Fireproof Safes: All You Need to Know

What Makes a Fireproof Safe Fireproof?

Fire resistance means that the safes resist heat and smoke (and some protect against water) over a given period of time. Fire resistance is created by the use of certain materials inside the walls of the safe. The walls are filled with a special concrete and water mix. The relatively high amount of bound water in the mixture prevents the safe from heating up too fast. The walls and the door not only include special materials but also are thicker than security safes that are not fireproof. 

Common fire resistance levels:

 Fire insulation layer -not certified- that protects from initial phases of a fire.

 Internal temp. under 170ºC for 30 min with external temp. above 842ºC

 Internal temp. under 170ºC for 60 min with external temp. above 842ºC

 Internal temp. under 180ºC for 90 min with external temp. above 1006ºC

 Internal temp. under 170ºC for 120 min with external temp. above 1090ºC

 

Will a Fireproof Safe Protect Paper and also a Hard Drive?

You need to consider that the sensitivity to heat varies throughout materials. So you should know the material of the valuables you want to keep protected from fire damage. Usually, it is distinguished between documents (business reports, licenses, birth certificates, old artifacts, passports, insurance documents, etc.) made of paper, and data (hard drives, CDs & DVDs, old negatives & photographs, flash drives, old cassette tapes, USB drives, micro SD cards, etc.). Thus, different fire resistance standards are required:

Fireproof Safes for Paper Documents

When exposed to fire, the interior temperature in the closed safe should not increase by more than 150°C because this would harm the documents. As an insulation material, a special mixture of cement/mortar and water is usually used. The relatively high amount of bound water in the mixture keeps the temperature in the wall of the safe at a maximum of around 100°C.

Fireproof Data Safes

Data is damaged at lower degrees. So when exposed to fire, the interior temperature in the closed data safe should not increase by more than 30-50°C. The walls of the safe are usually constructed in several layers. In the first layer, a special mixture of cement/mortar and water is used. There the temperature does not increase to more than 100°C. In the middle layer, special insulation materials are used, which prevent the heat from getting through the wall. As third layer, heat-absorbing material is used, which has a cooling effect on the wall.

Depending on the requirements of the fire resistance class, different filling materials or wall thicknesses are used.

Common to both types: Sealings are installed in the gaps of the door. Depending on the fire class requirements, high-temperature-resistant seals against fire gases or penetrating heat are utilized. These modern seals swell from a certain temperature and reliably close the door gap in the event of a fire.

 

Does a fireproof safe lose its effectiveness over time?

NO. As long as the safe does not suffer any damages, the fire insulation will be just as effective as when you bought the safe.

 

Fireproof Document Safes

Fireproof Data Safes