What to Do – Jammed Safe

Anyone who has ever taken advantage of a safe, whether in a hotel room or at home or even at work, knows that these offer a lot of benefits. Let’s say you are staying in a hotel room on vacation, and you want to spend some time swimming in the pool. Perhaps leaving your engagement ring, wedding band, wallet or other valuables in the room, where someone else could potentially access them, makes you nervous – and rightfully so. You might opt to lock these objects away in a safe.

A safe is meant to provide you with peace of mind. At work, you likely use one for money or other important documentation. At home, maybe you have a gun safe so you can store your weapon and ensure it stays out of the wrong hands. Regardless of what you use it for, you know that it is meant to keep your important items protected.

Have a look at some common reasons for a safe not working correctly.  

BOLT WORK HAS BECOME JAMMED  

Unfortunately, the bolts that work to keep your safe locked can end up becoming jammed. How do you know that this is the case? Listen. If you are able to hear that the motor is running when you attempt to open the safe, then it is safe to assume that something has become jammed. The motor working tells you that the batteries are also working, and they are attempting to unlock the bolts. What can you do if you realize the bolt work has become jammed? Try to give the safe a little shake or kick. Be gentle, but purposely try to jolt the bolt into the position that it is supposed to be in. A little bit of pressure just might do the truck. Pull on the handle of the safe to move it into the opposite direction with the intention of taking some of the pressure away from the bolt. Plug in the passcode and see if the door will open at this time.

LOCKOUT MODE

Did you enter the wrong code? If so, you might have become locked out. This is a great security feature that many safes offer. It’s good in terms of keeping out people who don’t know the code, but it’s bad if you simply make a mistake a couple of times and end up unable to access your items. You might end up having to wait a certain period of time before you can attempt to unlock the safe again. 

DEAD BATTERIES

Many different kinds of safes are battery powered. The problem with them is that if you can’t get any power, then the safe won’t open. So try to change the batteries. The best piece of advice an expert can give you is to buy the proper brand. When you use batteries that aren’t brand name, the issue is that they can end up losing power relatively fast. 

JAMMED DOOR   

If you are attempting to open your safe and realize that it takes the code but doesn’t open (meaning, you might see a green light go off indicating the code has been accepted) you might have a jammed door. Try tapping on the safe on the side opposite to the hinge while pulling gently on the door, which might cause the door to open.