Using an electronic safe to keep your valuables is a great alternative to depositing your valuables in a safe box in a bank. It can be kept in homes, offices, hotels, dormitory rooms, and the like. If you are thinking of buying an electronic safe, here are some things to consider before laying down your money.
1. Consider The type of valuables that you want to put inside
Different kinds of safes were designed for protecting different kinds of materials. Some electronic safes were better designed to protect paper documents from fire. Media documents like audio and video tapes, computer discs, and cartridges will not be fire-safe inside safes made for paper documents.
2. Consider what the safe were designed for
Some safes were made primarily to resist fire. Some were made to resist burglary. Other safes were made as a combination of these fire-resistant and burglar-resistant safes. Safes that were made to protect objects from fire are usually made to protect paper documents and other records. The walls are equipped with insulation material fitted between two metal sheets. The insulation material traps moisture from the outside environment. In the case of fires, this same material releases the moisture to prevent the fire from lapping up the documents. Burglar-resistant safes, on the other hand, are made from hardened metal that resist drilling, prying, or cutting. If your main objective is to keep your valuables safe from housebreakers, you will know what you will get.
3. Consider the ratings based on what they were made for
Fire-resistant and burglar-resistant safes are rated according to a system developed by the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) which identifies how long the safes can protect paper documents from fire. Lower-rated safes can protect your papers from fires of 1700° F for one hour and are usually good enough for in-home safes. For offices and small business establishments, you may want to upgrade a bit to safes that can protect from fires up to 1850°F to 2000°F for up to one to two hours. Burglar-resistant safes are also categorized according to their UL ratings, which are defined by the thickness of their walls and doors.
4. Consider the type of locks used
There are two types of locks used on electronic safes: digital combination safes and biometric safes. For utmost security, biometric safes are recommended because they use certain biological characteristics such as your fingerprint, eye scan, or voice to open the lock. Digital combination safes have electronic keypads which require you to input a programmed combination so you can open the safe. While combinations may be passed around, it is safe to say that using a digital combination safe is a satisfactory way of protecting your valuables.
