Fire cabinets for documents, data media, chemicals and batteries

Fire resistant cabinets for paper, data media, chemicals and batteries

Should the cabinet protect the contents, or the room?

Fire cabinets are built in two directions, and that is the first question to answer.

Cabinets that protect the contents from a fire outside. Document cabinets, data media safes, filing cabinets, fire chests and fire rated safes. The fire is in the room, and the cabinet has to keep the inside cool enough for the paper or the hard drive to survive.

Cabinets that protect the room from what is inside. Chemical cabinets, fire separating cabinets and battery cabinets. Here it is the contents that can catch fire or make a fire worse, and the cabinet has to keep the fire away from them, or inside itself.

The two kinds are tested against different standards and cannot stand in for each other. A document cabinet will not do for flammable liquids, and a chemical cabinet saves no binders. The Protects filter shows what each cabinet is built for.

What can paper, hard drives and tapes take?

The contents decide how cool the cabinet has to stay. The test standard NT Fire 017 classifies cabinets by what survives:

• Paper only starts losing information above 170 degrees.
• Hard drives and other magnetic media are damaged already at 70 degrees.
• Backup tapes, diskettes, negatives and film only take 50 degrees.

The minutes say how long the cabinet holds that limit. In the test the cabinet stands in a furnace that heats up along a fixed curve, and the time is measured until it gets too hot inside. A cabinet rated 60 minutes has protected its contents for 60 minutes.

How many minutes do you need? Think about three things: how long it could take before a fire where you are is put out, how hard the contents would be to replace, and whether anyone requires a particular time. More minutes give more margin, but are not always needed.

Besides NT Fire 017 there are EN 1047-1 and EN 15659, which is given as LFS. The Fire rating filter shows which standard each cabinet is tested to. Cabinets for paper are under document cabinets, cabinets for digital media and tapes under data media safes.

Flammable liquids, aerosols and gas cylinders

Chemical cabinets for flammable liquids are tested to EN 14470-1 and given as Type 30, Type 60 or Type 90, that is minutes. They have self-closing doors and fire dampers in the ventilation that close on their own in a fire. The ventilation is open in normal use and closes when it has to.

Shop cabinets are something else. Cabinets that display goods and let liquids and aerosols be stored together on a sales floor are tested to SP method 2369, and the rating is given as class I. It is not the same test as EN 14470-1, and it gives no fire time in minutes. They are under fire separating cabinets.

Gas cylinders indoors are stored in cabinets to EN 14470-2. Outdoors the opposite applies: the cabinet should be open or perforated, so that gas cannot collect. Both kinds are under gas cylinder cabinets.

If you are unsure what is required where the cabinet will stand, ask your local fire and rescue service. In Sweden it is usually the municipal rescue service that supervises flammable goods.

Lithium-ion batteries

A battery cabinet is built for a fire that starts inside. A damaged lithium-ion battery can heat up by itself and catch fire. The cabinet then has to keep the fire inside, so that it does not spread to the room.

There are cabinets for storage and cabinets for charging. If the batteries are to be charged in the cabinet, choose one built for it. Battery cabinets are given against several different standards, and the Fire rating filter shows which. The full range is under battery cabinets.

Fire rated or fire insulated, what is the difference?

Fire rated means tested and certified to a standard, with a rating in minutes. That is what counts when there is a requirement on the cabinet.

Fire insulated means the cabinet has insulation that slows the heating up, but no certified rating. It is lighter and cheaper than a document cabinet and gives better protection than an ordinary steel cabinet. How much better cannot be said, because that is exactly what has not been tested.

Choose fire insulated when you want extra protection without a requirement for a rating. If there is a requirement on the cabinet, choose fire rated. In the Protects filter, cabinets without a fire rating are listed as "Fire-retarding for" what they protect, for example Fire-retarding for paper.

Can one cabinet protect against both fire and burglary?

Yes, but they are two different tests. The fire rating says how long the cabinet resists heat, the theft rating how long it resists someone trying to break it open. A cabinet can have one, the other, or both.

Document cabinets and data media safes are built for fire and are burglar-deterrent, but not theft rated. Value safes to EN 1143-1 and some S2 security cabinets have both a theft rating and a fire rating. Other S2 cabinets are only fire insulated. Always check both.

Use the Protects and Burglary rating filters together, and only cabinets that have both are shown. More on how the theft ratings differ is under safes.

Fire protection at home

For a few irreplaceable papers a fire chest is often enough. Passports, certificates, a USB drive, a small hard drive. A chest with a 30 minute fire rating is enough for most homes, and it can be placed inside another cabinet. They are under fire chests.

If more has to fit, or the protection has to last longer, a small document cabinet is more practical than a large chest that becomes heavy to lift. Mind the weight: a fire rated cabinet is heavy for its size, and the floor and the way in have to take it.

If you also want burglary protection at home, an S2 security cabinet to EN 14450 is the starting point. Check whether it has a fire rating or only fire insulation, see the section above.

How to use the filter

Start with Protects. Choose what has to survive the fire: paper, digital media, tapes and film, flammable liquids, gas cylinders or lithium-ion batteries. Cabinets without a fire rating come last in the list, as fire-retarding.

Then Fire protection if you want to see how long the cabinet protects, Fire rating for which standard it is tested to, and Burglary rating if it also has to resist burglary. Outer height in mm, Outer width in mm and Outer depth in mm if the cabinet has to fit a particular spot, and Lock system for the rest.

Can't find the right one? Call us on +46 770 22 01 22. We would rather answer a question before you buy than after.