Why my safe won’t open?

People throw themselves a blind panic when their safe doesn’t open, but more often than not, it’s a simple, quick fix.

“what’s happened to my safe?”, “my safe won’t open”, “what do I do?”, “do I need an engineer out?”- to help ease your panic, we’ve listed out five reasons why your safe won’t open and what you can do:

1. Dead batteries

To help save a lot of time and effort, you can hope that your safe’s batteries have gone dead.

Before you try to ring the locksmith or safe company, try changing your batteries. Using brand-named ones is crucial as others lose power much faster, meaning you may come across this problem more often than necessary.

Even if your keypad looks like it’s functioning normally, the nearly dead batteries may not have enough power to retract the bolt work.

Most battery-powered locks will notify you with some sort of sound or beeps when the battery is low. Some locks even display an amber or red light indicating the battery needs changing. Do not ignore them, and always keep a spare set of batteries in your house so you can change them immediately.

2. Jammed bolt work

There are certain times in which a bolt can randomly become jammed. If you pop in your keycode and hear the bolt trying to retract without the door opening, a jam might be your problem.

This is then fantastic news if you have any frustrations. Now you get the chance to mule kick your safe. Your aim is to kick the door hard a few times but be sure to miss your keypad and handle. Hopefully, doing so will mean that the bolt will loosen and hopefully unjam.

Once you’ve done your kicks, then you can ease some more built-up pressure by pulling the handle in the opposite way and entering the code. Hopefully, the bolt will have time to move freely and pop itself back into place.

3. Lockout mode or time delay

If you enter the code too many times, you may risk your safe going into penalty lockout mode. If your keypad releases a series of beeps, wait, be patient and try again in 20 minutes.

Your safe may also have its own time delay. This means that it’ll have its specific time delay period; therefore, re-enter your pin after you’ve waited an ample amount of time.

4. Deactivated code

Another reason your safe may not open is that your code may have been deactivated. If you believe this is the case, and if you have multiple codes set up, try someone else’s code to see if that works.

5. Disconnected or damaged wiring

Like any other electronic device, wires can become disconnected, damaged or frayed. Remove your keypad and inspect it to see if any wires look out of place or impaired.

If everything seems okay, disconnect the wire from your keypad and remove the batteries. Then wait 20 seconds and reinstall the batteries and reconnect the wiring. A technician must be called if the wiring is severely damaged or cut.

Maintaining your safe is essential to keeping it in good working order and protecting your valuable possessions. By taking good care of your safe, you can help ensure it continues functioning properly and provide reliable protection for your valuables in the long run. Check out this blog for quick and easy tips on how you should maintain your safe to ensure they are always in top condition. 

★ How we can help

Here at SMP Security, we offer a nationwide safe and lock maintenance service. Our in-house MLA-certified expert safe and lock engineers carry out this service, meaning it’s tried, tested and trusted. It’s beneficial to have safes regularly serviced. This ensures they’re in good working condition and that you cut the risk of your safe malfunctioning. In addition, why not consider replacing or upgrading your locks with one of our digital or mechanical locks for even more trust in your safe?

Would you like to learn more about our security products, or would you be interested in upgrading your safe? Do you require other services such as installations, removals or relocations? If so, we are only a phone call away or drop us an enquiry below.

📲 – 01952 585673

🌐 – SMP Security