Coming home to find a burglar in your house...

[flintknapper]

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.

I'd be kinda careful about this one. It's not designed for residential applications, and, while it would probably cause the intruder to leave the area quickly, the drawbacks are pretty severe.

First of all, it's designed as a commercial area denial device connected to an alarm system. 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.

Unless you also turn off your HVAC system before activating the device, as soon as the AC or heat come on, it will draw the aerosol into your safe room as well unless you have a separate air handling system that isolates that area from the rest of the house. This will force you and your family to vacate the safe room as well.

Note that it is advertised as covering approximately 2400 square feet of space. That would cover the first floor of most residences, and would make the area quite uninhabitable until thoroughly ventilated.

I wouldn't suggest this for residential purposes.

I can see it now: "Oh man.....I didn't think about that"!

Even if it drove off an intruder you would never survive the constant "re-telling" of this story! (Wives can be merciless in that respect).

[Excaliber]

It's the little things that'll getcha........

Flint is definitely right that you'd NEVER live it down. The cops would be retelling it for years!

[KD5NRH]

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]

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.

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.

[DoubleJ]

I have a sneaking suspicion that you'll experience some fairly notable unintended results somewhere down the line.

Unintended Consequences????
are you making book recommendations again?

[Excaliber]

I have a sneaking suspicion that you'll experience some fairly notable unintended results somewhere down the line.

Unintended Consequences????
are you making book recommendations again?

Nope.

I was just trying to find a gentle way to say I think KD5NRH will end up dosing himself and his family with a high volume OC discharge at some point if he installs a commercial area denial device in his residence.

[flintknapper]

I have a sneaking suspicion that you'll experience some fairly notable unintended results somewhere down the line.

Unintended Consequences????
are you making book recommendations again?

Nope.

I was just trying to find a gentle way to say I think KD5NRH will end up dosing himself and his family with a high volume OC discharge at some point if he installs a commercial area denial device in his residence.

Now, thats the way I like it, "straight up" plain talk.

[KD5NRH]

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]

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.

The bottom line is - it's your house and your family, and you'll do what you think is best.

If you decide to go ahead with this, please be kind enough to share the results with the rest of us so we can either benefit from your insight or avoid making the same mistakes.

[FightinAggieCHL]

I have had a similar concern going home to my house when I was home from school. We have a neighbor across the street who we have had problems with before (and by problems, I mean he tried to run over my mom with his car), so whenever I enter the house and no one is home, I am especially aware of any temperature inconsistencies, weird shapes, lights, etc. Basically anything that could be an indication of an intruder. I've thought about the fact that a person on the defense in the house has a big tactical advantage, but I am always ready to draw when I enter the house. As soon as I go in, I go upstairs and check all the rooms, while my dad (another CHL holder) will check the garage and master bedroom. It sucks that we have to constantly be aware of this type of thing, but I guess it's better to be aware and a little bit more secure than it is to be caught flat-footed.

On that note, hearing the front door open is also somewhat of a concern. Our neighbor has, on more than one occasion, beaten on the our front door. We keep it locked, but that doesn't always work as most of us on these forums have read in the papers. Everyone in my family knows to identify themselves as they come in, whether it be my dad stepping on the wood floors with his boots especially hard, or my mom saying that she's home so everyone can hear it.

I don't want to give the impression that as soon as a person enters our house, we immediately have a weapon drawn and are ready to shoot. It's just that we happen to have an extra state of awareness of people entering our residence because we all realize that there is a dangerous person living in the neighborhood. I guess the real key here is more communication among everyone in our family to make sure we're all taken care of.

[KD5NRH]

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.