How to Select the Best Home Safe for Security and Fire Resistance
There are tons of fireproof safes in the market.
But, it is important to be able to find out which type of safe will be suitable for your needs.
Follow these simple tips to choose the right one.
1) List out your needs: What is that you want to protect? If you are looking for a good safe that will protect your documents, then you can go for a document safe or cabinet.
Paper cannot withstand anything above 350 degrees.
So, document safes are designed to withstand such temperatures for a particular period of time from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Safes of different sizes, small and big are available for residential and industrial purposes.
If you want to protect media files such as CDs, DVDs, hard drive, pen drive and photo negatives, you can go for a media safe.
Softcopies such as these cannot resist a temperature more than 125 degrees.
Media safes are designed to resist such temperatures for a certain amount of time.
Gun safes are designed especially to protect guns, pistols and ammunition.
Burglar safes are resistant to burglary as well as fire and water with certain ratings for some time duration.
Depending upon the type of possessions, you can choose the suitable safe.
2) Check the specification: Fireproof safes are specially designed with specific fire retardant materials.
Their body should be made up of thick solid steel which is at least 1 to 1 1/2" in thickness.
It must be lined with fire retardant foam or any such sort of insulation to keep the heat from entering the compartment.
The door must be made up of solid steel with the same thickness as that of the body.
The locks must be rated and contain combination locks with relocking system.
3) Look for the mount: Floor mounting is better than wall mounting.
Wall mounting does not offer as much protection as the floor mounted safe.
When there is a burglary, a suspended or submerged safe within the floor cannot be found out.
Even it is identified, burglars will definitely find it hard to detach it off of the floor and the locks too are very complicated that they cannot be broken.
4) Check for the rating: All genuine rated safes contain the UL rating.
This is a mandatory rating that must be possessed by any quality safe.
The Underwriters Laboratories conduct various quality tests on the safes to ensure that they are valid to be supplied in the market.
The safes are placed in a hot oven or furnace for a certain time to test them for heat resistance.
They are immersed in water for a particular time to see if they are not affected by water or moisture.
A safe that lacks this rating is definitely a fake which is light weight and made up of sheet metal and lined with fire linings.
But, it is important to be able to find out which type of safe will be suitable for your needs.
Follow these simple tips to choose the right one.
1) List out your needs: What is that you want to protect? If you are looking for a good safe that will protect your documents, then you can go for a document safe or cabinet.
Paper cannot withstand anything above 350 degrees.
So, document safes are designed to withstand such temperatures for a particular period of time from 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Safes of different sizes, small and big are available for residential and industrial purposes.
If you want to protect media files such as CDs, DVDs, hard drive, pen drive and photo negatives, you can go for a media safe.
Softcopies such as these cannot resist a temperature more than 125 degrees.
Media safes are designed to resist such temperatures for a certain amount of time.
Gun safes are designed especially to protect guns, pistols and ammunition.
Burglar safes are resistant to burglary as well as fire and water with certain ratings for some time duration.
Depending upon the type of possessions, you can choose the suitable safe.
2) Check the specification: Fireproof safes are specially designed with specific fire retardant materials.
Their body should be made up of thick solid steel which is at least 1 to 1 1/2" in thickness.
It must be lined with fire retardant foam or any such sort of insulation to keep the heat from entering the compartment.
The door must be made up of solid steel with the same thickness as that of the body.
The locks must be rated and contain combination locks with relocking system.
3) Look for the mount: Floor mounting is better than wall mounting.
Wall mounting does not offer as much protection as the floor mounted safe.
When there is a burglary, a suspended or submerged safe within the floor cannot be found out.
Even it is identified, burglars will definitely find it hard to detach it off of the floor and the locks too are very complicated that they cannot be broken.
4) Check for the rating: All genuine rated safes contain the UL rating.
This is a mandatory rating that must be possessed by any quality safe.
The Underwriters Laboratories conduct various quality tests on the safes to ensure that they are valid to be supplied in the market.
The safes are placed in a hot oven or furnace for a certain time to test them for heat resistance.
They are immersed in water for a particular time to see if they are not affected by water or moisture.
A safe that lacks this rating is definitely a fake which is light weight and made up of sheet metal and lined with fire linings.
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