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FightinAggieCHL wrote:whenever I enter the house and no one is home, I am especially aware of any temperature inconsistencies, weird shapes, lights, etc.

I'm glad I live in the country and the less-savory neighbors are scared of me. It means I can ignore the large glowing, cold icosahedron rolling around the living room for no apparent reason.

OTOH, my wife is quite used to me meeting her at the door holding a gun...with another one leaned up beside the door...and another on the shelf...I'm rarely conscious enough in the early afternoon to know for sure what noise woke me up until I actually see something, so I like to be ready for several possibilities...and a few New York reloads if necessary.

Excaliber wrote:Good luck with this if you decide to go ahead with it, but I still don't think it's a good idea. For one thing, if you have a fire, it's possible for the system to discharge through an electrical short caused by fire damage and drive all the firemen out of your house. I have a sneaking suspicion that you'll experience some fairly notable unintended results somewhere down the line.

Err...if my house is on fire, won't the pepper spray fall well below burning carpet fumes on the list of things to bother the firefighters?

For that matter, the 8-10lbs of powder and the various cleaners under the sink will be a lot more than irritants if they ignite in the enclosed house.

Maybe that's why firemen wear full face respirators when entering burning buildings.

Excaliber wrote:If the alarm goes off, after a preset delay, the OC aerosol is discharged. This means if your alarm goes off and you don't get your family into your safe room in time, you'll be disabling yourself and your family unless you connect it to a manual switch. That would be a nasty surprise while you've got a few other things on your mind.

That's why I specified the panic button inside the room; wait until the BG starts trying to get into the safe room, then trigger it directly. The alarm should be set to only trigger it automatically in "away" mode, if at all. By that point, you should have already used the cell phone to call the cops, and retrieved weapons for all family members capable of using them. Since you safe room should also have another exit, you can get out after the burglar has given up and before the OC starts getting heavy inside the room.

Of course, there's also the option of cheap, full-face respirators for all family members. One or more will probably be a necessity if any part of your home defense plan includes OC so that you can retrieve paperwork, medications, etc. after the incident. Either way, I'd rather have a spicy house for a few days than have to clean up and repair the mess from 00buck through the bedroom door.

Excaliber wrote:9. A safe room with a reinforced door equipped with a dead bolt to provide the family with a retreat location if an intrusion occurs while people are home.

And for $167, this seems like a great add-on just outside the safe room, with a panic button for it inside the room.