How to Test Your Guardian Home Security System (And Why You Should)

Testing to ensure your home security system is communicating properly with Guardian’s monitoring center is extremely important. Be sure to test your system once a month. Additionally, we recommend testing in these circumstances: 

• After remodeling or making renovations to your home 
• After making changes to your telephone landline/internet/broadband service 
• Before going on vacation 

How Testing Works 

To help ensure that your home security system is communicating, the system automatically sends a silent signal from your security panel to the monitoring center on a regular basis. Frequency is determined by the system type, and we recommend manually testing the system at least once a month to ensure the devices in the home are working and communicating properly. Guardian will notify you if your system fails to communicate. 

If you test your home security system on your own, you can know immediately if it is communicating to the monitoring center. You can choose to do a partial test or a full test.  A partial test is done by placing the system in alarm or initiating the communication test from the keypad. This tells you whether your security panel is communicating with the monitoring center. A full test tells you whether all devices that signal the monitoring center — such as keypads, monitored door and window sensors, motion sensors, and heat and smoke detectors — are communicating. A full test is an especially good idea if you have had any work done, as described above. 

It is simple to test your home security system by logging into your Guardian account here. When you test your system online, you will see a message telling you the last time your system was tested. Remember that cameras, including video doorbells, can only be tested by personally viewing them and not by this method. 

How to Test Your System Through Your Guardian Account 

1. Log in to your Guardian account and locate the “My System” section on the top left of the page.
2. Click the “Test” option and follow the step-by-step instructions provided on your screen.
3. Once you choose “Start Test”, you will be asked to enter your Master Verbal Alarm Password to proceed. 
4. Next, you will see the screen labeled “Perform System Test” with details on your 4-hour test period.
5. Open a door or window monitored by your alarm system. Once the siren activates, wait at least 60 seconds, then disarm your system. 
6. To end your test, click the “Stop Test” button or the test period will expire in 4 hours.

You should receive an email confirming the system was placed on a test mode.

Remember: If you receive notifications through interactive services (MyGuardianHome, MyGuardianControl, or MyGuardianConnect), you and your users will receive notifications while testing. 

How to Test Your System Without Your Guardian Account 

To avoid the notification of emergency responders, call 1.800.PROTECT (1.800.776.8328) and request to have your account placed in ‘test’ mode. Our representative will then guide you through the process, which is five fast steps: 

1. Set your alarm system and wait until the time delay has completed. 
2. Open a door or window monitored by your alarm system. Once the siren activates, wait at least 60 seconds, then disarm your system. 
3. If you are disconnected from our representative (the alarm system may seize the telephone line) call 1.800.PROTECT (1.800.776.8328) back as soon as your telephone line returns to obtain the result of your test. 
4. Reset your keypad. 
5. Ask your representative to take your system off test mode to resume 24-hour monitoring.