General Rules of Weight?

lafortts

If concrete weighs about 150lbs per cubic foot and my little victor safe is 3ft x 3ft x 2.5ft with walls about 6 inches thick….well my calculator is telling me that it weighs about 2500lbs. Thats not even taking into account all the steel. My math must be really bad or I’m missing something else. Is it possible that my little victor safe isn’t lined with concrete? It’s very heavy but it just can’t weight 2500 lbs. Or can it? What are some typical weights for older safes of that size?

Dean Nickel

It is in what is the mix of the fill. Concrete wasn’t use much in fire safes as far as I know. It was a fill that would change depending on the maker. Asbestos is much lighter and was used allot in fire fill on older safes.

Doug MacQueen

Edward and Joseph Hall did get a patent for a concrete filled firesafe in 1848 but most fire safes including Victor use mixes closer to gypsum drywall and plaster of Paris. Concrete was widely used in cladded money chests during the mid and later 1900’s. Asbestos fortunately was not widely used with the exception of the era around 1920’s and 30’s when it was popular especially for light weight fire resistant safes. I would guess a Victor with 6″ walls would be that size would be more like 1000 lbs. or so. Doug

SteveVictorOwner

lafortts wrote
If concrete weighs about 150lbs per cubic foot and my little victor safe is 3ft x 3ft x 2.5ft with walls about 6 inches thick….well my calculator is telling me that it weighs about 2500lbs. Thats not even taking into account all the steel. My math must be really bad or I’m missing something else. Is it possible that my little victor safe isn’t lined with concrete? It’s very heavy but it just can’t weight 2500 lbs. Or can it? What are some typical weights for older safes of that size?

My 33” x 22” x22” Victor floor safe weighs 550 lbs. ( The door weighs 95 lbs and safe (w/o door) weighs 450 lbs).

[unknown]

Chubby

It is true that dense concrete is around that sort of mass. It depends on the mix and a few other things.

Most fire safes with a cement type infill, though, are not dense concrete. Quite the reverse. The concrete is made deliberately porous. The porosity enhances the insulation properties of the concrete. It also significantly reduces the weight.