Common Features of The Best Fireproof Home Safes
When trying to choose the best home safe for your home and family, there are a host of factors to consider. There are many styles and features designed for specific applications.
The type, size, and features of the safe will vary depending on your priorities and the amount and type of items that you want to keep in the safe.
The type of safe required for one just trying to store a few documents may be very different from a safe designed to safeguard a large gun collection or priceless antiquities and jewelry.
This guide will focus primarily on finding the best fireproof safes for everyday use.
Of course, some of the safes may be suitable for more than just keeping a few documents safe from harm. At the top of the list are a couple of safes that are fireproof and large enough to safeguard a fair amount of valuables as well- providing the best of both worlds…
Top 6 Considerations When Buying a Safe that is Fireproof
The Size and Weight
Fireproof home safes come in a variety of sizes. They range from smaller portable ones, for a few documents and small items to larger units, designed to house gun collections weighing many hundreds of pounds. The best fireproof home safes are large enough for the items you need to store. You should also factor in a bit of space to keep valuable items you might purchase in the future.
Smaller, portable safes that can be hidden and carried when traveling.
If you are looking for a bit more versatility, there are some modest-sized fireproof safes that will enable you to store documents and some valuables as well. An average-size 1.3-cubic-foot safe typically weighs in the 80-100lb range. This is usually large enough to store important documents, a handgun or two, and expensive jewelry.
While the weight makes it difficult for an intruder to carry it off, these safes can usually be bolted to the floor for an extra measure of security.
Some of them even contain a separate smaller lockbox inside which can be transported. Additionally, fireproof pouches can easily be taken on the road as well.
Types of Fireproof Safes
Safes for your home can provide protection against a variety of threats – theft, fire, or even water. Some safes do a good job protecting against all of them. However, there are typically trade-offs to be made. Not all safes are designed to address all these risks. When selecting your home safe, be sure that it is designed to protect against the risks that concern you most.
When choosing the most secure safe to use at home, there are a variety of styles to choose from:
Portable – If you travel or are away from your primary residence for extended periods, a portable safe might be a good fit. (or work well as a secondary unit). It will be more convenient to bring the safe with your valuables and important paperwork with you.
Wall Safe – Safes for walls are typically installed in between the wall studs. They can be easily concealed behind furniture or prints and paintings. However, they are not very spacious and often provide less protection against fire and flooding.
Stand-Alone – They come in a variety of sizes and can even be bolted to the floor. These safes offer more durable construction and may provide additional protection against fire, water, and theft.
Gun safes – Are available in various sizes, from small handgun boxes to massive safes for rifles
In addition, there are different levels of protection against specific types of threats. Keep this in mind if you are looking for safes that are fireproof.
Fire Resistance
Although they are often referred to as “fire-proof” safes, a more accurate term would be fire-resistant. Fire-resistant safes are rated Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and other agencies based upon the safe’s ability to keep the contents below a certain temperature after the exterior is exposed to fire-level temperatures. It is based on keeping the temperature below 350 degrees F for times that range between 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
This temperature was selected because these safes are commonly used to protect important paper documents. Paper begins to char at 387°F and ignites at 421°F.
The most common UL classification system is as follows:
- Class 350-4Hr. (formerly Class A) 4 hrs. @ 2000°F
- Class 350-2Hr. (formerly Class B) 2 hrs. @ 1850°F
- Class 350-1Hr. (formerly Class C) 1 hr. @ 1700°F
- Class 350- 1/2Hr. (formerly Class E) 30 Min. @ 1550°F
Most fireproof home safes can keep the contents below 350°F for a minimum of 30 minutes after being exposed to flames. This is often sufficient, as house fires usually do not exceed 1200°F and are put out in less than an hour. However, for those who reside in more rural areas, where the response time may be longer, it might make sense to consider higher-rated safes.
For the best fire resistance, a location on a concrete surface such as a basem*nt or garage floor will be less susceptible to extreme temperatures.
Some items, such as computer disks or DVDs, are easily damaged by extreme heat. If you are looking to store sensitive info on this type of media, you will need to purchase a safe which will keep temperatures under 125°F.
These are typically far more expensive, so you may want to consider just converting to digital media and storing it in the cloud.
Home Security Safe Rating Index
Not all safes have UL Ratings. However, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) rates certain safes based on the construction, design, and capability to deter forced entry attempts. Following are some very general industry guidelines commonly used to recommend safes by specialized safe retailers.
The most common burglary ratings are:
• B-rated – $5,000 or less worth of important items.
• Rated B/C – Up to $10,000 worth of content.
• UL RSC – Up t0 $15,000 worth of content.
• C-rated – Up to $25, 000 worth of content.
• UL TL -15 – Up to $100,000 worth of valuables The safe can be able to withstand an attack of 15 minutes using ordinary tools and devices.
These values are typically doubled when combined with top-rated monitored home security systems!
