New In-bay Safes

[bigjws]

Need to replace my 40 year old safes -- existing are the 8" dia x 10" deep galvanized tubular safes. They are located in-bay, so I'm planning on going back with all stainless. I saw where MEP mentioned the one from Dultmeier (www.dultmeier.com/products/0.5761.5770/11763) -- has anyone had any experience with the ones from Kleen-rite (www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-2372-10-round-safe.aspx)? They are made by Ideal..which I haven't heard about. Also, any advantages/disadvantages that I'm missing between tubular vs square safes? The tubular seem to all have the plug locks with the allen wrench configuration, whereas the square ones have the t-handle locks .. any thoughts on longevity in a bay environment between the two? Thanks for your views!

 

[Earl Weiss]

I don't know that I have seen any type go bad. FWIW I have round steel safes in my bay but my Coleman Vac Islands have the Square Drawer type safe. I see some round ones are rate for $1600 in Quarters and the Square ones only $1000.00 but AFAIAC that is plenty, especialy now with CC and Bill acceptors in the bay. Mine also have a secondary plate with Hockey Puck lock in that cover with that lock boxed in on front, top and 2 sides.

If it were up to me I would only go with the drawer type safes. Even with the sleeves the drawers seem more user friendly. Going that route I would use the extra cover / lock.
Ra Lock has this option - it's rated for $1200 in quarters.
http://www.ralock.com/products/safescoinvaults/coin-vaults/

 

[Earl Weiss]

What is it about your current safes that makes them no longer serviceable?

 

[bigjws]

Well, my father-in-law put the originals on in the late 70s, not galvanized. A sleeve was put on them sometime later after the originals rusted through, but they are now rusting out again. This past weekend one was ripped off the wall and stolen .. so I plan on bricking them in to 'discourage' any future ideas! Figured it's not worth bricking in rusting out safes, so new stainless here I come…!

 

[cantbreak80]

Being that I'm a bit of a "gadget freak", I'd consider these:

http://www.idxinc.com/carwash/safes.htm

No Keys! Wire them to a toggle switch inside the equipment room, power up the bay, select your rotary switch position and CLICK!, the safe unlocks!

 

[slash007]

My safes at one wash are round and only 7.5" deep. I have been wanting to swap them with square safes and a drawer, but can't find anything that small. I really can't go deeper than 9" as it would stick out too much since they are just mounted on the wall under the coin box. Anyone know if they still make safes that small?

 

[MEP001]

A square safe with a T-handle in the center is usually going to screw into a nut in the back of the safe, so it'll be about 2" deeper just to acommodate that, which means the drawer can only be 6" deep to be recessed 1" from the front, and it wouldn't hold much. Dralco does make a rectangular safe that bolts to the bottom of a standard Weben box, not as secure as most but I think it can be beefed up with an American 2000 lock.

 

[slash007]

Makes sense. I probably won't really find anything better and will just stick with what I have. My coinboxes and safe are right in the middle of the bay, I have been thinking about moving them to one side so that they don't keep getting sprayed with water so much. In the winter they get covered in ice as the water freezes. That would also give me more room as it clears half a bay wall to add tri-foam or something else like tire shine.

 

[Earl Weiss]

My safes at one wash are round and only 7.5" deep. I have been wanting to swap them with square safes and a drawer, but can't find anything that small. I really can't go deeper than 9" as it would stick out too much since they are just mounted on the wall under the coin box. Anyone know if they still make safes that small?

Or you can make it more secure by Building out the wall. Local Guy made some SS shrouds. Like a half tube and bolted to the wall on both sides. Left opening for safe door and filled with cement. Opening for safe door is recessed a couple of inches.

 

[slash007]

I thought about building out the wall, but my bays are already so small as it is, I couldn't stand to lose any more room.

 

[Randy]

We use the 14” round coin vaults https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-2373-14-round-safe.aspx and install them at the end of the bay so you can see them from the street with 2 bays dropping into one coin vault. We this high security vault head https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-2203-high-security-safeheads.aspx years ago we tried a “T’ handle square https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-378-t-handle-square-safe.aspx and found them to be not very secure.

 

[Earl Weiss]

FWIW I had my heads made "High Security" by taking to a local welding shop. They welded on the Tab for the 2000 lock and also a shroud that went around that lock with a space for inserting the key.

 

[mac]

The IDX ones look interesting, but what do you do if/when the locking solenoid fails?

 

[cantbreak80]

A failed solenoid or broken electrical conductor can be overcome by adding a manual release wire to the lock plunger.

Secure a stout wire to the lock plunger. Fish the wire to the meter box or, to a junction box on the top of the bay wall. Fashion a “tee handle” from a large bolt or metal rod.

If/when the electrical system fails, open the meter or junction box and pull the handle.

 

[mac]

Well that's fine if you rig it when it's working. We are redoing a wash with these, the safes won't open, and there is no emergency wire. Good head scratcher.

 

[slash007]

I wondered the same thing. Can't believe there isn't a fail safe.

 

[cantbreak80]

Odd that you can't open any safe...you wouldn't expect to find all safes with failed solenoids? Maybe the line from the transformer has a blown fuse?

 

[slash007]

Anyone have experience with coin boxes that have the vault hidden inside? You just open the main door then the there would be a box to collect the quarters. You would have access to both the bill acceptor and the quarters at once, so I'm not sure if it's a good idea. I also worry that taking the quarters out would be hard and might mess with the wiring if the box got heavy or they were spilled for some reason.

Thoughts?

 

[mac]

A little update on my failed safe solenoids. Turns out IDX made them and I was able to talk to them about this. They said the solenoids used to open the safes are designed for intermittent use. In this case the signal went through a key switch. They said if the key was left on overnight the solenoids would cook. I think that is what happened here. And of course no one at the wash admits doing this. Se we have new regular safes on the way and a concrete saw and chipping hammer standing by. Not only that, but the yahoos who built and installed this ran all the wiring in the walls and then under ground. Including the J boxes that connect them. There has to be a special place in Hades for these kind of people, and should I end up there, I'll definitely look them up. And Slas007 I have installed the Etowah boxes like this and so far no issues. Just open the door and the bills and coins are easy to remove.

 

[Earl Weiss]

......................They said the solenoids used to open the safes are designed for intermittent use. In this case the signal went through a key switch. They said if the key was left on overnight the solenoids would cook.....................

Can you say "Design Flaw"!!!