Fire Safe Buying Tips: How to Ensure You’re Getting the Perfect Fire Safe for Your Lifestyle

A house fire is every homeowner’s worst nightmare. It doesn’t take long for a house to be engulfed in flames and, when it happens, many people lose everything. A fireproof safe, however, can help ensure protection for your most valuable items and documents. Rated to withstand extremely hot temperatures, fire safes can help you rest assured that, even if a fire struck your household, your most precious belongings would remain intact.

What is a Fireproof Safe?

Fireproof safes are sometimes called fire safes, fire resistant safes, composite safes or fire liner safes. Generally, fire safes are freestanding safes that are designed to protect and shield their contents from inferno temperatures for a rated period of time. Many people love fire safes due to the fact that they increase the chance that precious belongings will survive a fire. For more information on how fire ratings work, click here.

The Benefits of a Fire Safe The benefits of fire safes include the following:

• High-quality fire protection for documents and valuables.
• Rated to withstand hot temperatures.
• Available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
• Some can be bolted and easy to secure to a solid surface.

Although fire safes are a great investment for the interested homeowner who is interested in protecting their important documents and valuables from a fire, it is important to remember that fire safes offer very little burglary protection. If you are planning on investing in a fire-safe, make sure you are not storing a high content value inside. If this is the case, we do not recommend a fire safe and instead recommend looking at a burglar & fire safe with at least a minimum B-Rating for burglary. 

How Composite Fire Safes Work

Composite safes are safes that are constructed with two thin skins of sheet metal that hold between them a mixture that retains water – typically a mix of concrete and vermiculite. The doors of some composite safes feature a Palusol Seal. If these safes are forced to withstand fire, they work by emitting the fire retardant’s contents in the form of steam, which saturates the safe’s contents and raises the internal flashpoint.

How Fire Safes are Constructed

There are many different types of fire safes, the most popular of which is generally the composite safe. Other constructions include insulation/fireboard, reinforced fireboard, and composite clad fire safes. Fireboard (drywall) safes are popular on the safe-selling market due to the fact that they are cheap to produce and ship, however, it is wise to note that these safes generally offer no burglary protection and only minimal fire protection.  

The Importance of Dehumidifying

Because fireboard-constructed safes are high-moisture by nature, it is wise to keep a high-quality dehumidifier or dessicant box inside of the safe at all times. Over the years, the moisture within the insulation can easily seep out and create a damp environment within the safe. This, in turn, can result in irreparable damage to guns, jewelry, and documents. Buying a dehumidifier or desiccant box is an inexpensive way to insure that you contents will not have moisture issues down the road. You can also put anything that you would like to keep "waterproof" in zip lock bags or Tupperware containers.

Choosing to Purchase a Fire Safe

Although a fire safe is often a once in a lifetime purchase, most homeowners agree that it is well worth the expense. High-quality fire safes offer unparalleled protection from fires. The thought of suffering a house fire is devastating to most homeowners, and it goes without saying that nobody wants to lose their precious family heirlooms or belongings. For this reason, it is wise to invest in a fire safe that is rated to protect your most valued belongings. Although there are no guarantees when it comes to house fires, a high quality, and properly installed fire safe can help provide aggressive protection for your most treasured belongings. To learn more about the fire safes we carry give us a call today at 800-207-2259 or visit our fire-safe products page.