. The exact number depends on how many detectors the house needs and where they go, and you get it in writing after the assessment.
Will the fire department come if I am not home?
Yes. That is the entire point. Fire signals are handled differently from burglary signals: the operator dispatches rather than working through a verification call list first, because the cost of a delay is far higher.
Can you monitor detectors that are already installed?
Sometimes, depending on their type and age. Interconnected 120 volt smoke alarms can often be tied into a monitored system with the right relay module. Old battery-only units generally cannot, and if they are near the end of their service life they should be replaced anyway.
What about carbon monoxide?
We install monitored CO detection where there is a real exposure, which means gas appliances, a gas water heater, a fireplace, or an attached garage. If your house is all electric with a detached garage, we will tell you it is not necessary rather than sell it to you.
Where should smoke detectors go in the house?
Inside every sleeping area, outside each separate sleeping area in the hallway, and on every level of the home including the basement where there is one. What we would not do is put one in a kitchen, a garage or a dusty attic, because those spaces produce nuisance alarms and are better covered by heat detection.
Do monitored detectors run on batteries?
They are powered by the alarm system, which itself runs on mains power with a backup battery, and wireless detectors carry their own supervised battery. Supervised is the important word: if a battery gets low or a device stops reporting, the system raises a trouble condition rather than going quiet.
How often should fire detection be tested?
Test the system on a live signal at least once a year, and call us to place the account on test first so the fire department is not dispatched to a test. We do this as part of service visits, and it is worth doing after any building work that produced dust in the house.