Protecting your Holiday Home !!
Having a Holiday Home is a lot of peoples dream come true, after working hard for many years to obtain one, the thought of being able to go to your own place at any time (no need to pre-plan or pre-book) is just what the doctor ordered.
Holiday Homes vary widely ranging from a Static Caravans, Cruisers, Narrow Boats, Sail Boats, Log Cabins, Apartments, these can be close to home, in a different County or even in a totally different Country.
One downside to having your dream Holiday Home ‘for most people‘ is the worry about them when you are not there (the relief you get when you first see it unharmed on every single visit), worries about potential Burglars, Floods, Fire or damage from Vandals, passing Vehicles or Craft.
Holiday Homes located in private parks, marinas or complexes are less of a worry, but you still have that doubt in the back of your mind (until you lock eyes on it) if all is actually OK, especially when you haven’t been for a while or if the sites are closed for winter.
After possible spending close to your life savings on these Homes, it is a sensible precaution to consider some type of protection, even if really basic.
The type of products often considered are Burglar, Flood, Power & Fire Alarms & CCTV.
Before considering any further you need to consider the following questions:
- Do you have a power supply on site, a supply that isn’t switched off out of season ?
- Do you have reliable Wi-fi on site ?
- Do you have a phone signal on site ?
- Do you have 4G on site ?
- Do you have key-holders on or near to site ?
- How long does it take for you to get to site ?
Power:
If you have a power supply all year around, then you can consider devices that plugs into the mains (normally via a simple plug in transformer) giving you more choice, if there is no power (or the power is switched off) then you will need to be considering battery devices which are available but normally slightly more expensive and harder to source.
Wi-fi:
Wi-fi gives you the ability of using a range of affordable Alarms and Cameras, if there is no Wi-fi or intermittent Wi-fi then you are better not considering Wi-fi devices.
Phone Signals:
Phone signals will give you the ability to have Alarms that contact you by Phone or Text when triggered, this could be in the event of potential Burglars, Floods or Fire, but there is nothing worse than getting a call when there are no key-holders close to the location for you to contact, especially if it means a 3 hour drive to site for yourself.
If you live close, have people on (or close to) the site, then a Phone or Text Call is of great benefit, comfort and very affordable.
4G Signals:
Now if you have a 4G signal, it means in this day and age, you can have one or more 4G Cameras (and alarms) which give you the ability to view the premises or location being monitored after getting the dreaded Phone Call or Text (rather than jumping straight into your car).
You could also use a 4G SIM Card to fit into a 4G Wi-fi Router which would allow you to use multiple Wi-fi devices helping you to protect your Home.
Type of devices you can purchase:
There is an array of products these days, that you can easily use to help protect your Holiday Homes from all types of problems, you do not need to spent vast amounts of money on them, in most cases you do not need to pay a professional tradesperson to fit them providing you have a basic knowledge of DIY.
You will need to decide if you want to be informed of a potential problem (by phone, text or push notification), or you jut want Sirens or Flashing Lights being activated in the hope that someone nearby notices.
Intruder / Burglar Alarms:
You can choose many types of Burglar Alarms, most would normally be wireless making the installation quick and easy, the four main questions would be:
- Do you need a Battery or Mains powered Alarm.
- Do you want the Alarm to contact you by Phone or Text.
- Do you want it Silent or with Sirens (some customers say there is no point in Sirens as the location is remote or they do not want to disturb neighbours, others prefer a Siren as it may deter a Burglar or bring the problem to the attention of the neighbours, there is no right or wrong answer, it is personal preference).
- Detectors, what type of detectors do you need, the most popular options include:
- PIR’s (monitor for movement, may not be suitable for moving Boats, homes with potential extreme Heat or locations with small animals, the benefit of using PIR’s is that you can cover more of the building with fewer devices).
- Door & Window Magnetic Contacts (very popular with Holiday Homes as they will generally only trigger if the door or window is actually opened, the only downside to using these against PIR’s is that you will need to buy more to cover the building in most applications, Boats or Caravans wouldn’t normally be a problem here).
- Vibration Sensors (these can be useful, as they can trigger the Alarm before entry has been forced, but we would advise using a model with adjustable sensitivity settings to avoid potential false alarms in some application).
Power Loss & Temperature Alarms:
You may have a Holiday Home in remote locations with potential extreme weather conditions (Hot or Cold), and losing the Power supply could be disastrous with resulting Frozen Pipes, thawed Freezers etc etc.
There are now GSM Power Loss Alarms that will contact owners and key-holders in the event of a Power Failure, these devices can also inform you when the Power comes back on, you can quite often set the parameters so you only get the Call or Text after a pre-set time duration has elapsed allowing you not to worry about minor incidents.
Some of the devices can also monitor for pre-set High & Low Temperatures at the same time, giving you more reassurance.
Flood Alarms:
In some Holiday Homes you can simply add one or two Wireless Flood or Water Sensors to a Burglar Alarm locating them in the most vulnerable locations, but in other applications you may only want to monitor for Floods or Water leaks, with no interest in adding a Burglar Alarm.
In these cases the same decisions need to be made, do
- Do you need a Battery or Mains powered Alarm.
- Do you want the Alarm to contact you by Phone or Text.
- Do you want it Silent or with Sirens.
- What type and how many Water Detectors do I require.
Smoke Alarms:
Smoke Alarms can be viewed exactly as the above statement regarding Water Alarms, the same decisions will need to be made.
Cameras:
Modern day Cameras are great for Holiday Homes, they solve (or help to solve) the problem about what to do if your Alarm contacts you by Phone or Text (a real reassurance for Holiday Home owners).
You do not have to spend a fortune these days to have one or multiple Cameras that can be connected to your Smart Phone allowing you to view the part of the site you are monitoring, if you can see a Burglary, Flood or Fire in process then you have the right to call the emergency services, who will be much more engaged with you once you can confirm (clarify) that you can see this happening in real time and you are not simply relying on a Phone Call or Text.
On some models you can also communicate through the Cameras with an Intruder, Tradesman or Visitor.
You can also start recording or view recent automatic recordings when you log into most Cameras these days, even if you just want to check who has been wandering around whilst you are away.
The key questions you have to ask are:
- Power (do you need to use a Battery or Mains powered Cameras).
- Wi-fi (do you have Wi-fi allowing you to use the cheaper Wi-fi Cameras or do you need to be using the slightly more expensive 4G Cameras).
4G Cameras:
If you are needing to use a 4G Camera, you will need to buy a SIM Card to allow you the remote access, the SIM Card you choose will require a Data plan, the amount of Data required will depend on how often you think you will be logging into the Camera to view the site. Data will only be used when you are logged in and streaming, so if you only intend to log in if your Alarm calls you, then you would probably get away with 1 – 2 GB of Data a month, if you intend to log in often then larger Data plans will be required.
Experience tells us that most customers log in far more frequently in the early days of fitting the Camera, then when the novelty wanes they log in far less often, because of this you could argue to buy a Data plan on the lower side to start with, which could always be increased if you find your Credit is getting low towards the end of the month.
If you need advice, there are many companies that you can contact by Phone or Email, if you remember the answers to the six questions within this blog and other details, it will help the person you are communicating with to understand your application and point you in the right direction.
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