Fire Safe Ratings: How To Determine If Your Safe Is Fire Safe
Do you want to blow up a safe?
With these tests for your home fire safe, it could explode. This article tells you how to test a home fire safe to determine if it meets the fire resistance rating standards set by The Underwriters Laboratories. Note that I use the term fire retardant interchangeably with fire resistant, technically they are not interchangeable. I also recommend that you do not try this in your own home. It is too expensive and dangerous.
Necessary material
1. You will need a minimum of two identical household fire safes. You’ll need a third fireproof home safe if you want to blast-proof yourself.
2. Select some documents that you can use for a test. Make sure it’s something you can do without, but don’t use blank paper, otherwise you won’t know if it’s readable or not. I have contemplated using my bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. I haven’t used it for years. If you’re trying out a media safe, you might want some CDs you got for Christmas and can’t stand. Also try a flash drive and memory card.
3. You will need an oven large enough to heat one safe at a time. If you’ve seen MacGyver or the A Team, I’m sure you can improvise. Otherwise, check out a local pottery kiln.
4. Get some protective gear. Oven mitts will not work well when opening a safe that has been heated to 2,000 degrees F.
5. Somehow you will need to find some thermometers and recording devices that will let you know the internal temperature of the fireproof safe. I don’t think an Oregon Scientific weather station will work unless it’s testing for UL 125 rating. You’ll also need to measure humidity.
6. You will also need to measure the outside temperature of the safe. Good luck finding a cheap thermometer that reaches 2000 degrees.
7. Oh, I almost forgot. She’ll probably need a small crane to lift her homemade fire safe 30 feet into the air while it’s still hot. A quick release will also be needed for drop testing.
8. At the bottom of the drop test, you will need a stack of bricks on a concrete slab.
Ratings
Assuming you have been able to put together all of the above material, it would be good to find out what the different UL ratings mean and the criteria that will determine a successful test. Each of the ratings can be used for a fireproof safe, but they are meaningless unless you specify how long the safe will meet the standard.
UL 350 – The safe must maintain the interior temperature below 350 degrees Fahrenheit. That is below the normal temperature for most paper products to burn, char, or become useless.
UL 150 is the classification for tapes, cartridges, microfiche, and microfilm. In addition to keeping the interior at 150 degrees or less, the humidity must be below 85%.
UL 125 is the standard for floppy disks. In this case, the temperature cannot exceed 125°F and 80% humidity. I have a feeling this standard is a bit outdated because most people don’t store floppies anymore.
heat test
The first test is to see if your home fire safe will protect the contents for the specified period of time. You should start at normal room temperature and humidity. Load your safe with your test material and take it to your oven.
Heat your oven to the following temperatures (all Fahrenheit) for the test you want to run, and then place the safe in the oven. Beware, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were thrown into an overheated furnace, the boys assigned to the task died from the heat.
or 1,550 for a nominal ½ hour safe
or 1,700 for a nominal 1-hour safe
or 1,850 for a 2 hour qualifying safe
or 1,920 for a 3 hour qualifying safe
or 2,000 for a 4-hour qualifying safe
Leave your home fire safe in the oven for ½ to 4 hours. Here comes the kicker. Do not remove the safe after the allotted time, just turn off the heat and let it cool inside the oven. If you have a really good oven, like the guys at UL have, it would take up to 68 hours.
You will need to record the inside temperature during the heating and cooling phase. If it passes the rating, your home fire safe has failed the test. When it’s cool enough to open, you’ll need to check the contents of your test to make sure it’s still okay.
impact test
I think the heat test was kind of boring. The crash test is much more fun and doesn’t take as long. For this test, you need your second home fire safe. Start the same as before but the times and temperatures in the oven will be less.
o 20 minutes at 1460 degrees for a safe ½ hour rating
o 30 minutes at 1550 degrees for a 1 hour safe rating
or 45 minutes at 1640 for a safe 2 hour rating
o 60 minutes at 1700 for 3 and 4 hour safes
This part sounds like a TV show. You now have 2 minutes to remove the safe from the oven, lift it 30 feet into the air, and drop it onto your pile of bricks. If you can see inside through the cracks or the door, your fireproof safe failed the second test. However, if it still looks good, you’re not done yet.
Flip your safe over and reheat it. This time you can take it out of the oven and let it cool. Open the safe and examine the contents. If everything is okay, including moisture damage, you’re almost done.
explosion proof
If you’re a fan of Mythbusters on TV, then this has the potential to be the most fun. If you only bought two safes, you’ll want to do this before doing the drop test.
Start with an empty fireproof safe. Heat it up to 2000 degrees, then open it up and save your test documents, CDs or other material very quickly. Slam the door shut and keep the outside at 2000 degrees for another 30 minutes. If your safe hasn’t exploded, you’re almost done. Once it’s cool enough to make sure you can handle it, open your home fireproof safe and make sure your documents are still okay.
Congratulations, you have just proved that your home fire safe is indeed fire resistant.
mythbusters quiz
None of your safes are any good anymore, so this is for those who like to watch things blow up. Get a stick of dynamite and… No, I’m not going there. Someone could accuse me of endangering people.
conclusion
It’s much cheaper and safer to just look inside your safe and see if it has a UL label.