About Brown Safe

Fire Safe Buying Tips
A fire safe (also known as fireproof safe, composite safe, fire liner safe) is a freestanding safe designed to protect the contents from fire for a rated amount of time.

Click here to view our standard fire/burglary safes.
Our military grade gun fire safes can be found here.
To see our luxury fire safe offerings, click here.
Our highly configurable heavyweight luxury/gun fire safes can be viewed here.

Pros - Greatly increases the likelihood the contents will survive a fire.
Composite fire/burglary safes provide excellent fire and burglary protection.

Cons - 90% of all fire safes sold provide little to no burglary protection and minimal fire protection.
Because of the thick steel and concrete like casing, composite cladded fire safes are much heavier and generally require professional installation.

Fire Safe Specific Buying Tips:

  • Do you want burglary protection as well? - We're letting you in on a well kept secret heavily guarded by most safe manufacturers... nearly all fire safes are only intended to provide fire protection and offer no substantial protection from burglary.
  • A true UL rated composite fire safe is made with two thin skins of sheet metal that house a water retaining medium between (typically a concrete and vermiculite mixture).  The door jam is highly convoluted with a heat seal.  As high heat hits the outside of the safe, the fire retardant medium expels the retained water as steam. This steam also saturates the safe's contents to artificially raise the flash point.  Heat also causes expansion around the convoluted door jamb forming a solid seal.
    While this type of construction functions wonderfully to protect against fires, it fails to provide any substantial burglary protection as the safe's sheet metal retaining walls are purposefully thin to reduce heat buildup and the soft fire retardant medium provides no resistant to direct attacks.

  • Over 90% of safes sold today are low rated fireboard based fire safes constructed in a similar manner to the composite fire safe described above, only they use insulation panels as their water retaining medium because the resulting safe is lighter and cheaper to produce.
    Since very few people are interested in owning a safe that doesn't actually protect against burglary, most safe makers "enforce" their fireboard fire safes to better withstand burglary attacks and market them as true burglary/fire safes.
    The big problem here is the core design of these fire safe types can never make for a good burglary safe, and attempting to do so lessens the safe in its ability to protect from fire.
    Click here for an illustated explanation of the above.
    Most fire safes are turned into false burglary safes by increasing the thickness of the safe's outer sheet metal panels. While this is an easy and economical method of reinforcement, the safe is still vastly inferior to a true burglary safe as thicker sheet metal walls are still quite weak when compared to those of a true burglary safe.
    Click here to view stats on a true burglary safe.
    Click here to view stats on a true burglary safe with fire protection.
    Since it's very difficult to visually spot an "enforced" fire safe masquerading as a burglary safe, unsuspecting customers happily buy these imposters fully believing the overstated claims of protection.
    If burglary protection is important to you, which it should be, it's best to stay clear of fireboard (aka drywall, fire liner or fiberboard) based fire safes as they consistently fail in the area of burglary protection.

  • If you want maximum burglary and fire protection, you'll get the best performance from a Composite Cladded Fire Safe. Look for a safe with at least a B burglary rating ( ½” thick solid steel door and ¼” solid steel body.)  As for fire cladding, you'll want a safe with approximately 2.5” of concrete amalgamate. The amalgamate forms a highly effective insulation barrier, shielding the solid steel portion of the safe from fire.
    In addition to fire protection, the high density concrete within the amalgamate increases the safe's already substantial level of burglary protection.
  • Carefully consider construction method - Most fire safes are built using one of four construction methods: insulation/fireboard, reinforced fireboard, composite, and composite fire cladded. The composite fire cladding method is the only construction method that results in a safe that provides substantial protection from both fire and burglary attacks.
    The vast majority of fire safes are constructed using one of the low cost fireboard methods. While fireboard based safes do provide some fire protection, they are a substantially inferior fire safe that also offers little to no burglary protection.
    You will never find fireboard or insulating liners in a commercial or high fire rated safe, simply because they do not work for any substantial length of time.
      Click here to learn more about fire safe construction methods.

  • Because fireboard (aka drywall, fire liner, ceramic fire liner, fiberboard) safes are cheap to manufacture and ship, they allow for heavy price markups so are extremely popular among the safe selling community.
    Externally, a poorly constructed fire safe is nearly indistinguishable from a quality built safe. It's simply a matter of good marketing hype to convince the customer that one is every bit as good as the other.
    For example...Some underhanded manufactures will list the specification ratings of the insulating material used within a safe, allowing the buyer to assume this is the actual fire rating of the safe...in truth , however, the material rating has little bearing on the safe's ability to protect against fire.  A ‘UL listed fire liner’ rating of 1 1/2 hours, for instance, just refers to the UL rating of the fireboard panels within the safe and in no way means the safe is UL rated to keep the safes contents below flash point for that stated amount of time.
    Also, many of the manufacturers will test the safes in there own "labs" rather than having an independent lab perform the tests (preferably UL labs). The customer is left to trust that the quoted fire times are truthful...they quite often are not.
    If you want to learn more about safe fire ratings, see our safe terms page.
  • Fireboard based fire safes do offer some advantages... because of the low expense to build, some can be highly affordable. Also fireboard safes are significantly lighter allowing for self installation, but if the safe fails to actually protect the valuables within, it's functioning as a glorified utility cabinet rather than a true safe. Entrusting your precious belongings to one of these false safes can prove worse than having no safe as it provides the criminal with an easy opening cabinet where all the cherished household treasures are stored.

