Burglary Rated - Brown Safe Manufacturing, Inc.

Cracking Safes
or 5 great tips on how to buy a safe intelligently

This list was compiled by Fred L. Brown, owner of Brown Safe Manufacturing, of Escondido, California. If you are seriously looking into a home or business safe, these tips can save you time and money.

Purchasing a new safe is purchasing peace of mind. But, if the safe you get doesn't match your expectations, it can be just another nightmare. Make sure to research your needs carefully before you buy to ensure confidence in your choice. The following tips will help:

1) Try to get a safe that has the most security features for your money. The most important of these is the rating, either burglary or fire or both. What type of protection you buy is up you. Most people buy burglary-rated safes because usually burglary is the biggest risk. First match your security needs. (see 'What is a Rated Safe?' below for more information.)

2) Buy a safe which fits your physical needs. Make a list ahead of time of what you will be storing and trial stack those valuables to help establish the size of safe you require. To help, here are the ten most commonly secured items:

Cash
Jewelry
Investment metals - Gold and Silver
Photography equipment
Coin collections
Stamp collections
Antiques, collectibles & heirlooms
Trust deeds, Wills
Firearms & ammunition (Keeps them away from children too)
Tax papers (If you protect your tax papers in a rated safe, it may be tax deductible, - Check with your accountant.)

3) Choose a safe that has an interior that best suits your needs. Some of the options available are:

Multiple compartments
Filing drawers
Shelves, either metal or carpeted
Custom racks (for guns example)
Adjustibilty, make sure any or all of the above are able to be moved to accommodate new items.

4) Choose a safe that has the right accessibility. Floor safes are better in fires, but tend to be used less because of uncomfortable access. Walls safes are easily hidden, but are more fire prone. From experience, most home customers go with a chest in a closet that is bolted to the floor. Make sure to get one that you can easily use, but has the best protection. Check with your manufacturer for options that will suit your needs best.

5) If you are having a safe or vault installed, get an adequate knowledge of the security company you are dealing with. Some questions you should ask are:

Are they Bonded and insured? This bonding is done in all security fields and protects you, the consumer, against untrained persons who may try to take advantage of you. Ask for proof.
What type of security organization do they belong to? The more the organizations, the better chance of their staff being properly trained and in tune with the latest information.
How long has this company been in business specifically selling safes? There are some businesses selling safes that have little knowledge about ratings or security. There are also companies that manufacture safes merely because they are a metal fabricating business, and thus know little about safe ratings, safe locks, or security systems.
Do they have a service department or organization with trained professionals available for 24 hour emergency calls? After the sale service is important.
Are they knowledgeable? Ask them to explain or show the difference between burglary and fire safes. The most common misconception is that a fire safe will protect you from a burglary. It will not. We can show or tell you about fire safes that have been broken into. There are companies that engage in misleading advertising about fire safes also being used to protect you from burglary.
Feel comfortable with your security company.

Terminology
The term safe is very general. The generic term safe is described as "a metal container usually having a lock, used for storing valuables." Safes can be more accurately defined by functional category and rating. Knowing these terms will help you to know what you're buying.

Functional Categories
Functional categories are a combination of physical description and access capabilities. These terms are general enough that all safe retailers will know what you're talking about:

wall safes - safes design specifically for in wall mounting
floor safes - safes designed to be embedded within a floor
chests - safes designed to be stand-alone on the floor
depositories - safes designed with hopper or slot for easy deposit of valuables without access to contents.
vaults - safes large enough to have walk-in access

Ratings
Since the general definition of a safe could apply to a tackle box or a file cabinet, the insurance industry set certain standards to qualify as a 'rated'' safe. This designation assures the consumer that such a safe can be expected to minimize losses resulting from fire or burglary (depending upon rating) and is therefore considered when establishing insurance rates. A "burglary rated" safe, properly constructed, will have for a minimum, a inch steel plate body and a minimum inch steel plate door with combination lock. Safes without this rating cannot be expected to offer any real protection from the aggressive burglar.

How are safes Rated?
The rating systems for safes are defined by construction or performance. Generally, a construction rated safe is lower priced since it's model has not been subjected to an independent lab for testing. Performance ratings are generally ranked by amount of time your valuables are safe when under attack by either fire or burglary. The following tables are greatly simplified, but can give you a general idea of how safes are rated. Make sure to always ask you dealer what the rating is.

Construction Ratings

B	Steel, doors less than 1 inch thick, walls less than 1/2 inch thick
C	Steel, doors at least 1 inch thick, walls at least 1/2 inch thick
E	Steel, doors at least 1 1/2 inches thick, walls at least 1inch thick
ER	Safe or chest labeled with: "UL Inspected Tool Resisting Safe TL 15 Burglary"
F	Safe or chest labeled with: "UL Inspected Tool Resisting Safe TL 30 Burglary" or "UL Inspected Torch Resisting Safe TR 30 Burglary" or "UL Inspected Explosive Resistant Safe with Relocking Device X 60 Burglary"
G	Safe or chest labeled with: "UL Inspected Torch and Explosive Resisting Safe TX 60 Burglary" or "UL Inspected Torch Resisting Safe TR 60 Burglary" or "UL Inspected Torch and Tool Resisting Safe TRTL 30 Burglary"

Performance Ratings - Burglary Classifications

TL - 15	Successfully resist entry for a net assault time of 15 minutes when attacked with common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools, grinders, drills or pressure devices.
TL - 30	Successfully resist entry for a net assault time of 30 minutes when attacked with common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools, grinders, drills or pressure devices.
TRTL - 30	Successfully resist entry for a net assault time of 30 minutes when attacked with common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools, grinders, drills , pressure devices and oxy-fuel gas cutting or welding torches.
TRTL - 60	Successfully resist entry for a net assault time of 60 minutes when attacked with common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools, grinders, drills , pressure devices and oxy-fuel gas cutting or welding torches.
TXTL - 60	Successfully resist entry for a net assault time of 60 minutes when attacked with common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools, grinders, drills , pressure devices, explosives and oxy-fuel gas cutting or welding torches.

Performance Ratings - Fire Classifications

4 Hour	Maintain an interior temperature of less than 150 degrees F and an interior humidity less than 85% when exposed to fire (up to 2000 F) for 4 hours.
3 Hour	Maintain an interior temperature of less than 150 degrees F and an interior humidity less than 85% when exposed to fire (up to 2000 F) for 3 hours.
2 Hour	Maintain an interior temperature of less than 150 degrees F and an interior humidity less than 85% when exposed to fire (up to 2000 F) for 2 hours.
1 Hour	Maintain an interior temperature of less than 150 degrees F and an interior humidity less than 85% when exposed to fire (up to 2000 F) for 1 hour.

UL Labels
If a safe or chest bears the "Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc." , then is model has been fully tested by this highly respected independent laboratory. On the UL label will be a complete performance coding. If your safe has an UL label, make sure to have the sales staff explain the complete label codes to you.

Cladding
Cladding is an outer casing (usually thin steel), filled with a materiel that can be poured (usually a concrete security mixture). Cladding is helpful in adding fire protection and sometimes an additional security layer (primarily for a weight factor) to an existing safe.