If you’re facing the same dilemma this back-to-school season, you’re probably planning on leaving a spare key under the mat, right? If that’s the plan, you might as well leave the front door unlocked! If someone wants to get inside, that’s surely the first place they’ll look. Sure, you could try and come up with a hiding place that’s a little more inconspicuous like one of these. But, either way it’ll always be an added stress when you could instead have peace of mind. When it comes to hiding that spare key, the ultimate solution is to ditch it altogether for connected locks.

See Also: Questions You Should Ask Before Investing in Smart Home Automation

What is a Connected Door Lock?

Connected locks eliminate the need for a spare key. These locks can be placed on your door handle, used as a deadbolt, or both. Rather than needing a key to get inside, you simply enter your 4-digit passcode to unlock the door. So, what makes it connected? Also known as smart door locks, connected locks sync up with your home, security system, and can be controlled right from your phone. This helps you stay connected to your home and family whether you’re working late or out running errands!

How Do Smart Locks Help You Stay Connected to Family?

Each member of your family can use their own unique passcode to lock and unlock the door. As a parent, this helps you stay connected to who’s coming and going from your home — and when. This is also something that can be updated and changed as needed. So if your relatives are coming to visit for the weekend, you can quickly give them their own passcode right from the mobile app! That’s one of the reasons that these types of locks are so commonly used with Airbnb rentals.

The unique passcodes don’t stop at family and friends. You can also create time-based passcodes for dog walkers, babysitters, or other services. These temporary passcodes only work during the dates and times that you set. So you no longer have to worry about changing locks after giving out a key.

For All of Those Times You Forgot to Lock the Door

Have you ever left for work in the morning only to turn around because you couldn’t remember if you locked the front door? Imagine if you could just pull your phone out to check. Better yet, just lock the door from your phone and then move on with your day. That’s the connected lock. It gives you complete control over your home’s entryways right from your phone. Lock the door from the bed, sofa, or the office.

Use This Tip to Never Forget to Lock the Door Again

You could open the app and lock the doors when you leave home, or, you could skip that step altogether. Connected door locks use location services, also known as geofencing, to lock your doors when you leave home. You can create your own geofences that will activate as you get a certain distance away from home. Now, your home will lock itself every time you drive away, keeping it safe until you return!

Keeping Your Family Safe is What’s Most Important

When connected locks are an option, you never need a spare key. The bottom line is that spare keys just aren’t safe — and safe is what’s most important to us. Ditch the spare key for the connected lock and take control of who comes and goes from your home. When school starts in just a few weeks, and your kids are coming home alone, now you have the perfect solution.

Want to learn more about how you can use connected locks to keep your home protected and connected? Contact us today to talk to a Safe Home Security Specialist about how easy it is to switch to connected locks.

The post The “Smartest” Hiding Place for Your Spare Key appeared first on Safehome Security.

If you have an interest in home automation, chances are you’re most concerned with all the ways smart homes can make your life more comfortable, relaxing and safe. However, you may not have realized all the ways automation can also save you money by lowering your energy usage.

Even better, many of the simplest ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency are things you would want to do anyway to get the most from your smart home setup. Let’s examine three smart home automation systems that are easy use and will cut the energy costs in your Hartford, CT home.

SEE ALSO: Smart security and more automation solutions from Safe Home Security

MOTORIZED SHADES

Keeping your home properly insulated is one of the best ways to keep your energy costs low, and motorized shades help you do that in multiple ways.

First, the shades themselves are made from energy reflecting materials to minimize how much heat is absorbed from sunlight. Less heat coming in means your house stays cooler and your air conditioning bills drop.

Second, motorized shades can be programmed to adjust themselves throughout the day to ensure the optimal temperature and light level in your home. The shades raise or lower at different times of the day, and the angle of the slats can be adjusted as well. Set the schedule once and watch your shades take care of themselves as your energy costs diminish.

LIGHTING CONTROL

Automated lighting controls systems are another excellent method to make your home more efficient.

