Should I feel annoyed? (house alarm)
Discussion
I was going to post this in The Lounge but I feel I may get a more 'adult' response over here 
We've had a burglar alarm in the house since new so about 2.5 years, it is the usual jobbie with several sensors throughout the house and the bell box hanging on the front wall.
Since the cold spell I've heard the outside box give a couple of small chirps, today the alarm went off briefly for about 5 seconds and now the panel is displaying a 'bell box fault'.
Spoke with the installers and they said it is highly likely that the snow has managed to set off the anti tamper switch, we can come round and fix it but the call out charge will be £60, a new bell box would be £30 so almost a £100 all in.
What gets me is they are effectively saying that every time there is a large snowfall there is the potential for this to happen, if we get several more spells this winter that could soon add up!
Should I just MTFU and accept things break and that I have to pay for them when they do?
We've had a burglar alarm in the house since new so about 2.5 years, it is the usual jobbie with several sensors throughout the house and the bell box hanging on the front wall.
Since the cold spell I've heard the outside box give a couple of small chirps, today the alarm went off briefly for about 5 seconds and now the panel is displaying a 'bell box fault'.
Spoke with the installers and they said it is highly likely that the snow has managed to set off the anti tamper switch, we can come round and fix it but the call out charge will be £60, a new bell box would be £30 so almost a £100 all in.
What gets me is they are effectively saying that every time there is a large snowfall there is the potential for this to happen, if we get several more spells this winter that could soon add up!
Should I just MTFU and accept things break and that I have to pay for them when they do?
As a one-time designer and manufacturer of external warning devices (1990-2003), as they are formally known, I cannot think of a single reason why snow should set off an outside bell that is [a] properly made, and [b] properly installed. In fact if it has a CE mark (which it must have) it is supposed to be tested against 'real-world' conditions. A bell fault could be any one of a number of things dependent on the bell and on the panel so I cannot help more than that, sorry. I would try to be a bit more assertive, if I were you, and talk of merchantable quality, and fitness for purpose. These 'magic words' often help - or put backs up, it's a gamble. Two and a half years is not a reasonable full lifetime in my view though.
motco said:
As a one-time designer and manufacturer of external warning devices (1990-2003), as they are formally known, I cannot think of a single reason why snow should set off an outside bell that is [a] properly made, and [b] properly installed. In fact if it has a CE mark (which it must have) it is supposed to be tested against 'real-world' conditions. A bell fault could be any one of a number of things dependent on the bell and on the panel so I cannot help more than that, sorry. I would try to be a bit more assertive, if I were you, and talk of merchantable quality, and fitness for purpose. These 'magic words' often help - or put backs up, it's a gamble. Two and a half years is not a reasonable full lifetime in my view though.
I got the impression that he was trying to say that the snow 'knocked' the box thus giving the box the impression that it was being tampered with..I think!BTW the alarm has been installed by a highly reputable local company so it's not a pikey of the shelf Argos system!
I'm going to reset the system myself and see if that clears down the fault, hopefully it will and the mild seizure I'm suffering at the thought of paying out money will go away!
Heathwood said:
I think those little chirps could be an indication of a battery starting to fail. Most likely the one in the main control unit.
I'd say that was quite likely too 
If you're going to be checking it anyway, why not take a hair dryer up and give it a blast of heat just in case any moisture has frozen in there.
No £30 bell unit will be able to detect a knock by a snowfall. We made Royal Mail bell units at a three figure price and they didn't detect impact either. They detected a load of things that attacks would offer: drilling, foaming, cable substitution, and disconnection but not impact except that which distorted the housing. £30 retail for a bell unit is cheap. The panel might have a dedicated bellbox tamper signal reading rather than a general tamper fault so it could be tamper. I have to admit that my first thought was a failed NiCd or NiMh battery in the bell unit due to low temperatures. We had a small batch of NiCd in the 1990s that went pop, literally, in cold weather due to over-voltage intolerance. Whether this would show as a bell box fault depends on the panel's facilities.
Heathwood said:
I think those little chirps could be an indication of a battery starting to fail. Most likely the one in the main control unit.
Battery in the external sounder failing will be causing this.Depending on the system the battery may be integral to the SCB board in the external sounder, and the cost eFfective solution will be to replace the whole unit. Perhaps £40 unit cost plus labour
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