It can be very useful to have a safe of an appropriate size in your property because you get the chance to protect your most valuable items for a very long period of time. Additionally, today’s safes don’t only provide protection against burglars, but they can also keep your documents and files safe from fires and water. Safes come at various prices these days and contrary to the popular belief, not all of them are identical. Here are several interesting and inspiring facts about safes you probably didn’t know before.
Safes which offer protection against fires are made from volcanic materials
As mentioned earlier, there are safes out there which are specially designed to protect your important files against the serious damages produced by fires. Obviously, there are not many things on this planet which offer outstanding fire protection, so the experts had to think outside the box when they created fire safes. Therefore, this type of safes uses volcanic materials such as perlite in order to protect your precious documents and files.
Perlite is a material which can easily withstand high temperatures for a long period of time. This is basically volcanic glass which has been formed when the magma released by volcanoes cooled off. Perlite can keep the inside of your safe cool in the case of a fire and save you thousands of dollars. In some cases, perlite is used as an insulating material in modern residences.
Wall safes are a little bit more vulnerable than floor safes
If you are thinking of installing a safe in your property, make sure that you choose its location properly. If you install it in the wall, try not to hide it behind a portrait or something similar as most thieves already know these tricks. Similarly, make sure that the wall you are installing the safe in is relatively thick and strong, otherwise the thieves will simply cut the safe out the wall and have all the time in the world to crack it open afterwards. The best thing you can do is to install the safe in the floor as it is harder to find and more difficult to damage.
2 English people invented safes nearly 200 years ago
Modern safes are not a recent invention and you should thank the two locksmith brothers who invented them in 1835 and lived in Wolverhampton, England. These two brothers were very experienced and they tried to design and build a box which would be resistant to burglar attacks. Their invention was very well received by the public and they started a successful company which is known today as Chubbsafes. On the other hand, Henry Brown is the author of the fire safe, a very useful and practical invention. He invented the fire safe back in 1886 and it is very popular these days.
Certain safes feature locks which have time delays
The time delay is purposely created for safety and security reasons. After you have entered the correct combination, a certain amount of time has to pass before the door of the safe will open. This safety feature helps delaying thieves and burglars who might otherwise force someone to input the correct combination to open the safe. As a result, the authorities have plenty of time to intervene and stop/catch the miscreants. Safes that use time delays are particularly popular in important banks or vaults where a lot of precious items are stored.
Additionally, this feature can prevent opening the door of the safe during certain hours. For example, the door of the safe can only be opened during the business hours of a bank. After hours, the door will remain close even if the correct combination is entered.
There are 2 main types of safes on the market these days
Safes come in various sizes and shapes, but they usually split in 2 categories: burglary safes and fire safes. Burglary safes are specially designed to withstand the attacks of malevolent people who might use cutting or drilling tools to open them. Extra protection is ensured if such safes are installed in the floor.
On the other hand, fire safes are usually tested by independent agencies in order to find out how resistant to fire and high temperatures they are. For example, good fire safes should be capable of withstanding continuous fire from 30 to 120 minutes. When papers are protected, the internal temperature of the safe shouldn’t be above 177 degree Celsius. Similarly, when media storage devices should be protected such as CDs or USB sticks, the internal temperature of the safe shouldn’t exceed 52 degree Celsius.
If you are thinking of installing a safe in your property as soon as possible, make sure that you contact us today and tell us more about your protection needs. We are a group of respected Montreal locksmiths who have a lot of experience in what we do and our safes come at cheap prices.