sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Security, Alarms and Paging Line Seizure

Hello,

I am trying to find the most effective solution to my problem.

I have a firm alarm sytem, a security system, and a fax line. I want to eliminate one line.

I have a dedicated line for fire with a secondary for backup.

I want to use the secondary line for the security, fire and fax. But I need the line to be seized in case of emergency from either fire or the security system. any ideas any one?

I really do not suggest sharing your fire and security lines. First thing you will need to do is check your local codes to see if they allow line sharing on your fire panel. Many places allow it for the backup line but not the primary.

If you do decide to share the lines then you need to go from the network interface (demark) to the fire panel and install an rj31x at the fire panel. then go from your fire panel to your alarm panel, install a second rj31x, then go out to your phones. This gives your fire panel priority over everything else followed by your security panel. You may want to look into a cellular option for your burglar alarm panel. Then you do not need to worry about a dedicated phone line to the panel.

The reason I do not suggest running both panels off of one line is if the line goes dead now your burglar alarm system is down as well as your fire alarm backup. Also if the fire panel does seize the line and stays one it for a few minutes it will trip your burglar alarm since the phone line is normally monitored. I would suggest you contact your alarm system provider for further assistance. They will be the ones who need to make the changes anyway. If this is not done properly it can leave you with a useless alarm and fire panel which can lead to some pretty big liability issues.

Thanks for the clarification

Another option you have is to get the security system to activate the fire alarm if the fire alarm has the capability and it's allowable in your area. ( Capability meaning spare zones or room for more modules if the fire system is addressable. )
Then just tell the monitoring center which zone is a burglar alarm zone.
It would be best to have at least 2 available zones in the fire system for the security system, 1 for alarms and 1 for troubles.

The down side to this is that the monitoring center would only receive a burglar alarm with no way of knowing which security system zone was tripped.

This is not a do-it-yourself project as Anthony mentioned. In most (if not all) states it is illegal to work on fire systems and/or security systems without the required licenses.