The Truth About UL Alarm Systems

There's a lot of talk about UL-listed Central Stations.  Let's break things down a little.  I will underline important bits.

When there is a UL-listed alarm system, Underwriters Laboratories issues a certificate on the specific system that is installed, NOT on the monitoring company.

It certifies that:

Don't believe it if you are told that using UL-listed equipment or being monitored by a UL listed monitoring serviced constitutes a UL alarm system. A UL alarm system means that a certificate is issued by Underwriters Laboratories identifying the alarm company and your specific premises – describing important aspects of your level of security.

Who is requiring the system to meet UL standards or acquire a UL certification? The AHJ or building department? The insurer? The financial institution making the loan? Once this information is in front of you, you may find that it only applies to the fire alarm portion of the system, or only the security alarm portion.

 

Some descriptions relating to UL:

Extent 2 means that if an intruder takes more than three steps inside the premises, motion detection equipment will detect the person's presence.

Complete safe protection means that there is an alarm switch on the door of the safe and that the entire safe is protected by either vibration or touch sensing equipment.

Standard Line Security means that the link between the the premesis and the Central Station will be of high level protection (extremely difficult to defeat) such as two-way radio transmission or Internet communication. A digital communicator and cellular back-up adds a measure of protection but are not equivalent to UL-listed Standard Line Security.