What is the Best Safe for You?
Are you looking to buy a safe? Confused by all the options and ratings? We at A-1 Mobile Lock & Key have the expertise and knowledge to help guide you to the safe that will be perfect for your specific needs.
The most important question we’ll ask you is “What do you need your safe to do?” Do you want important documents or family heirlooms to be kept safe from fire? Do you need to keep guns safe from children? Are you a business worried about theft of cash? Once we understand your needs, we can educate you on your options.
What do Safe Ratings Mean Anyway?
Safes are rated both for fire and for burglary protection by independent agencies such as Underwriters’ Lab (UL) to ensure the safe you purchase will do the job you need it to do.
A (very) brief overview of fire and burglary ratings:
Burglary ratings signify the degree of protection offered by the safe against being opened by common mechanical or electrical tools. For example, a TL15 rating indicates the safe resists entry for 15 minutes. A TL30 rating indicates the same for 30 minutes.
Fire ratings indicate how long the safe will withstand the extreme temperatures of a fire and still protect the items inside. For example, safes are rated to keep interior temperatures under 350 degrees for one hour at external temperatures of 1700 degrees, or for 2 hours at 1850 degrees.
Keep in mind if you’re getting a safe to protect important photos or documents in case of a fire, if you don’t get a safe with an appropriate fire rating, you may as well not have any safe at all. An inexpensive safe may look attractive to your checkbook today, but it will be like throwing away your money when a house fire destroys your irreplaceable photos or family heirlooms.
Come in to our showroom on Burlington Blvd and our staff will be happy to educate you further on what the ratings mean, as well the other safe options you have.
We can also:
- Do a full install including bolting the safe to the floor
- Change Combinations
- Convert from dial combination lock to an electronic lock
- Open safes when the combination has been lost.
- Open safes when they have been damaged by vandalism.