I am a locksmith you’re the first person that actually touch base on fire rating in that area for residentials. I’ve I’ve looked at probably 10 videos today and not one of them have mentioned anything you have had said to say you make a very good salesperson.
Even though the gold and silver don’t melt until very high temperatures, the heat, smoke, and water from firefighters can significantly damage them. I recommend a firebox like the Honeywell Fire and Water security chest for housing cash, metals, passports…that lives inside a solid gun safe or TL rated safe. That will ensure no matter what happens that those contents are safe. Those Honeywell chests actually have concrete on them so they’re heavy!
Nice! Very practical talking points. Not trying to over exaggerate how house fires are to try and upsell potential customers into thinking they need more than what they need. I respect that. Explained the truths about most house fires and the differences in house fires with several variables
Good talk, I like your perspective of actual response times. I was hoping you talked more about electronics i.e. hard drives, thumb drives etc. Electronics generally can't handle temperatures greater than 125F they fail or degraded which is why data safes are available. Most of the talk was those that couldn't go above 350F i.e. paper, guns. I did find some RU-vid videos that showed that most safes 1-2 hr rated 350F safes get above 125 F in less than 10 mins. More and more business and individuals are storing hard drives in safes as backup so I think its a good additional topic.
I'm 3 miles from the nearest 2 truck fire department. Before the first truck came the house was engulfed in flames. It took 15 minutes for the first truck to show upafter the F D was called. Eventually 5 trucks came and pumped water full force. The house burned to the ground. Coins in a metal box didn't melt, but the sandwich quarters blistered and separated.
I have a small safe, around 3sq ft. and it is strictly for paper work. I believe it has a 90 minute fire rating. It is hidden in the corner of the basement with 8ft tall poured concrete foundation walls on two sides; My thinking is that heat rises as do flames and the concrete will reduce the heat load on at least two sides of the safe. When fighting a fire a lot of the water sprayed on the house will drain down into the basement cooling the temps around the safe. Inside I wrapped the contents in 1.5 inches of ceramic insulation. I built a kiln a few years back with 2.5 inches of the ceramic insulation and at 2000 degrees you can touch the outside of the kiln with no problem. Its amazing stuff. Inside of the safe I stacked around 90 lbs of weights which puts the total weight at around120 lbs. Good luck on hauling this out of my tight spaced basement. I have a sheet of plate steel I would like to bolt to the safe and then attach that to the studs for my next upgrade. I have two large gun safes upstairs that I want to move down to the basement also. I am concerned that in catastrophic fire the floors would burn and collapse dropping the safes 9.5 feet to the concrete floor in the basement? I think the fall and the heat could compromise the fire safety? Sorry this is so long. I am pondering building a small concrete block enclosure in the corner of the basement that would be a few inches larger then the gun safes. Fill the blocks with enough concrete and rebar to help increase the outside fire resistance on the sides, back, bottom and top a bit. I think if I took some heavy duty flat bar and bolted it and attached it across the front above the door and a piece below the door at floor level, it would be nearly impossible to tip out or removed . Am I paranoid? Maybe just a bit, I was a cop for 23 years and responded to a ton of burglaries over the years? haha I call it being prepared!
Check out our video on Fire Ratings Explained. If the gun safes are UL rated or ETL rated, you may be fine leaving them where they are because they've likely been drop tested to 30 feet. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5SwZj72j2n0.html You'd have to check wit the manufacture to see if they've passed that test.
I live in a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountians (CA). Fire Dept is 3 blocks away manned 24/7. I still don’t depend on house fire being put out right away because entire towns are being lost to fire where I live.
My towns fire department has a 100% success rating. Not a single home has ever been saved. One year the house across the street from the fire house burned to the ground, nothing left but a hole in the ground.
I think you pretty much need to put fireproof safes into a 5 inch around concrete safe and special concrete door. Concrete is really the only that is pretty impervious to fire.
You didn't mention even after the fire is put out the inside of that steel box the temp will still rise and hold and cool slower. and assuming the water will cool it false hope. Fire even if they knew still not going to try to cool it. They want to cool the embers and flammables.
Is a good idea to put cash in a fireproof bag inside a smaller fire rated box inside a larger fire rated safe. Plus the uk changed to polymer type money has anyone tesred for this to see if the money melts
Except for very cheap safes encased in plastics, there's really not a waterproof safe because as you mentioned there is a bolt down hole. Think water resistant. In a good burglary safe, the floor of the safe will be 2 to 2.5 inches off the ground. So unless standing water gets deeper than that, it won't come up through the bolt down hole. Doors on burglary safes often feel loose, but there is an expansion seal for when the safe is in a fire. That seal gets up to about 10 times it's thickness and helps seal the door during a fire against water penetrating in through the door from the fire fighters. But it's not a guarantee.
What is a recommend fire rating safe to withstand a house fire that is caused by wildfire and the house got burn to the ground and fire department cant help? like the Marshall fire
Worst case scenario. For a wildfire like that, it would need to be the best UL or other lab certified 2-hr rating. Depending on how long and how hot the fire was, even that might not make it. If you want to see a safe that survived the Carr Fire in Redding, Ca, check out this article that discusses what to look for. www.acmelocksmith.com/blog/the-best-fireproof-safe/ Also our video "Fire Ratings Explained" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5SwZj72j2n0.html
What's your PayPal, Venmo or Cashap please? I almost said a nervous breakdown with my bathroom door being locked and needed to get in. Thanks to one of your videos I was able to after a freaking hour yours was the last video I watched LOL. Goldy if the Goldy lockS Band. Please let me at least buy you a coffee thank you so much for the help and I appreciate you
Glad we helped out. If you ever need a safe or smart lock, just keep us in mind. Here's our Amazon storefront. We get a small commission on anything purchased there. www.amazon.com/shop/acmelocksmith
