10 ms·

Nothing is 100% secure, but I have opted for a high-quality gun/fire safe that's bolted to the foundation of my home (in a gated community), and protected by mu

Nothing is 100% secure, but I have opted for a high-quality gun/fire safe that's bolted to the foundation of my home (in a gated community), and protected by multiple monitored alarm systems and cameras. The safe has a lot more room than any bank's box would, it's cheaper in the long-run, and IMHO (especially after reading the fine article) more secure. Also, it's got a S&G spin-dial lock that I trust a lot more than any electronic garbage.

Wistar 4y ago
Where in the house is the safe located? I saw a video some years ago that made a fairly compelling case for locating the safe in a pantry or laundry room or anywhere other than the master bedroom, master closet, master bath or home office.
- gorgoiler 4y ago
  While it would be nice to have something that could withstand a casual burglar, the more likely threat to my stuff is a house fire. Where is the best for a safe to survive in a burning building, but also not be visible to anyone and remain thermally neutral? Fire safes are passive thermal sinks that reflect and damp heat transfer for as long as possible before ultimately turning into a giant heavy toaster oven. I wonder if active fire safes are a thing? Imagine the security of a safe but with an armored thermal pipe sticking out the top that goes to a heat sink somewhere outdoors. Kind of like AC but for precious documents / grandpa’s watch. I guess you’d want it to fuse and fall off if the pipe started piping heat into the safe.
  - mint2 4y ago
    You want a floor safe in your basement.
    - tda 4y ago
      How do you mitigate the flood risk in a basement. Sewer malfuntioning, heavy rain, but also firefighters flooding your burning house? I would think (no numbers to back it up) for most houses the risk of flooding is higher that the risk of burning down
      - ApolloRising 4y ago
        Waterproof bag used for Scuba or a pelican case.
  - chrismcb 4y ago
    Keep in mind safes have a rated drop height usually only one floor
- idlewords 4y ago
  Piggybacking off of that, what is the combination? As your friends here at HN, we want to make sure it's cryptographically strong.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    I just use 1-2-3-4-5 for everything. Edit: oh crap, not again
    - drexlspivey 4y ago
      That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage.
  - HyperSane 4y ago
    hunter2
    - dredmorbius 4y ago
      It shows as stars.
- bigbacaloa 4y ago
  I have a safe in the wall behind a permanent bookshelf in a random room of my house. One has to remove several shelves and a false back to get at it. A safe is best hidden - otherwise seeing it is an incentive to rob you. My children don't know it exists.
- ananonymoususer 4y ago
  Mine is in the smaller of my (two) garages.
drexlspivey 4y ago
Someone with a gun can still force you to open it.
- ananonymoususer 4y ago
  Fortunately the house is in a state that makes it fairly easy to get a CCW permit, and I'm always carrying when I'm around that house.
- tabulatouch 4y ago
  You need a second "honeypot" safe to handle that sotuation.
  - roland35 4y ago
    I keep only semi-valuable documents in the honeypot safe. Things like flex spending account receipts, password to my personal github account, and free car-wash vouchers.
    - b112 4y ago
      I think, you should remove the car wash vouchers, if serious. I believed your safe could be real, until I read that heh.
  - Ekaros 4y ago
    Affordable amount of cash in one seems most logical solution. And maybe some dress jewelry. Easy enough for burglar to grab and run away, without too much damage on anything else.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    'Not this one, I'll open the other one for you.' Honeypot safe only works if the real one is well concealed. So then it's only worth having if it's somehow known/assumed that you have a safe at all. (Otherwise just leave it well-concealed and you can say 'I don't have a safe, there's some cash in my wallet and a little jewellery in the bedroom' just as effectively as 'Here is the safe it is definitely the real one'.)

Wistar 4y ago

Where in the house is the safe located? I saw a video some years ago that made a fairly compelling case for locating the safe in a pantry or laundry room or anywhere other than the master bedroom, master closet, master bath or home office.

gorgoiler 4y ago
While it would be nice to have something that could withstand a casual burglar, the more likely threat to my stuff is a house fire. Where is the best for a safe to survive in a burning building, but also not be visible to anyone and remain thermally neutral? Fire safes are passive thermal sinks that reflect and damp heat transfer for as long as possible before ultimately turning into a giant heavy toaster oven. I wonder if active fire safes are a thing? Imagine the security of a safe but with an armored thermal pipe sticking out the top that goes to a heat sink somewhere outdoors. Kind of like AC but for precious documents / grandpa’s watch. I guess you’d want it to fuse and fall off if the pipe started piping heat into the safe.
- mint2 4y ago
  You want a floor safe in your basement.
  - tda 4y ago
    How do you mitigate the flood risk in a basement. Sewer malfuntioning, heavy rain, but also firefighters flooding your burning house? I would think (no numbers to back it up) for most houses the risk of flooding is higher that the risk of burning down
    - ApolloRising 4y ago
      Waterproof bag used for Scuba or a pelican case.
- chrismcb 4y ago
  Keep in mind safes have a rated drop height usually only one floor
idlewords 4y ago
Piggybacking off of that, what is the combination? As your friends here at HN, we want to make sure it's cryptographically strong.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  I just use 1-2-3-4-5 for everything. Edit: oh crap, not again
  - drexlspivey 4y ago
    That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage.
- HyperSane 4y ago
  hunter2
  - dredmorbius 4y ago
    It shows as stars.
bigbacaloa 4y ago
I have a safe in the wall behind a permanent bookshelf in a random room of my house. One has to remove several shelves and a false back to get at it. A safe is best hidden - otherwise seeing it is an incentive to rob you. My children don't know it exists.
ananonymoususer 4y ago
Mine is in the smaller of my (two) garages.

drexlspivey 4y ago

Someone with a gun can still force you to open it.

ananonymoususer 4y ago
Fortunately the house is in a state that makes it fairly easy to get a CCW permit, and I'm always carrying when I'm around that house.
tabulatouch 4y ago
You need a second "honeypot" safe to handle that sotuation.
- roland35 4y ago
  I keep only semi-valuable documents in the honeypot safe. Things like flex spending account receipts, password to my personal github account, and free car-wash vouchers.
  - b112 4y ago
    I think, you should remove the car wash vouchers, if serious. I believed your safe could be real, until I read that heh.
- Ekaros 4y ago
  Affordable amount of cash in one seems most logical solution. And maybe some dress jewelry. Easy enough for burglar to grab and run away, without too much damage on anything else.
- OJFord 4y ago
  'Not this one, I'll open the other one for you.' Honeypot safe only works if the real one is well concealed. So then it's only worth having if it's somehow known/assumed that you have a safe at all. (Otherwise just leave it well-concealed and you can say 'I don't have a safe, there's some cash in my wallet and a little jewellery in the bedroom' just as effectively as 'Here is the safe it is definitely the real one'.)