Lots of Options When it Comes to Protecting Paperwork
Suzi Kern If you are in the market for a safe, there are many options available to protect your documents or computer backups. Whether it is for the home or business there are safes of all sizes that can keep your documents protected from an unexpected fire. These safes usually provide a limited time of safety only. There are Fire safes which are so called because they keep the interior of the safe at less than 350 degrees for a stated period of time. This allows the contents to remain secure from the actual flames of the fire. Most manufacturers of fire safes will not call them "fireproof" but use"fire resistant" instead. In order for a safe to successfully resist heat, the special composite material sandwiched between the outer and inner metal walls gives off moisture. This creates steam inside of the safe. The steam will not go any higher than 350 degrees fahrenheit. The manufacturer has to insure that the "steam" created by the composite fire-retardant material will be released from the safe. So safes are engineered not to be air tight. They must release the steam created inside while the fire is red-hot outside. There are labels on all fire safes that state the length of time tested and that the safe will maintain a temperature of 350 degrees fahrenheit or less during that time. There are safes available that can withstand flames for 1 hour and up to 3 hours. When purchasing a fire safe, estimate how far you are from the fire department t responding to a blaze at your location to determine how much protection you will need. The safe will still protect your paper documents, however, when the fire retardant, composite material runs out of moisture (usually after the 1 hour, 1.5 hours or 2 hours that it is rated for), the safe will no longer resist the fire. One of the alternatives is the mixed media file cabinet which is the preferred choice for both paper and computer record safety. These cabinets come in 2,3, or 4 drawer models, and look like regular file cabinets. You can choose to have computer media protection drawers for DVDs or fire rated drawers for paper records, or both. The paper record storage drawers rated by UL to be Class 350 , indicating that temperatures stay below 350°F when exterior temperatures are reaching 1700°F. During the same 1700°F test, media drawers were UL classified to maintain an internal temperature below 125°F without going over the 80 percent humidity level. This tight standard is required to protect computer media like hard drives and DVDs. The file is engineered to protect against magnetic interference as well. A much less expensive option is the fire and impact file cabinets that are for paper records only. They can have 2 or 4 drawers and are about 1/2 the price of the models mentioned above, and still provide the 350 degree protection needed for paper files. Burglar and fire safes are another much smaller alternative and provide both fire and burglary safety. They are usually 20" to 30" square, with the interior being even smaller. They come with UL 350 safety for 1 to 1.5 hours. There is generally 2" of concrete between the steel inner & outer walls which provdes the needed burglary and flame protection. Whichever one you choose, all of these can be found at http://www.safeandvaultstore.com/safes/fire-file-cabinets.php/27 >fire file cabinets www.safeandvaultstore.com About the Author
The author lives in South Carolina, and is retired from corporate America. Suzi Kern may be contacted at http://www.safeandvaultstore.com/safes/fire-safes.php/29. Click here to view more articles by Suzi Kern. Reprinted with Permission from IdeaMarketers.com
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