Anatomy of a burglar-proof fire and security safe that keeps villains out and fire out
1. Metal technology – The thick outer armor of modern Chubb safes is made of blowgun and drill-resistant manganese steel, previously only available in the sturdier and more expensive four-ton-plus treasure safes. A pure fire safe will compromise the strength of the steel and core filler. In burglar-proof safes, it takes forever to pierce thick manganese steel, even with the most powerful modern blowpipe torches and diamond drill cutting equipment. And the armor doesn’t stop there. Inner casings including a hardened Siemens steel plate. The deep flanged corners are electrically welded and beautifully rounded into a solid unit, while the back is flush. What looks like old technology is far from it.
2. The filling of the sandwich – Essentially, modern Chubb brand safes are a sandwich. Between the steel is a special, high-density, virtually impregnable reinforced concrete infill, as if the outer steel wasn’t enough. The concrete contains insulating and reinforcing additives to protect against the most intense fire and defy the hardest, most powerful diamond drills and blades. It also increases the weight of the safe, a major deterrent to removing the safe to break it out of site. A burglar-proof security safe is not a fire safe, but it will still offer 90 minutes of protection for paper documents from destruction by fire.
3.Lock Options– Locking mechanisms for Chubb Maximum Security Safes and Fire Safes may vary. Options available with the Chubb range vary from conventional keys to combination locks, dynamo powered digital locks or time delay locks. With time locks, the safe only opens when a preset time is reached, even if the correct combination is known. Mounted on the inside of the safe door, time locks were originally developed to prevent staff from being kidnapped or tortured to obtain the combination code. Time locks also prevent staff entry at unauthorized times and have a host of built-in features, such as multiple different codes (as in an electronic lock), owner-set time delays, preset vacation dates, and ease of multiple code. They will even provide a full audit trail with a detailed lock history log showing when the lock was opened, who opened it, and how long it was open. Memory function retains data even if batteries run out and new batteries are installed.
4. Service – So, “what can go wrong with a Chubb safe?” Very little, so why is service important? Well, a variety of different user situations could arise. You could lose your key, forget your combination, or the safe could be defaced after an attempted break-in or fire. Safes may need to be moved from time to time due to renovations, upgrades or replacement. Therefore, insurance service specialists are essential should any of these situations need to be addressed.