Accidents happen. However, even though many people are aware of this fact, it is very easy to think at the back of one’s mind that it will happen to someone else. And so when an accident strikes in a home at the time one is least prepared for it, the consequences can be devastating. Even with the best fire detection and firefighting equipment, a fire can still break out at your home. This not only puts you and your loved ones in danger of serious injury but it also exposes you to losses occasioned by the loss of important items in the house.
Whereas you can quickly replace the destroyed furniture in your house, it is difficult and in some instances impossible for one to replace important items such as certificates, cash, photographs, family jewelry that has been handed down generations and electronic information held in compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), and computers in the house. Fireproof home safes can give you the assurance you need that your valuable possessions are safe in the event of a fire or other calamity.
There are different types of fireproof safes with some meant to protect paper based items (such as personal, family, academic and real estate documents) and others meant to shield media such as CDs and other electronic storage devices. Fireproof safes intended to protect paper can withstand temperatures of up to 3500 degrees Fahrenheit.
But the digital revolution of modern times has changed the way information is primarily held and now many people store their sensitive information in memory sticks, back up discs, memory chips, CDs and DVDs. Such electronic media is more sensitive to heat than paper – even though such media may not appear damaged on the outside, a significant rise in temperature inside the safe can render sections of the device unreadable.
You can also differentiate fireproof home safes based on their fire ratings assigned by the Underwriters Laboratory (UL). The ratings are a gauge of how long a safe can withstand a fire and the maximum temperature it can withstand without the contents inside being damaged. Class A fireproof safes for example will protect paper for two hours in a 3632 degrees Fahrenheit fire while a Class B safe will protect paper for two hours in the wake of a 3362 degrees Fahrenheit fire. A Class C safe can protect the contents of the paper in safe for one hour under a 3092 degrees Fahrenheit fire.
Fireproof home safes use different types of locking techniques. The type of lock may be a combination lock, an electronic keypad lock or a biometric lock. It is increasingly rare nowadays to find an off the shelf fireproof home safe that is only operated using a key. This is because even though the safe is meant to protect valuables from fire, it also serves to protect such items from unauthorized access.
