[TheForge] fire resistant safe

[Chuck Robinson]

Hey Terry,
Check out Liberty safes, They are rated  fire resistant  2100F to 2400F for 
2 1/2 hours.
You would have an extremely hard time beating that rating. They are 
expensive.
The most vulnerable spot is the back of most  safes.
 If it is not anchored so that the back of the safe can't be exposed, It is 
much easier to breach it and unlock the door from the inside
Chuck
>
> 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?
>
>
> -- 
> terry l. ridder ><>
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