[TheForge] fire resistant safe

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

Build a big, elaborate safe and put your valuables elsewhere.

terry l. ridder wrote:
> hello;
> 
> i am researching fire resistant safes.
> i need a fire resistant safe roughly the size of a 18 cubic ft
> refrigerator. most of the safes i have looked at only offer 30 minutes
> in an average residential fire and that is allowing the interior of
> the safe to reach 350 degrees fahrenheit.
> 
> while at dinner last saturday night with several friends we were
> discussing the fire resistant safes on the market and pondered
> whether we could build a half dozen for our own use.
> 
> there are obvious requirements. there are several not so obvious
> requirement.
> 
> obviousily the door and shell should be hardened against being simply
> drilled or sawn. the shell and door need to ensure that the internal
> temparature of the safe does not get about 212 degrees fahrenheit during
> the average commericial fire. we all agreed that there is nothing
> currently known to man that would withstand an oxygen lance or one of
> those other peircing torches on the market. if someone wants to get
> inside the safe bad enough they will eventually get inside the safe. it
> just takes time and money.
> 
> what alloys to use for the safe will require some research on our part.
> what should be used for the insulation and for the interior of the safe
> shell, is the difficult part. one of my friends joked that the interior
> shell should be made of tungsten since it has such a high melting
> temperature and is a tough metal. that would put the fire resistant
> safes not economically. several said that older safes that they had
> seen used concrete for the insulation layer. the old courthouse used
> granite slabs for the insulation layer and had armor plate for the
> exterior shell.
> 
> so basically, what should i be looking for in either an all ready built
> fire resistant safe or in building a half dozen for my friends and my
> private use?
> 
>