Natural-damages:

How to prepare against Ruin

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Natural-damages are any kind of accidents originating from natural causes beyond personal control, that can throw the system out of order and destroy the regular home surveillance routine.

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In principle one should know if in the area there is a history of naturaldisasters like flood, heavy snow, thunderstorms, hurricanes and earthquakes, although in some cases the only safety to worry about is escape.

Not all places are equally exposed to all types of Natural-damages, and the risks may vary widely in severity depending on location, season and weather conditions.

Outdoor installations are more subject to hazards than protected indoor setups.Anyhow it is important to think in time of all the factors involved and toimplement provisions designed to guarantee continuous operation of home surveillance systems.

Thunderbolt
Lightning is a natural powerful electrostatic discharge occurring during athunderstorm. As such it might damage home surveillance devices and applications unless proper protection is put in place.

It is questionable if an effective thunderbolt protection, not only for homesurveillance equipment but for the whole house, can be a do-it-yourself project,it should rather be put up by Storm Safety Experts.

Inspection of lightning protection systems, and in general of all precautions against Natural-damages should be performed by a competent person during installation and repeated at fixed intervals, at least once a year.

A forum on Lightning protection can be seen at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LightningProtection/

Fire
A direct thunderbolt could set fire to any combustible structure of much highervalue than that of any home surveillance systems that happens to be included therein. Therefore the concerns should be directed at the house and surroundings. Insurance, if applicable, should include also the home surveillance equipment.

Surge
A transient surge protector is a device which can be used to guardelectronic equipment from damage or destruction caused by transient voltages andsurge currents.

The origins of such destructive transients, that most often attack equipment through any lines, can be traced back sometimes to thunderstorms or other Natural-damages.

The writer of these pages had the personal painful experience of his computer and modem being completely destroyed (with all included files) during a mild thunderstorm, just for having failed to shut off the system in time.

See also our new page on Emergency Button, with relevant information.

Leviton Duplex Surge Suppression Receptacle

A suitable surge protector was eventually put in place, too late for that hard lesson.

Wind
Unless fixed in place with due thought dedicated to the possible Natural-damages effects of strong breeze or gale, a careless mounting of an outdoor surveillance camera could be easily displaced by the wind to point to some other useless location.

Rain
Outdoor surveillance cameras are normally assembled in boxes designed to protectthem from occasional rain. If the place is subject to heavy rains though, additional protection is recommended, to keep the front lens clear from raindrops even in side wind.

Flood
Normally surveillance cameras are placed high, not likely to be flooded. Butconnections, transmitters, power outlets and other essential elements of a home surveillance system could be in danger if no provisions are taken to keep them out of reach of flooding.

Snow
Accumulating snow in front of a surveillance camera will block the view.Depending on conditions, suitable protection should be put in place, mostlyif the installation has to work unattended for long periods of time.

Ice
Surveillance cameras can be provided with internal heating to avoid vaporcondensation on the internal lenses, which would blur and blind the scene.If the location is such that freezing conditions cannot be excluded, thendefinite provisions against this kind of Natural-damages should be taken to avoid the destructive outcome.

Blackout
If blackouts cannot be excluded, then a suitable independent Uninterrupted PowerSupply (UPS) should be installed to avoid breaches in surveillance.In principle a blackout can be caused by human actions or errors, not necessarily from Natural-damages. But the outcome would be similar.

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Conclusions
Many and different hazards of Natural-damages may endanger the proper continuous operation of any home security system. One must know what could happen and which means should be set up to counter the harm.

Here we have briefly reviewed the damages and hindrances that could originate from natural causes. One should critically examine each one of the above occurrences and decide, even if not recommended, how risky would it be not to do anything about.

Depending upon the particular situation, one may decide to take precautions onlyagainst those Natural-damages deemed most probable or damaging. A suitable insurance may be studied for the remaining chances.

In any case one should not ignore the risks.

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Natural-damages may ruin anything, home surveillance systems included. Simple precautions and care may reduce the dangers or save the day. Think of it...