One of the main purposes of purchasing the best fireproof document safe is to protect your valuables from a fire. According to Consumer Reports, almost one in four people in the United States will experience a fire incident that is serious enough to make a call to the fire department. In other words, a fire is a real risk and you should always make sure that your valuables are protected in the event of a fire. Not all safes are fireproof, so you will need to make sure that your safe has protection against fire prior to purchasing it.

If the safe is not rated to protect against fire, then you should not expect it to keep your belongings safe in the event of a fire. One of the factors to consider when you are checking these out is how long the safe will be exposed to a fire. In most house settings, you will need a safe that offers you at least thirty minutes of protection from a fire but you can also find safes that are able to keep your items protected for hours at a time if you are willing to pay more for the safe. You should consider the time rating based on what you are putting into the safe and how long the safe could be exposed to a fire.

The internal temperature rating is the other factor that you should think about when you are picking out a safe. Safes are rated to not exceed a certain temperature when exposed to fire over a period of time. In other words, a 350F degree safe for 30 minutes will not exceed 350F for 30 minutes but the temperature may start to climb when the safe is exposed to a fire for longer than 30 minutes. You should keep in mind that most people cook their food at 350F so anything that would not survive the oven should not be stored in this sort of safe.

Protection against burglary is a reason why many people store valuables in a safe. If you are planning on storing important documents or other valuables in your safe, then you should think about how easy it would be for someone to steal the safe or break into it. Safes have ratings for burglary resistances so you can use this information when it is available to you.

Otherwise, you can make some observations about the safe to get a feel for how difficult it would be for someone to either steal or break into the safe. Protection against theft is important so you should always consider how safe your items will be when they are stored inside of your safe. When you are picking out a safe, you may see security ratings on the safe. Security ratings offer some guidelines as to how difficult it would be for someone to either steal or break into the safe. In other words, the higher the security rating, the harder it will be for someone to steal and break into the safe.

One of the things that you will want to look at is how much the safe weighs since a heavier safe is much harder to steal than a safe that doesn't weigh much. A heavy safe will also have thicker walls and doors so you should start by making sure that the safe weights too much for a single person to carry it on their own if you are concerned about theft protection. You should also see if the safe bolts to the floor. Safes that can bolt to the floor are harder to steal because a thief will need to deal with the bolts prior to taking the safe. You may also see safes that bolt to the wall studs that blend in with your walls.

You should also consider the door of the safe when you are determining how easy it is to break into the safe. A safe that has a thick and heavy door with a strong lock and hinges will be much easier to break into than a safe that has a weak door. The combination of the safe should be hard for people to guess so that people do not get access to the safe simply by guessing the combination or the lock code. You should also place the safe in a non-obvious place as well and avoid places such as your office or master bedroom where burglars are going to look for valuables first.

You should stop and think about how well it will protect your items from the water. This is because water is the main item that is used to put out a fire. Many houses and office buildings have fire sprinklers in them and it will not be very helpful if your important documents are protected from burning only to have them ruined by water.

Some safes are sold as water-resistant safes and they may even have a verification system that proves that the safe will meet their level of water resistance. Such safes have been put into conditions that would similar a flood, a fire sprinkler, or even a broken water pipe. This will be your best bet to making sure that your items are safe from water since you can trust that the safe has gone through the proper testing and has been proven to protect its contents from water damage. If you are going to be storing items such as important papers or electronic devices inside of the safe, then you should consider looking for a safe that has been proven to resist water for some amount of time.

The internal storage capacity inside of the safe is also important. You will always want to make sure that your safe is large enough for your items otherwise the safe will not be useful. Safes come in all different shapes and sizes however a larger safe will cost more than a smaller safe. You may also want a smaller safe if you are trying to hide or conceal the safe in the event of a burglary. For these reasons, you will want to think about the size and the capacity of the safe prior to purchasing a safe for your dwelling or office.

When you are picking out a safe, you will want to think about its size in terms of where you are putting the safe in your house. A wall safe will need to be on the smaller size because it has to fit between the wall studs in your building. Such a safe cannot be too large or too heavy since it will bring down your wall or require you to modify your wall in order to accommodate the safe. However, wall safes can be concealed easily which is why they are useful. If you plan on concealing a safe, then you might want a small safe that you can hide in an area such as cabinets or in a basement.

The lock on the safe is one of the most important features found in a safe. Without a lock, you would be able to easily open and close the safe just as if it were any other cabinet or storage unit. It is the lock that prevents unauthorized access to the safe so you will need to look for a safe that has a lock that you can trust and are comfortable with using. The lock should be designed well enough that it cannot be easily bypassed by someone who is trying to break into the safe and it should be easy enough for you enter the combination or change it as required.

Whenever you are looking at purchasing a fireproof safe, you will want to take a look at the lock to make sure that it is something that you will be satisfied with using. Most combination safes come with either a dial lock or an electronic lock. Both styles of locks offer an almost infinite number of combinations so it is nearly impossible for someone to open the safe by guessing.

Dial locks are not difficult to use and they do not rely on having a source of electricity either which can offer an advantage. However, some people find that it can be harder to enter the combination into a dial lock and it can also be more difficult to set and change a dial lock's combination as well. For this reason, some people prefer a digital combination lock. Digital combination locks have a keypad where you enter a code. Upon the successful entry of the code, the lock will open and grant access to the safe.

You will need to decide what is best for your needs. Since the lock of a safe is the crux of its security, you will need to make sure that you have picked a safe that has a lock that you like. Most safes have a combination lock where you enter a code or a password to access the safe. Generally speaking, combination locks are either dial locks or they have a keypad for you to access the safe. You should always make sure that you have a secure combination when using this sort of lock. Of course, if remembering a combination isn't your thing, there are plenty of other choices for you to pick from as well.