OT, Fire safes

Where can I purchase a 2 hour, 2 cubic ft. firesafe for a reasonable price without an electronic keypad lock.They haave some in Lowes and Homedepot but all have keypad locks.. A safe should last at least 50 years but I know those Battery power keypad combinations will not last 5 year without problems. I just want a standard dial combination lock.

Any good gun shop should have them, but I don't know about a reasonable price. I paid better than 900 bucks about 12 years ago for mine; "Granite" brand.

I had one - Plastic dial shaft broke. Called the company for a replacement, and they sent me an entire new unit. (Old one was several years old!) Said they discontinued dial safes because of shaft problem.
New one has electronic keypad. Has lasted several years on same battery, and still works fine. Don't let the keypad scare you off.

I bought a used fire proof safe from a local locksmith. It is twice the size of any new ones at a big box store and less than half the price. No electronic keypad, it has a dial. The locksmith even changed the combo for us. Try local locksmiths, you might get a pleasant surprise

We got ours at our local farm supply store called Rural King. It has a dial and a key. We paid around $150 for ours. We should of bought a bigger one. This one is 1.5 cubic feet I believe.
Having one is cheaper than renting a safe deposit box at the bank.
ruralking.com

I have what is supposed to be a fire safe in my basement, but it is probably about 7 or 8 cubic feet of interior room. It is old, and has a key lock. It is also extremely heavy, but could be moved if someone wanted to badly enough. I mostly keep income tax records and the like, that I might have to present if I was ever audited.

I leave the key attached to the safe with a note that says: this fire safe contains records; nothing of value to anyone but me. The key to open it is attached, if you don't believe me.

The idea of having a fire safe is to try to protect a small amount of something in case there is a fire in the building. But unfortunately lots of times burglars find a small fire safe and take it with them, thinking it has valuable items in it. Most fire safes are fairly easy to break into, but the burglars take the safe to another location to open it.

It might be a real hassle for me if I lost the records. But if a burglar looked into the fire safe and saw what was there, I doubt they would take anything.

If you want a safe to really protect valuables, you want a much larger and much more substantial unit than the typical fire safe. It also should be fastened down with large bolts or encased in concrete, so it is almost impossible to take it away from the location you have it in. Any safe can be defeated, if the thief is determined enough and has the right tools and time to work on it.

But a small, locked portable safe might as well have TAKE ME painted on it when a burglar comes across it. In my opinion, it is probably safer to leave a fire safe unlocked and real valuables hidden in places where a thief is unlikely to find them. Good luck!

There was a report out that in these large fire areas like the ones in Calif. That the only fire safes that survived the fire were the Gun safes.

"But a small, locked portable safe might as well have TAKE ME painted on it when a burglar comes across it. In my opinion"

Which is why you should keep one in the house. Full of scrap iron...

Fire safes are kinda like the traveling sales man that has the magic in a bottle.

I lost a house in a fire, and still have the molten glob that was in it. It was a centery safe / fire box. Nothing fancy, and the warrenty card was inside the safe.

In all fairness it was a two story large home with alot of fire wood in the basment. Where was the safe? In the basment when all was said and done with a red glow ten foot around and on top of it.

Now I have three safes, (auction bargins) and the valuables are in the one in the garage where there is a min. heat sorce compared to the two story house. The garage has a cement floor, so again little fuel for a hot fire.

When our house burned, we had a chest type freezer out on the porch. Just enough damage to make it questionable about the food inside. I would also doubt that anyone trying to rob a house would go through a deep freeze to find valuables.

I'm a old man and been to alot of house fires, and I'm pretty well convinced you are not going to buy a fire proof safe at the big box stores. If it makes anyone sleep good at night thinking their valuables are fire safe, such is good. I would say it is as reasuring as those of us that think by locking our front door (with glass) is a lock against bad guys. Besides I have glass windown anyway. Firemen in the big cities spent 20 seconds at a door, if they aren't through by then, they find adifferent way to get in. Most house locks are refered to as child locks in my book. There has only been one in thirty years plus years that was difficult to break the glass in the door.

If you have the option, park your safe in a garage, and cement the wheels in with rebar reinforcment, pinned to the floor. Then you can make it difficult for a full time theif anyway.

We have been warned that difficult times like we are seeing could make for less than honest people.

Install a domestic sprinkler system.
One spray head goes off and extingushes the fire before anything serious happens.

If you are going to open a fire safe that has survived a fire, let it cool completely. I have heard stories of a still warm safe being opend and it was so hot inside the contents flashed into cumbustion when fresh air was introduced.