Gone are the days when you could just leave your belongings in your closet and they would be safe. With break-ins on the rise all across the world, there’s an increased need of locking up your valuables in something stronger than an ordinary lock. This is why most people buy safes!
Safes are impenetrable, the only person who can access them is you, unless, you forget the code or lose the key. Then, you’ll find yourself locked out of your safe, with all of your valuables inside. Now, the first instinct there is to panic. But fear not, there are a few things you can do to get that safe opened again, but before we get into that, we need to go over the things that you could do, that would make the situation much worse.
What not to do if you get locked out of your safe?
Don’t try to outsmart it: If you have a digital safe, there might be a way to override the lock, but, if you do it wrong, you might end up making things worse and extending the lockout time instead! Don’t try to override the timer.
Don’t mess with the wiring: People that don’t know their way around the override at all, try messing with the wiring to get the safe to “turn off” so they can just open it up. This doesn’t work. Instead of being electronically locked out, you’ll find yourself dealing with a manual lockout too because of the safes security measures. That will be even harder to deal with!
Stay away from the power tools: If you feel like you can just whip out a chainsaw and saw through the safe, stop it right there. A chainsaw will not work here either. You might just end up with a damaged safe and a broken chainsaw.
All of these ideas work in theory, but they do not work in real life and will only make matters worse. It’s time to take a step back and deal with the situation the right way!
Locked Out of Your Safe? Here’s what you need to do!
Once you’ve analyzed the situation, it’s time to deal with it more smartly.
Check the Batteries: One of the main reasons why people get locked out of their digital safes is because the batteries ran out! This shouldn’t happen very often but it’s not unheard of for this problem to occur. Try replacing the batteries and check if that turns it back on. If that’s the case, you can easily just type in your code and unlock the safe!
Check the Bolt: Sometimes the safe does open up, but the main bolt gets jammed, keeping the door from opening up. While keeping your hands off of the main keypad, push firmly on the door and pull the handle in the other way. This should loosen up the bold and your safe should open up!
Wait for the lock timeout to lift: If your digital safe has locked you out because of an incorrect code attempt, it will go into a “timeout mode”. If you try another attempt while the timer is counting down, you could potentially make the timer increase! Which is the opposite of what we want!
Call a locksmith: If your safe is manual, it will have a manual mechanism to open up. Locksmiths are trained to open up manual locks and they should be able to open a manual safe as well.
Call your safe manufacturer: If you don’t feel comfortable with the idea of someone breaking into your safe, or you simply can’t find the right locksmith in Rochester NY to come help out, try giving your safe manufacturer a call. They might be able to guide you on how to open up the safe again. However, this is something that you will need your original documentation for because the manufacturer won’t help you unless you can prove that you own the safe. If you do have the documentation, this route should work!
ALSO READ: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COMMERCIAL ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEMS
At least one of the five ways we have mentioned should help you out if you find yourself locked out of your safety, but, there are steps you can take to try to avoid the problem altogether! If your safe has a key lock, keep backup keys around the house. This will ensure that if you lose your main key, you’ll still be able to open the safe with the backup and not get locked out. If it’s a digital safe, keep the code something you’re bound to remember no matter what, sometimes trying a totally unique number means that you’re more likely to forget it. Lastly, check your safe periodically to ensure that you know where the key is/what the code is and that everything is in functioning order. So if you do get locked out, it’s not in an emergency.
These proactive steps should keep you from ever getting locked out, but in case you do follow the 5 reactive ways we’ve mentioned above to open that safe up in no time!
