How long does home security equipment last
A mortice lock lasts 25 to 40 years, an intruder alarm system 10 to 15, and a CCTV system 8 to 12. The lock is mechanical and outlives the electronics several times over, and the parts most likely to fail first, the backup battery and the sensors, are the cheapest to replace.
Home security is a mechanical part and an electronic system on very different clocks. A mortice lock lasts 25 to 40 years; an intruder alarm 10 to 15; a CCTV system 8 to 12. The lock outlives the electronics several times over, and the parts that fail first on the electronics, the backup battery and the sensors, are the cheapest to replace. Most security spend goes wrong by renewing the wrong layer.
What each part lasts
| Component | Typical lifespan | What usually ends it |
|---|---|---|
| Mortice lock | 25–40 years | mechanism wear, spring fatigue, cylinder wear |
| Intruder alarm system | 10–15 years | sensor drift, control panel failure, battery backup failure |
| CCTV system | 8–12 years | camera sensor degradation, recorder failure, cable wear |
These ranges come from security trade data and manufacturer field cohorts behind the planning model. The pattern across the rows is the electronic-versus-mechanical split. The lock is a machined part that wears slowly; the alarm and the cameras are electronics whose life is set as much by obsolescence and spare-part availability as by any physical failure. That difference decides how each one should be treated.
The battery and the sensors fail before the system does
An alarm rarely dies as a whole; it dies one part at a time, and the first part is almost always the backup battery. That battery is a three-to-five-year sub-cycle, the external sounder lasts ten years or more, and the panel itself reaches the top of its range only if the sensors are kept in calibration. Treating a flat backup battery or a drifting sensor as a dead system is the common overspend. The system’s real limit tends to arrive not when a part breaks but when spare parts stop being made, which for most panels is around fifteen years.
When electronics reach the end of their range
Replace an alarm or CCTV system, rather than repair it, when the parts are no longer stocked and any fault means a new panel or recorder regardless. This is not a manufacturer being difficult: a fifteen-year-old panel sits on components the trade has moved past, and a security installer who says it cannot be repaired economically is describing the parts market, not selling you something. A CCTV recorder that fails at ten years is usually the point the cameras and the recorder get renewed together, because a new recorder often will not talk to old cameras. The annual-cost method is the honest test: what the repair costs against the years it buys before obsolescence forces the change anyway.
When to start planning
Bram’s house in Utrecht has an alarm system installed in 2013, thirteen years into a 10-to-15-year range, still working but on its second backup battery and with one motion sensor that trips in the cold. The parts are getting harder to source. That is the planning window, not the emergency. He prices a system upgrade this year while the old one still arms, and asks the installer to confirm which existing cabling and sensors a new panel can reuse. The alternative is the week the panel finally dies, the house sits without cover, and the choice is whatever can be fitted fastest.
What this means before you call anyone
Security spend is worth splitting into the layer that wears and the layer that dates. The lock is a decades-long mechanical part you service, not a system you renew; the alarm and cameras are electronics you plan to replace on a shorter clock, before obsolescence picks the moment for you. You can check the repair-or-replace arithmetic for your system with the free repair-or-replace calculator below, and the plan in appkeep tracks the backup-battery sub-cycle and the system’s own replacement year separately, so the cheap part and the expensive one arrive on their own clocks.
Is this a repair year or a replacement year?
You give the component, its age, and the repair quote you are holding. You see which costs less per year of service, and how much life a repair can honestly buy at this age. The method is the one property managers run: cost divided by the years it buys, not the size of the two numbers side by side.
The answer
Pick a component, its age, and the repair quote to see the year you are in.
The money is one input, not the decision. See the repair-or-replace guide for the third option (waiting, with a date) and the four times the arithmetic gets overruled: safety, energy rules, insurance, and a third failure in a year.
This runs on typical market prices and lifespans, not your own component. Signed in, appkeep runs the same method on your house's real age, cost, and history.
- Lifespans and installed replacement costs are the sourced seed behind appkeep's plan (RgdBOEI 2012 / NEN 2767, NAHB, BRE, CIBSE, trade bodies, manufacturer guidance). Prices are per unit, VAT-inclusive, in today's money. Each carries its own confidence label, shown next to the number.
- A repair does not reset the component's clock. The years a repair buys are capped by the life the component has left, and past roughly three-quarters of its life that shrinks fast, because wear accelerates. The tool reflects that in the years-a-repair-buys figure.
- The tool prices the money. It cannot see the component's condition, whether this is its first fault or its third, or a safety or insurance rule that forces the call. Those sit with you and the linked guide.
Common questions
How long does a home alarm system last?
A full intruder alarm system (panel, sensors, and keypad) lasts 10 to 15 years. The backup battery is a much shorter sub-cycle at three to five years, and an external sounder lasts ten years or more, so a fault in either is a part to replace, not a reason to renew the system. What usually ends the system is spare-part availability rather than physical failure: past about fifteen years the panel's components are no longer stocked, and a fault then means a full replacement rather than a repair.
How long does a mortice lock last?
A mortice lock lasts 25 to 40 years. It is a mechanical component, so it wears slowly and outlives the electronic security around it several times over. What ends it is mechanism wear, spring fatigue, or a worn cylinder, all of which give warning through a stiffening or catching action long before the lock fails outright. A stiff lock wants servicing or a cylinder change, not necessarily full replacement, which is why it is a maintenance signal rather than a security emergency.
How long do CCTV cameras last?
A CCTV system lasts 8 to 12 years. The cameras degrade as their image sensors age, and the recorder is the part most likely to fail first. Because a new recorder often will not communicate with older cameras, a recorder failure at around ten years is usually the point the whole system gets renewed together rather than piece by piece. Obsolescence tends to set the replacement date before physical wear does, so plan a CCTV system on the shorter end of its range if you are counting on the footage and not just the deterrent.
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