How a smart home can help you protect yourself in stormy weather
A storm can form a real threat to your home and family. We offer you some smart precautions to help you protect your home against stormy conditions.
There's nothing better than sitting warm and comfortable inside when outdoors a storm is raging through the land. But caution is recommended as a storm can be dangerous for both people and property. Lightning and heavy wind can bring damage to your house or can cause a sudden blackout. You can't rule out those risks, but smart technology can help you track these weather conditions to protect your house and family as much as possible.
Invest in a battery backup
The ultimate worst case scenario of a storm is a blackout. Whenever your power goes down, all electronic devices in your home become useless. This is also the case for your wired smart home devices and wireless internet connection. That's why an Uninterupted Power Supply (UPS) is always a good idea, whether you are living in a smart home or not.
An UTS is a large battery backup that will keep your wi-fi connection and devices up and running for approximately 12 hours. That should be long enough for the storm to pass and your power supplier to fix the blackout.
You don't need to have an UTS for every smart device in your home, but we advice to protect your Smart Home Hub, whether that's a wired or wireless system. There are different solutions on the market for the major smart home technologies. If you have a KNX smart home, you might want to look at Gira or ABB.
A water sensor to the rescue
Heavy rain during a storm can cause some serious water damage to your basement or ground floor. A smart water sensor or flood sensor will be able to detect water and help prevent flooding that could result from faulty pipes or a storm. The sensor will send an alert to your smartphone via wi-fi. Most smart water sensors or leak detectors integrate with a smart home system, or require a central hub such as Alexa to link devices together. You also have some independent sensors that can be controlled via an app on your smartphone.
Keep an eye on the outside
It's tempting to snuggle yourself under a blanket during a storm, but what if you're not at home? Or you need to get yourself and your family safety? A smart camera can help you keep an eye on your home and property from wherever you are. Many smart cameras include night-vision and are battery-run, which means they'll keep on working during a blackout. You can watch live from your smartphone or receive push notifications when something happens. So you'll be able to estimate the damage
There are a lot more options to protect your home against a natural disaster such as smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. Or an integrated home monitoring system. Of course, we hope you won't ever need these precautions, but in this case better safe than sorry is your motto.