  • Composite fire cladded safes, on the other hand are heavy, harder to install, and never cheap...but they perform their primary function with excessive vigor by protecting your valuables from all harm.
  • Consider the weight increase - Assuming you do decide on a proper composite cladded fire safe, the weight of the safe can be substantial.
    If the safe is going to be placed above ground floor, the safe’s weight should be keep below 1000 lbs. Many floors will hold considerably more, but should be inspected by an installer prior to safe installation.
    If this is a concern for you, we have a large network of reputable safe installers throughout the world. Feel free to contact us and we can put you in touch with an installer in your area.
  • Organize and optimize - A safe can do far more than simply protect your valuables. When properly configured, a safe provides a great opportunity to organize and optimize your life.
    To fully capitalize on what your new safe offers, it’s essential to stop thinking of your future safe as the thing you will store your valuables in and instead treat the safe as a highly configurable personal organizer…that protects what’s in it. A good safe can be equipped with file drawers, jewelry drawers, necklace racks, watch winders, DVD drawers, gun racks, photo drawers, equipment drawers…the list is very extensive.
    Rather than having your precious items spread throughout your home and loosing precious time tracking an item down whenever it goes missing, consolidate and organize. Take this opportunity to compile a list of the important items you commonly use and then consider how you want to organize these items in a way that works best for you. Now you can search out a quality safe that best accommodates your organizational plan.
    Our Gem Jewelry Safes and Estate Safes are the most configurable safe lines we offer and include numerous features aimed squarely at convenience.
  • Install in an accessible location - All too often safes go unused when they are located too far away to be conveniently accessed. Many times a new safe buyer will over think the planned location for their safe, locating it in some cleverly concealed location or disguising the safe behind false doors or walls. While concealing your safe is fine, don’t do this at the cost of overall convenience or the safe will likely fall out of use over time. It’s far better to be storing your commonly used valuables in a not so hidden safe than to have these items left out for easy pilfering. Rather than outthinking the burglar along with yourself, rely on the safe to perform its job of protection and place it in a location it’s likely to get the most use.  If your home is burglarized, a well built burglary safe will faithfully protect your contents.
  • Dehumidify - If you do opt to purchase a straight fire safe with no burglary protection or a fireboard based fire/burglary safe. Be sure to keep a quality humidifier inside the safe at all times as moisture evaporating from the fireboard insulation can often travel into the safe's interior creating a damp environment that rusts metals and dampens paper based belongings.
    Composite clad fire safes don't suffer from the above mentioned moisture problem as the inner burglary safe is fully sealed off from the moisture medium by thick seamless steel walls.
    A dehumidifier is still a good idea for any safe that resides in an area where there is high humidity or a drastic change in temperature throughout the day, like the garage, as it will absorb any excess moisture.

General Safe Buying Tips:

  • Check for a thick solid steel door and walls: It is essential that the safe you purchase has both a solid steel door and walls of substantial thickness. Without this base level of steel protection, any safe can be opened within minutes despite the hoopla of additional advertised protection features. While the majority of top selling safes on the market tout a plethora of protection features, virtually all fail miserably in this essential area.
    The safe you choose must have at minimum a ½” thick solid steel door and a ¼” thick solid steel body.
    Steel is very expensive and heavy, vastly increasing the safes build cost and the cost of shipping overseas to the reseller. As a result, nearly all oversea manufactured safes (and even many local built safes) cut these costs by making their safes with thin sheet metal wrapped around various forms of drywall to give the appearance of a robust safe. Click here to learn more.
    Be highly suspect if the safe manufacturer or reseller doesn’t state solid steel or lists "composite" for their wall or door material as this can be anything from sheet metal wrapped around wood to sheet metal and drywall.
    Also be on the lookout for safe sellers that list just ‘door thickness’ rather than the barrier material type and thickness as this is a recent trick many underhanded safe marketers employ. By listing the total thickness of the safe door including the safe dial, barrier material, airspace, inner bolt work, etc....  the provided figure can sound quite impressive while actually preventing the buyer from obtaining any solid information on how thick the barrier material actually is or what it's made of.
    Click here to learn more about the industry recognized protection rating systems.
    For details on the protection levels offered by Brown Safe... click here.
  • Judge a safe by its weight - Weight is one of the biggest factors when determining the base ability of a safe to protect from both burglary and fire.
  • Steel is heavy, a quality safe with solid steel walls will weigh substantially more than a flimsy safe fabricated by wrapping sheet metal around insulation panels.
  • High density concrete based amalgamate is heavy. A concrete amalgamate based composite fire safe will weigh substantially more than a safe that uses insulation panels.
  • Steel and high density concrete amalgamate together are really heavy. A true burglary safe with solid steel walls and concrete amalgamate fire cladding often carries three time the mass of an equivalent size safe constructed from sheet metal and drywall panels. These are the safes to look for.

