Fireproof safes

actiondcpd · Posted: Jun 17, 2005 8:50 am Post subject: Fireproof safes

I have fireproof safe with a digital keypad. It is pretty sweet but I was just thinking how the hell would you open the safe if it was in a fire and all the buttons melted off?

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Umm... have it cut open? All the stuff in it would still be fine.

churchy · Posted: Jun 17, 2005 10:15 am Post subject:

actiondcpd, I just bought one of those myself, but havne't opened it yet. It should have also come with a key.

pyrocasto · Posted: Jun 19, 2005 9:43 pm Post subject:

So what exactly is a "fireproof" safe made out of?

It depends on the fire but I'm pretty sure a house fire can get hot enough to melt pure iron, which is hotter than any steel and only <2800 degrees F.

chipsevila · Posted: Jun 20, 2005 5:25 am Post subject:

I lost the key to my fireproof safe. Was not digital, just a regular lock. I was bummed, cuz I knew there was good stuff in there. So I just took a hammer and a screwdriver and busted the lock off.

It's fireproof not tamper proof. You'll be able to get in.

pyrocasto · Posted: Jun 20, 2005 9:14 am Post subject:

Nothing's tamper proof. You can drill or cut into any safe.

aceyx · Addict Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 770 City: dirty

Dragonlady8 · Black Widow Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 9198

One of the greatest thing I learned about fireproof safes was from what happend during the CA fires.
Many people had those safes, but their "perishable" ( ie paper) documents still were destroyed.

If you think about it, the safe acts like an oven. It may be "indestructable" from the earths elements ( fire, water......) on the outside, but the inner housing still has to absorb the temperatures.

pyrocasto · Posted: Jun 21, 2005 10:13 am Post subject:

Ok, forgot about substances like plaster. Like DL said though, your paper goods would still burn up usually. If you cold make it air tight, your paper goods would just turn black(into coal) and fragile.

Firefightersmurf · Guest

Actually pyrocasto the typical house fire hits temperatures of about 1500 degrees F at the ceiling level. At floor level the temperatures remain as low as about 200 degrees. The difference between a typical house fire, and an urban interface fire that occurred in CA was the duration of the exposure. We typically have a fully evolved house fire under control within about 30min to an hour, where as the Wildfires burned until they ran out of fuel. If you read on the packaging the safe should be rated for a certain temp and time. If you stay within these limits your valuable should be ok.