Questions On Fire Safes

[heeler]

This question is primarily for our resident safe guru's but all are welcome to comment as well.
I was talking with a woman I work with at lunch yesterday and she is interested into possibly purchasing a fire safe for important documents.
She is not(she says) going to be using it for jewelry,bullion,etc.
Myself I personally use two Sentry 1100 fire boxes inside my Amsec BF gun safe to protect documents,titles,will,etc. and feel reasonably comfortable even though they are only UL rated for 30 minutes more time is bought inside the BF but she needs something a bit bigger and more durable than your typical Sentry fire box or small fire chest as she does tax returns for some of her elderly fellow church members and certainly would not like the idea that in a fire or home break in this sort of information could be lost or end up in the wrong hands.
I told her there are so many fire safes out there from regular box stores and online that it would make your head swim but I also told her I would not be comfortable having a document safe that was not at least one hour UL rated.
Her home is about 1300 square feet,single story,and sits on a concrete slab.
Do you feel that a UL rated one hour fire safe would protect this paper in a true home burn down as this is main concern.
Would it be better if she spent more for the UL two hour rated fire safe?
Any way I told her I would look into this for her and try to steer her in a good direction.

 

[a1abdj]

The nice thing about a UL rating (burglary or fire), is that you as a consumer know that the product was tested to the absolute worst case scenario. If you must have fire or burglary protection, then you should be using a UL rated product (or foreign equal).

The reality is that in a typical fire, a small safe will never get that hot. Most of the heat in a fire is a few feet off the floor and higher. A 20" tall safe will not be exposed to 1700 degrees sitting on the floor unless the building burns into itself.

Would I suggest a UL rated safe to her? Without a doubt. Does she need a 2 hour safe? Having more than one needs is never a bad thing, but it's probably overkill.

The bad thing about a safe is that it screams "valuables" to a burglar. I would suggest a 2 drawer fire rated filing cabinet if she's just keeping paperwork. They can be pricey new. If she didn't want to spend the money on a new unit, the economy will turn up some used options. I would check Craigslist.

 

[heeler]

Thanks a1abdj,I never even thought of a UL fire file cabinet even though our HR department has a bank of these heavy gray monsters in a special room.
I checked online on some Schwab two and three drawer fire files and they are very expensive new.
Heavy as a small safe too.
There are plenty of used office furniture places here and I am sure she can find one in good condition and at a much reduced price.
Heck I might even get one myself because I went online and googled Schwab fire files and was quite impressed with the testimonials of individuals as well as companies that suffered severe fires and the file cabinets held up and the records were intact.
They also show a cross section of their insulation which they call Insulite that looks like,well concrete.
Certainly not sheetrock or furnace insulation here.