What You Should Know When Purchasing A Fire Safe

There are primarily two types of safes available on the market, burglary safes and fire safes. These days, all safes will offer some degree of protection against both; however, there are only a few that offer strong protection against both. This is due to the simple fact that the materials used in fire and burglary safes are quite different. Materials that may be useful in protecting against damage from fire might not offer very much in the way of protection against burglary and visa versa. Fire safes will typically be constructed with thin metal walls with a layer of fire board between them. The thin metal walls will, unfortunately, leave the safe vulnerable to attack. Safes that are built in order to protect against burglary will have thick steal walls and, as a result, will cause the interior of the safe to heat up quickly leaving the interior vulnerable to heat damage.

Safes that are designed to protect against both fire and burglary are essentially two safes; a burglary safe within a fire safe. As one might imagine, a high end safe that protects against both fire and burglary can be a fairly expensive. It is important that one considers the value of the property to be housed in the safe in accordance with the approximate risk of fire and attempted burglary when looking to purchase one of these specialty safes. Again, it is important to remember that both fire safes and burglary safes offer a certain level against both dangers.

The fact that all of the major brands of fire safes these days utilize the standard ratings of the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) makes it a fairly simple task to judge the protection afforded by one safe as opposed to another. The UL rating system uses two numbers separated by a dash where the first number indicates the maximum number that the interior of the safe will reach and the second number indicates the length of time that the interior of the safe will remain at that temperature under the conditions of a typical fire. For example, a safe with a rating of 350-2 will not exceed a temperature of 350° F for two hours under the conditions of a typical fire. Since paper begins to burn at 405° , a fire safe with a class rating of 350 is perfectly adequate. During testing, fire safes will typically be exposed to temperatures of between 1700° F and 1850° F. It is important to remember that sometimes a company will advertise their safe’s rating in accordance with exterior temperature that the safe can withstand; however, it is the interior temperature with which one should be more concerned.

When it comes to the amount of protection that a fire safe offers, it really comes down to a couple of simple areas. First is the amount of fire board used in the safe. The more fireboard utilized, the better the protection offered. Second is the basic construction used in the design of the safe. In a sense, it is not just the materials that are used but how they are used. Of critical importance is the fire seal that surrounds the door. Third is the steel content of the fire safe as it is the steel which provides the rigidity that the fire board requires in order to be effective.

It is important to keep in mind when purchasing a fire safe that there is no such thing as a fire proof safe. All safes are susceptible to heat and fire damage when exposed to extreme temperatures for an extended period of time due to the limitations of the materials available today.

Always Locksmith offers clients a full range of fire safes from the most respected manufacturers. Our call centre is open 24/7 and their courteous and highly trained customer service professionals will help find the best fire safe to fit your needs and dispatch one of our experienced and fully certified technicians to your location to perform the installation at your convenience.