Approximate weight of a safe??

Anyone have a rough idea what a UL labelled safe might weigh? It is 46"x26"x36". Looking at getting it for storing records and valuables. Looks to be from the 50's maybe.

It depends on wall thickness. Probably in the 2500 to 3000 pounds area if it is fire rated.
Jim

Fire safes are light compaired to jewelry safes. Jewelry safes are for protecting contents from brute force attacks and tend to be soild or near solid steel (usually manganese steel, good safes anyway). Since steel transfers heat quite well, fire safes cant be solid steel. They tend to be sandwiched with steel on the outside/inside and fireproofed with products like gypsum in the middle, thus many, many times lighter than an all steel safe.

I just brought home a 24x24x36 fire safe with 6 inch thick sidewalls and door. Its not a light safe and I didnt weigh it but from what I found online it runs about 600 pounds or so. A safe form the 50s may be alot thinner walled and only run about 700-800. If you got full 6 inch sidewalls, it might go as heavy as 900-1000.

If you got the name and maybe a model number you might have luck with google.

I bought a early 1950s Mosler a few months ago. 27" X 27" X 55" tall. It was incredibly heavy as compared to the new safes sold at places like Tractor Supply. Around 1000 lbs. I took the door off to make moving easier and just the door weighed near 400 lbs.

The older safes usually weigh around 150-200 pounds per foot of height. So your's ought to be 600-800 lbs.

The family government surplus Mosler is 22Wx50Hx39D and has a tag on the bottom of the door that reads 890LBS. Steel plate, non-insulated.

I have a Browning G6428F that is 60"X28"X29". It is UL rated for 1200 degrees for 30 minutes.

The shipping weight is 955 lbs.

Dean

I wonder what they call "insulation" in the older safes. I had to pull my door apart to change the combination. Found it is filled with some sort of thermal concrete. So is the rest of the safe. But- maybe they weren't all made this way?

(quoted from post at 07:19:24 03/04/12) I wonder what they call "insulation" in the older safes. I had to pull my door apart to change the combination. Found it is filled with some sort of thermal concrete. So is the rest of the safe. But- maybe they weren't all made this way?

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Afraid it may be asbestos........... At least the ones used over here... Remember about 18 years ago a bulletin coming out telling that all safes had to be replaced and the old ones turned in/handled as hazardous waste...

Asbestos is not considered a problem unless you mess with it and cause dust. The whole ceiling in the paper mill I worked in was asbestos, we couldn't drill or cut into it.

Reminds me of years ago. Some crooks hot wired a truck at a local supply house. Backed up to the loading dock and loaded a very heavy safe and took off. Truck was found in the woods next day with the safe they had "cracked" open. The owner said there was not anything in the safe to start with and the door was not locked anyway.
Richard

All safes are not created equal! Some are lots tougher to get into than others, but if you want to get in bad enough, they can be defeated.

One big problem with a relatively small safe is that if crooks find it, they will probably think it might be worth their while to take it away to a spot where they can pound it to pieces. I know of a business near Spokane years ago that had their safe (containing no more that a couple of hundred dollars), yanked from the business with a tow chain and dragged down the road. That caused many thousands of dollars of damage to the building and many more to the road. When the safe was found, it had been smashed with sledge hammers. Probably the thieves worked many hours to get into the safe.

So if you get a safe, the heavier the better, and a safe should always be fastened down very securely. Heavy bolts deep in concrete might work.

I have an old fire "safe" in my basement that probably weighs about 400lbs. Since I only store old tax records and nothing else of value to anyone but me, I leave the safe unlocked with instructions how to open it on the door. Hopefully if I ever get burglarized, the crooks will not bother to steal my safe, since they can easily look into it.

Safes really aren"t! Good luck!

Those tax records could be more valuable than cash. It has all the information a crook would need to "steal" your identity. With that they can open numerous lines of credit in your name and cash them out.

As somebody else pointed out, it's most likely filled with asbestos.

That's not a problem unless you want to get rid of the safe. (and assuming you don't open up its innards)

I've got one that's about 3'x4'x5'high. It's really overkill for the few guns I've got in it, and it's way too much of a pain in the butt to dial the combo into and open up, so I just leave it unlocked (with trigger locks on the guns).

Problem is, it came with the house and I can't get rid of it.

Sorry I'm not answering your weight question. Not sure what mine weighs - easily over 1000lbs.

But my point is, just be sure you really want the thing.

The only good way to get rid of them is to bury them when nobody's looking.