Burglary Safes

Burglary Safes – designed to protect cash and other high value items from theft.

Burglary Safe

Using a correctly rated and labeled Burglary safe is imperative for the proper protection of your valuables, in some cases insurance could disallow a claim if the safe you were using was not properly rated or labeled.

SAFETY NOTE: Some antique cast iron safes contained a TEAR GAS VIAL as part of the protection package. In addition, many older safes used ASBESTOS as a fire-retardant barrier. Use caution when working on or servicing older safes.

Burglary safes are designed for the protection of money and valuables. It is important that you use a safe that is designed, tested and rated for this purpose. They range in size and shape, from small in-floor boxes up the bank vault doors. The degree of protection, has as wide a range. Construction materials range from steel plate to composite materials.

Many burglary safes were and still are constructed with “enhanced” protection features including: drill resistant hard plate (various styles and designs commonly used), relock bolts which fire when the safe is attacked and even glass plates connecting the re-locking device to the bolt mechanism to  deter drilling.

Burglary safe ratings are usually expressed by a letter, B, C, E, or TL15?, TL30?, TL60?, TLTR60?, TLTRTX60X6?. The letter designations are really left over from a widely used mercantile insurance rating system, that is typically not used today.

The “TL” ratings are the current UL ratings, and can be broken down as follows. These are sample ratings, there are more. The term “resists attack by tools” is measured as the actual time that the tool is in contact with the area being attacked. Keeping this in mind, the test time is typically much longer than the number of minutes given.

• TL15 – resists attack by standard and abrasive tools for 15 minutes
• TL30 – resists attack by standard and abrasive tools for 30 minutes
• TL60 – resists attack by standard and abrasive tools for 60 minutes
• TLTR60 – resists standard tools, abrasive tools and torch attack for 60 minutes
• TLTRTX60X6 – resists tool, abrasive tool, torch and explosive attack for 60 minutes, on all 6 sides.

Fire safes are not usually rated for the protection of money and valuables. Some insurance policies will require specific UL® ratings for burglary safes. These UL® ratings are awarded to safe models that pass a variety of attacks with tools and known methods of defeat, those models that pass will have a rating expressed in minutes and codes for the types of attack. RE: TL30, TL60, TLTXTR60 etc. It is important to be aware that burglary rated safes, unless specifically stated on the label are usually not rated for fire protection.

Some Manufacturers do offer safes that are rated for fire and burglary protection, these safes are usually more expensive. Some manufacturers achieve dual protection by installing a fire rated box inside a burglary safe or vice versa.

The Certified Safe & Vault Technicians at Starfleet Lock & Safe, Inc. can help you choose the correct burglary safe for your unique requirements, we will order and install your choosen safe.