What fire rating should a gun safe have? The answer may vary depending on your location, what you keep inside, and where you keep it.
Safes protect your valuables from floods, fires, and other natural catastrophes. The fire appears to be the risk you must prioritize since it does the most harm to your possessions. So what fire rating should a gun safe have?
It would be best to get a gun safe that can have a 1-hour fire rating. Safes with a lower rating are unlikely to withstand a business or home fire.
This article will discuss the fire rating of safes in depth. We also share some tips to choose fireproof lockers to store your weapons. Let’s give it a read!
What Fire Rating Should A Gun Safe Have?
1-hour is the standard criterion for a weapon locker. However, depending on your content inside the locker, the answer may vary.
To have a correct answer, you need to discover the definition of the fire ratings and how to define the ideal figure for your locker.
How to read the fire ratings?
There are two aspects to the weapon cabinet burning scoring system. Interestingly, they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They are also far from standard across the industry.
“1 hour – 1200 degrees,” for example, is a common fire-resistance ranking. The “1 hour” refers to how long it can endure the temperature mentioned in the second section.
So, 1 hour – 1200 degrees means that your locker can withstand the heat of 1200 degrees in one hour.
- Time range: The time range varies from 30 minutes up to 3 hours for the finest safes.
- Heat range: Most producers will first market the product’s heat limit, which is usually between 1200 and 2200 degrees. Technically, this is the heat level at which the inside of the locker hits 350 degrees.
How to identify the correct ratings for firearm safes?
To determine the fire rating of your weapon locker, you’d better ask yourself these questions:
- Does the vault include any electronic storage devices?
- Does the vault have paper?
- What is the price of the contents inside?
- Where do you keep: in a small room, a large house, or a big building?
- How long would it take the fireman to arrive at your position?
Consider the questions carefully to choose the right locker for your weapons
If you’re solely storing essential papers, you’ll need a 4-hour – 2,000 degrees safe with low enough heat to prevent the paper from getting burned.
If you’re saving electronics or images, you’ll need a rating of 2-hour – 2,000 degrees. They are the highest temperatures that electronics, as well as other storage devices, should expose.
If you’re installing the weapon locker in a small house in an urban location, a 30-minute fire-rated model will suffice.
The locker can withstand higher temperatures than house fires, and the typical fire dept response time in a city is roughly 10 minutes.
What Makes A Gun Safe Fireproof?
Any locker has to pass a test to get the burning ranking. Manufacturers always focus on specific aspects to make their products meet this safety standard.
You can consult the list of the most fireproof gun safes via this video.
When choosing the safe, you need to check every component. Make sure that the locker offers a high degree of burning resistance.
Here are some requirements to make the weapon locker fireproof.
Fireboard
A fireboard is a barrier that exists within the locker’s depths. It’s essentially gypsum-based drywall.
A fireboard is available in almost every home cabinet. A cabinet should have at least two to four layers of gypsum. The thickness of fire boards varies between 1/4 and 5/8 inches.
The fireboard has dampness inside it. This moisture will release when the temperature reaches 262°F. As a result, the locker’s interior can stay cool.
A safe with multiple fireboard layers is ideal. Its cooling system will rise as the amount of layers increases.
A fireboard is available in almost every home locker
K-wool
K-wool comes from ceramic materials. It’s simply a thick blanket with high resistivity.
The fibers help the material gain additional reinforcement. This material is popular in the safe-making industry thanks to its shock and heat resistance.
This material has a limited heat storage capacity, making it perfect for usage in lockers.
Steel sheets
Thin metal sheets form a solid layer for your locker.
The interior of the vault should also have a fireproof layer. There should be no metal, except for the cutouts, because they are flammable.
FPC
FPC stands for Fire Protected Concrete.
Concrete is a fire-resistant material. This material is prevalent in gun-safe construction.
Concrete functions as insulation, stopping heat from entering the lock’s inside. You may get a vault that has FPC in the sidewalls and the door.
Concrete is a fire-resistant material
Fire seal
Fire seals sit on the locker’s door. In case of fire, the seal will expand. It can enlarge to ten times its initial size.
When the seal opens, it makes a pathway for the smoke and fire to escape.
The fire burns its way down the path, causing minor damage to your possessions.
It’s also crucial to make sure the door is sturdy and thick. If not, fire will access the inside easily.
Firebox
Fireboxes are small lockboxes that can store valuables. You can put the boxes inside the locker to provide an added layer of security.
The Bottom Line
Professionals always advise purchasing a safe that can withstand heat for at least one hour.
A gun safe can provide you with the assurance that your valuables are secure.
As a result, make a point to choose a locker with certified fire resistance, which will ensure that your belongings are safe.
Hopefully, you will find this article helpful. If you need any information, don’t forget to leave it in the comments. Thank you for following this post!
