Fire/Burglar alarm recommendations (New Ipswich: insurance, how much, vacation home)

[WannaComeHome]

help?

In order to get insurance for our hopefully 'new' house, the only two so far that will cover it are requiring that we install a central fire & burglar alarm system. (Hartford & Travellers - they are the only ones so far willing to cover since we will only be there a few times a year, even if we have someone checking on the place regularly - no one is living there).

Now the house is 250 years old, I don't want a lot of drilling messing up the plaster and beautiful woodwork. The local cops already drive by houses when the know the owners are gone for a while, so I otherwise feel fine about it, but... it's being required.

anyone have suggestions on who is a good company, who to avoid? In the Monadnock area (New Ipswich). We don't have tons of money to put into monitoring this (personally, they annoy me) we'd rather put money into fixing the house up.

Thanks!

[OCCASparky]

I was gonna say, I'm with Traveler's but they don't require me to put in a central burglar alarm system...but then again, I am here full-time.

That being said, see what ADT can do for you. They seem to be the most reasonable out there and I had them when I lived in CA.

Also check with your town and see how much they charge for false alarms.

[WannaComeHome]

yeah, that's the problem: we're not in residence. some don't like it because it's an old house w/6 fireplaces (even if we probably won't use them).. for most it's been the vacancy thing. Which is weird: there's lots of vacation homes where no one lives there! But they're a lot smaller <Sigh>

Largely they're concerned with the fire aspect of the 3 chimneys, and in case of pipes bursting and flooding for a long time, no one would know. I guess gushing water would trigger an alarm? I dunno. Vandalism didn't seem to be a top priority, just knowing that someone is monitoring it is what they want. Wish we could just install it and not contract it

The ADT website looks like $500 to install and $36mo. Is that good? high?

[NewNHguy]

I use ADT, that is reasonable.

Being a Fire Chief, I can tell you that in new construction, one smoke detector in each room, plus hallways are required in NJ... NJ tends to follow NFPA recommendations...

There are monitoring systems out there that are wireless, allowing you to put smokes wherever needed in the home, and they are monitored by the CPU of the system. Don't know the cost, don't know the Mfg off the top of the cranium....