  • If a safe is heavy, it doesn't necessarily mean the safe carries a lot of solid steel, the weight can come from the concrete amalgamate alone. To determine the amount of solid steel used by a safe, it's still best to learn the actual steel thickness for both the door and walls.
  • Stick with a UL approved lock - Always check that the safe you plan to purchase has a UL approved Group 2 lock or better. The three dependable lock manufacturers are LaGard, Sargent & Greenleaf, and Kaba Mas. These are the only lock manufacturers that produce locks guaranteed to provide decades of trouble free operation.
    If you decide on a safe without a UL approval, there's a 95% chance the safe's lock comes from China. The vast majority of safe manufacturers who equip their safes with "their own" lock brand also use Chinese locks. While highly affordable, Chinese built locks are highly undependable and are prone to early failure.
    We routinely receive calls from agonizing safe owners permanently locked out of their safe by a malfunctioning Chinese lock. Opening these safes is generally a very costly and time consuming ordeal as it's nearly impossible for even a licensed locksmith to obtain accurate blueprints to aid in a clean repairable entry into the safe. Most safe owners in this unfortunate position opt for the faster and less expensive forced entry option. The safe is rendered unusable after a forced entry and the owner is stuck with a hefty bill and in the market for a reliable and secure safe... many current clients sought out our company after experiencing one or more highly unpleasant lockouts with inferior safes.
    To view details on our UL approved electronic keypad lock, click here.
    Click here to view info on our combination dial lock.
    To view our biometric lock... click here.
  • Consider entry convenience: A safe that is slow to open or access is a safe you are less likely to use. Adding an electronic lock can make opening the safe quick and easy, as well as enabling the user to reset the combination when needed without the aid of a locksmith or combination kit. For the ultimate in user convenience and security, a high grade biometric lock can't be beat.
    Click here to see our electronic lock offering.
    To view our biometric lock... click here.
  • Check for re-lockers: All quality safes should have re-lockers to help ensure the safe remains locked in the case of a burglary. Re-lockers are hardened pins that are triggered, in a variety of ways during an attack, and cannot be retracted without hours of drilling. The number of re-lockers on a safe will range from 2-10+ depending on the size and burglary grade of the safe.
    Bear in mind, re-locker pins only prove useful when the safe has a substantially thick steel door and walls. Most safes today are equipped with two or more re-locker pins. But on a steel deficient safe, these pins along with the locking bolts simply tear or bend right through the safe's thin door jamb by prying on the safe door with nothing more than a common crowbar.
    Click here to learn more about our glass plate re-locker system.
  • Consider a custom safe: Does the size of your chosen safe make best use of the space it's occupying? Is the interior layout of the safe well suited to your needs? In many cases there's room for improvement and this is where a custom safe is worth consideration. Brown Safe is one the only safe manufactures in the world to offer fully customizable safes. Custom sizes, finishes, and interiors are available at a very reasonable price point. We can work with you and/or your interior designer, architect, and carpenter to ensure a quality safe built to your exact specifications.
    To see a few example custom safes ...click here.

Installing a Fire Safe:

  • Anchor it - Always bolt your safe down. While you may think there’s no way anyone will manage to wrangle the safe out of your house when it takes specialized machines and muscle to perform the installation, never underestimate the resourcefulness of highly determined burglars.
    Concrete provides the most secure anchor, so it is the preferred surface for mounting your safe. Remember though, an inaccessible safe receives rare use... so if you have to place the safe in a location that's far out of the way in order to mount to concrete, reconsider.
    Always mount using 1/2” concrete bolts or larger, and use more than one bolt. Four mounting bolts are ideal.
    When anchoring to a wood floor, whenever possible, anchor one or more bolts into a foundation support beam rather than just the plywood floor.
  • Watch for medium wall gaps - When possible, avoid anchoring the safe near a foundation wall in a way that creates an 8” to 18” gap between the wall and safe. Gaps smaller than 8” are ok but with slightly larger gaps it is possible to leverage the safe away from the wall using a car jack, ripping the safe’s base anchor bolts out from the flooring.