If you are able to turn off the alarm at the circuit box it means that the backup battery has expired. The usual life of a typical alarm battery is 3 - 5 years. The standard battery used is a 12 volt gell cell, either 4 amp or 7 amp (4.5, 6.7, etc.). They run about $20-30 and can be found at Radio Shack among other places. Locate the alarm control box (normally in a closet somewhere near the center of the house). It is commonly secured by a screw in the edge of the hinged door but better alarm companies install a panel lock. (If you have a lock and no key, contact us for help). The only thing to be careful of is that you place the red lead on the red marked post of the battery and the black on the black (+ on +, - on -). Be sure to recycle the old battery properly because you don't want to be sending lead and acid to the landfills.

Static electricity in the air from a nearby lightning strike can often be enough to lightly weld the tiny hair-thin connections inside the reed relay alarm contacts in windows and doors. It is likely that all the contacts on that side of the house were affected. In many cases you can make the contacts work again by tapping on the contact mounted in the window or door casing (not the magnet in the window or door) but those affected contacts really should be replaced for best reliability and security.

Before you panic and go looking for a new chime module (IA-28 or IA-29) here's something that might work. Look for the small plastic pin in the center top of the intercom master. When you lift it out the intercom should come down on its hinge. Don't worry, there are no high voltages anywhere inside but you do need to be careful. Locate the chime module in the front left portion of the chassis and find the gray flat cable that runs from the chime to the other side of the intercom chassis. On the end is a plastic connector. Pull left to disconnect the cable from the pin connections and wait about 10 seconds. Then carefully push the connector back on the pins. In many cases this will discharge the static electric charge that is locking the "mute" function on the intercom and everything will go back to normal. This technique works on the IM200 through IM3XXX series of Nutone intercoms.

Your phone system needs a backup power source. Locate the phone system KSU (Key System Unit) located where the phone cable comes inside your building or office. Plug the power cord from the phone system into a standard computer UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) and plug the UPS into the wall socket and turn it on. Your phone system should now continue to operate smoothly through most brief power outages. Make sure you remember to replace the battery in the UPS about every 4 to 5 years. Alarm companies, alarm supply, electrical supply stores or Radio Shack should have the battery you need. Make sure that the power rating on the phone system does not exceed the rating on the UPS unit.  If the power is out more than about 20 minutes it might be good to forward your calls and turn off the UPS unit until the power is restored.

That is likely a "hum" bar caused by a grounding problem somewhere in the system. You might expect it to be from a lack of a ground connection but more often it results from multiple grounding paths. This might be something that an experienced technician would need to handle but you can look for obvious causes such as a a loose connection at the video monitor or a video cable coax cable braided shield that is touching something it shouldn't, such as places where the cable passes through metal walls in a steel building, for example.