Lighting control gives you a greater ability to monitor and manage the lights in your home. You can set up schedules for different lights to come on in different rooms at different times, and the ability to turn all your lights off with one button press makes it less likely that you’ll waste energy by leaving a stray light on somewhere.

The bigger benefit of lighting control, though, is how it helps you get the most from the light that’s already coming into your home. Lighting control systems replace your standard on/off switches with an array of dimmers, meaning you have a lot more flexibility with how you can use your lights.

According to industry research, every percentage point reduction in light level through use of a dimmer results in a corresponding decrease in energy usage. You can use automated schedules and presets to take advantage of sunlight during the day, which will also lead to increased energy savings.

SMART THERMOSTATS

Another major factor in your energy costs is your heating and air conditioning system. Smart thermostats offer a way to lower your costs in this area.

Like motorized shades and lighting control, smart thermostats allow you to take advantage of preset schedules to make sure you aren’t wasting energy heating your home when nobody is around. The ability to manage your smart thermostats remotely from an app lets you make adjustments for unexpected circumstances, and higher-end models can even learn from your patterns and adjust themselves due to factors like humidity.

These are just a few ways that smart home automation can make your Hartford, CT a home more efficient and a more pleasant place to be. To learn more about these home automation services, contact Safe Home Security at 800-833-3211 or visit us online, and read our blog to discover the benefits of other smart technologies.

The post 3 Ways to Improve Energy Efficiency with Smart Technology appeared first on Safehome Security.

When it comes to major threats to your health, it’s always preferable to face something you can see or otherwise detect with your senses. Unfortunately, some health hazards are not easily detectable on our own, and carbon monoxide gas is one of these nearly invisible health hazards.

As a colorless, odorless gas, carbon monoxide is a nearly silent killer. Though deaths from carbon monoxide aren’t as common as they used to be, 2,244 people in the United States died from carbon monoxide poisoning between 2010 and 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We take the dangers of carbon monoxide seriously at Safe Home Security, so we’ve put together this guide to help you determine if you have carbon monoxide gas in your home and what you can do to keep yourself safe.

SEE ALSO: More security and monitoring services from Safe Home Security

CARBON MONOXIDE BASICS

Carbon monoxide gas is the result of incomplete burning of organic materials. Common sources of the gas include furnaces, cars and trucks, heaters, gas stoves, and other similar devices.

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs due to the way the molecule affects the flow of oxygen around the human body. Carbon monoxide molecules bond with hemoglobin, the protein in blood that helps bring oxygen to the different parts of your body.

When the gas molecules bond to the hemoglobin, the hemoglobin can no longer bond with an oxygen molecule, cutting off the flow of oxygen through the body. If the flow of oxygen is disrupted for long enough, serious symptoms and even death can occur.

SIGNS OF CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING

Unfortunately, the best method of detecting carbon monoxide without external equipment is to be aware of the symptoms of poisoning so you can recognize them. People suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning describe symptoms similar to that of a case of the flu. These symptoms can include headaches, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion.

In more severe cases, poisoning can result in loss of consciousness, heart arrhythmias, seizures, and even death. It’s also important to note that a patient’s skin turning bright red – traditionally considered a common sign of poisoning – may not occur in every case, so don’t count on that if you’re worried about gas in your home.

PREVENTION MEASURES

Because carbon monoxide gas is the resulting of incomplete burning, it’s important to make sure any appliances in your home that use gas are in good working order. Check your furnaces, stoves, generators, outdoor equipment, and other devices to make sure they’re working correctly.

It’s also a good idea to install at least one monitored carbon monoxide monitor somewhere in your home, preferably near anything that uses gas as a fuel source. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, “… carbon monoxide detectors are as important to home safety as smoke detectors are,” and they recommend having at least one detector in your home, ideally one on each level.

The best way to ensure you’re safe from carbon monoxide poisoning is to hire a professional monitoring service. They will monitor your home 24/7, meaning you can leave the worrying to them while being assured that you and your family are safe. To find out more about carbon monoxide monitoring services from Safe Home Security, call us at 800-833-3211 or visit us online.

The post How Professional Monitoring Keeps You Safe from Carbon Monoxide appeared first on Safehome Security.