Removing old burglar alarm from the mains

joeypesci

Moved into a house a few years back now. The agent never gave us details on the alarm other than they believe it hasn't been used for years. They are no longer replying to any emails and the alarm company that used to service it appears in a state where they maybe going out of business (their website is shockingly poor) and assume as no longer being paid also has no interest in replying.

I've found the control box in the old airing cupboard. Opened the panel and found service notes in it. Last entry suggests the alarm is now disconnected. But my cable tester is showing 230v live is still being fed to the unit.

Hasbeen

I am assuming the question you are trying to ask is how to remove?
Since you have been in the house a few years now, it is safe to assume the alarm is disconnected.
But could still have live feed from consumer unit.
Check consumer unit. Turn of circuits one at a time to find out when power to control box fails.

Undervalued

From your photo it appears one lead has been removed from the control panel backup battery?

The bell box / sounder outside will also have a backup battery. If you turn off the mains to the control panel (and the panel's battery is disconnected) the outside sounder should operate for up to 20 mins on its own battery. However, given the length of time that battery may well be dead or only keep it going for a few seconds!

Are you intending to remove the system or get it back up and running? There is an extensive alarm installers forum which, surprisingly, has one publicly accessible DIY section where some of the professionals will provide advice.
https://www.thesecurityinstaller.co.uk/community/forum/113-diy-installers/

From your photo it looks perfectly recoverable if you wanted to. It may only need new batteries inside and out plus a bit of a check over. If you don't know the user and engineer codes there is normally a way of doing a factory reset and setting up again.

markin

Disconect the phone, replace the 2 wires and you should have a working alarm, once you find the reset or service code. It seems it was on a contract for 2 years and when that ended they disabled it.

Now if you really do want to rip it out we need photos of the area around the main fuse box and the alarm. It is likely to just be a Fused spur from a near by socket.

joeypesci

Thanks for the replies. Yes I want to eventually take it all out was going to start with the sensors first. Just was acutely aware I have no ladder to get up to the bell box if it decides to go off so been worried on touching any of it. Was close to pulling the fuse months ago then suddenly dawned on me then, if I don't know its state (hadn't found the documents in the first post), it might go off. Having just finished making room in loft for stuff, I've moved all junk out of the cupboard the alarm box is in. That was when took the cover off and found the document. And thought it looked like a rig from a Hollywood movie (which wire should I cut )
This is the fuse box the other side of the cupboard. Was hidden in its own makeshift cupboard.
There are no phone lines in the house. We never bothered getting any phonel when moved in. So I am correct in thinking, as the document now says disconnected, there is no chance of it going off?

Gewens

From looking at the picture, the main fuse has been removed from the control panel. It's the bit on the right above the black power supply.

You say you have a volt tester, so try turning off your breakers to identify which circuit feeds the fused spur for the alarm. Once that is off you can open the spur and remove the cable that goes to the alarm. It can then be ripped out. 
The bell box won't go off as no power has been supplied to the control unit since that fuse was pulled out.