Ever since there are have been written records man has striven to find ways to protect those records. The pharaohs of Egypt buried their scrolls in the pyramids while others made copies of important documents and hid them in separate locations. The biggest fear at the time was fire. Julius Caesar tried using strong metal boxes made out of iron but found that the iron conducted heat and the papers burned so that didn’t work.
1917 saw the first standardized testing for safe protection. The treasure chests of the 15th century like pirates used just didn’t work anymore. Technological advances and continued testing of different materials have led to what is today the most advanced protection for valuables.
The famous independent, nonprofit organization, Underwriter Laboratories, is the main testing agency but there are others too. Manufacturers and independent laboratories test new models before they are put in the marketplace and periodically spot check existing models to make sure that they meet established specifications.
The two biggest selling types are fire-proof safes and burglary or high security safes. There are dozens of other categories but they all fall under these two main types. So when you go looking for a safe whether it’s for your home or business, you need to decide if you want one that will basically protect against fire or burglary. There are some hybrids that will protect against both. So those are worthy of consideration too.
A Home Fire Safe is engineered to protect contents against heat. Paper combusts at approximately 450 degrees. Fires burn at 1300 degrees so all fire safes are designed to protect contents from combustion up to 1750 degrees for one or two hours depending on rating specs.
Burglary or high security safes are engineered and designed to protect valuables against an assault by a professional burglary with ratings usually in 15 minute increments.
A hybrid safe gives you both burglary and fire protection.
Once you’ve made that basic decision as to the type of safe that you want whether it’s a fireproof or burglary safe then other considerations can be taken into account. The location of the safe may frequently preclude some features. For example, if you want to place a safe in a basement where there is a lot of moisture, fire safes are not much good because they are susceptible to moisture. The insulation in the walls causes the safe to swell.
Larger home safes make locating a safe problematic because of weight and size so that has to be considered too.
Check out all of our selection of close to 200 Safes one of which is bound to meet your security needs.
The Home Security Superstore is one of the oldest and largest independent distributors of high quality home security, surveillance, spy, self-defense, survival and safety products. We carry a wide range of self-defense products including tasers, stun guns, pepper sprays and other nonlethal weapons that can save your life in the event of an attack.