Fire Proof Home Safes

Fireproof safes are one of the best ways to store and protect valuable records, film and information stored on hard drives. They are many different models all in various sizes and configurations and each has a specific rating of how much heat it can withstand and for how long. The best safes are rated to withstand external temperatures of 2000 degrees Fahrenheit for as long as four hours. Most home fires are put out within the first hour and never even reach temperatures close to that high heat, but most safes are not rated that high. An average fireproof safe rating is one hour at 1000 degrees, but they are further rated from that.

Film and digital storage devices are much more susceptible to heat that paper. For just protecting paper the internal temperature of the safe can reach up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit before the paper ignites. Most safes have a rating that prevents heat from getting higher than 350 degrees inside the safe. Put a piece of paper in the oven to test this. Turn the oven on to 500 degrees and watch when the paper ignites (it should be right around 450 degrees). Micro film, negatives and hard drives are ruined at much lower temperatures. At 125 degrees film melts and hard drives become unusable so a safe with a higher rating is absolutely necessary.

The Underwriters Laboratory (UL) is responsible for testing and labeling the classifications of safes as well as other products. They drop every safe from heights of 30 feet to ensure they won’t break or open and test them for temperature ratings. UL class 125 will keep records below 125 degrees and 80% humidity, and is considered waterproof as well. These are the best safes for any material, paper and digital storage mediums. They are accompanied with another number which denotes how long they can maintain that protection in hours, up to four. Other classes are class 150 and class 350 for protecting paper records.

There are many different sizes of fireproof safes, some of them small enough to fit inside of a drawer and can hold birth certificates, deeds, mortgages, titles and other important documents. Most are big enough to keep most important documents as well as a handful of valuables such as jewelry or gold coins. The largest fireproof safes are room sized and can protect many different items. Bank vaults are tested to the highest fireproof and security ratings.

The main material that is used to protect valuables in fireproof safes is ceramic. It is very heat resistant, will not burn or melt under most circumstances and can cool quickly without cracking. This is important because most firemen artificially cool any hot surface they can find, including safes. Many materials change size and shape when they are rapidly cooled which could crack the outer material prematurely or more common, burst the door open exposing the contents to heat and water.

A fireproof safe is one of the best ways to protect records and valuables from disasters such as floods and fires.  

 

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