Winter Storm Power Outages Drain Home Security Alarms

If your alarm system lost power during the storm, chances are the back-up battery kept it going at least four to eight hours. But that's not a long time for families who went five to seven days without electricity, like Bill Gulla. 

Gulla is a New York native who knows a thing or two about snow storms. He says he was the only one on the block shoveling his driveway, but he still wasn't prepared to go five days without electricity.

"It was terrible no heat, no light," said Gulla.

His home security system also lost power.

"About two days afterward, the green light went out," Gulla said.

Forty-eight hours is much longer than the average backup battery life according to alarm specialist Josey White of Sirens Security LLC.

"This is when the power went off, the battery went low," he said,  pointing to a text he received warning him his alarm was dying via text. Thursday, White was busy making house calls.

"Just changing out back-up batteries that died out, didn't last as long as they should," he said.

White says the average battery should last 24 hours and longer life could protect families from opportunistic thieves.

"I would have expected it to be really bad with the power out, people not being home obviously. Power off, no lights, they know no one was there, but I've heard of very few break-ins, he added.

Gulla playfully counts on his two puppies as backup security, but says he's wasting no time resetting his alarm.

"They bark whenever anyone comes by," he said.

If you have an alarm system and lost power during the storm, your system may be beeping strangely or not at all. Experts say some alarms reset automatically, but many do not, so call your alarm company for assistance.