So I have been slowly trying to plan out a project, but also wanting to make it with a purpose. My wife and I are looking to purchase a firebox mainly for documents, as we don’t need a large safe for valuables.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a good one to use? I doubt my wife will want a chip, so it will still need to be accessed like normal, or in manner she can open it.
I have the controller kit that came with my bundle, so I plan to use that.
I also plan to take my time on it and turn it into a wiki, so maybe we could start listing “how to” on certain things. That would most likely be benificial for people like me who are new, and just want to follow a guide.
I have never used a fire box but I had assumed there would be a non secure outer shell that protected the lock and other bits and pieces from water and fire.
somewhere there is a post on modifying a safe to used the xAC or the antenna to open a safe. Could you not use that and then use a fire wall pouch for your documents. Yes the safe would not be fire proof but the pouches are
Ok back when I wrote RFID Toys I did research on different fire safes… and there are significant differences to be aware of.
almost all fire safes you find are going to be document safes which protect paper documents for up to 30 minutes in a typical house fire… some can last up to 90 minutes but they are much more expensive. If your house is not extinguished before that (none are), the inside of the safe reaches over 451F and the paper burns. If you store anything plastic like CDs or DVDs or plastic anything, it will melt and fuse your paper documents into a charred blob.
If you want to protect anything with plastic, including certain currencies (like Canadian), you must get a “media safe”, which has an active layer that activates with heat and chemically reacts to keep the contents of the safe cool. These last even less time in a fire than a document safe, and after 20 - 60 minutes (depending on the model), the contents will be melted / destroyed. Bonus, sometimes these safes are stored in areas of the house which peak over the activation temperature and the chemical is used in a non-fire situation, rendering the entire thing useless… and there’s no way to tell if this has happened or not.
If you do employ a fire safe anywhere in your home, put it in the garage near the vehicle door so it can be first to hit with water and quickly removed. Only by putting your fire safe as close to outside as possible will you have any chance at all at protecting the actual contents… but of course, if you are using a media safe, try to ensure it doesn’t get too warm in the garage or poof… it will be rendered useless.
If you are in doubt, get a PO box or safe deposit box off site. Or, alternatively scan all documents and store digital copies off site.
nope it’s been out of print for a while… sometimes amazon has copies that range in price from $5 to $150 for some reason… but there are … other … means … cough torrent cough out there.