YOUR SAFE IS JAMMED; WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT!

Having a jammed-up safe can be frustrating. After all, why do you have your safe in the first place; to protect your valuable items! At no point however, did you plan on not having access to your prized possessions. Your safe is for your use; and you need fast access to its contents anytime you need or want it. At our shop, our Mobile Locksmith Winnetka technicians always encourage callers dealing with this issue is remain calm and follow a few simple steps to resolve the problem.

Safes are universal

Yes, safes are everywhere. TV shows and Hollywood like to portray safes as used by the rich and privileged. They actually are, but you can also find safes in middle class homes, government facilities, and business locations all over the world. Safes come in many models and materials. Some open with a dial, others with a key or a keypad. We even have biometric safes now; you can use fingerprint technology to access your safe!

Safes can sit right there in plain sight; or, they can be hidden in the wall behind a picture, built into the floor, or even under the stairs. Your safe is yours to flaunt or hide as you see fit and just like the variety of its contents, your safe is as versatile and individualized as you are. You can find safes most anywhere, including jewelry stores, fast food outlets, banks, grocery stores, schools, attorney offices, dental clinics, accounting firms, retail stores, hotels and thousands more!

Your safe won’t open; what do you do?

Relax and don’t panic. Safes doors get stuck once in a while. While it can be a frustrating experience, it’s not the end of the world and you really need to resist the urge to force or smash your way back inside. Being unable to access your safe can be annoying and frustrating but it can also reduce you to near panic status if the need to access cash or documents inside it is not met. Causing damage to your own safe is never a good idea and hiring an amateur to drill it or force it open will only result in a ruined or badly damaged safe and probable ruin to its contents, too.

Wrong combination

First things first; did you forget your combination or enter the wrong one? Think for a minute; are you still using the original combination from when you first bought the safe? If so, you may be able to contact the safe manufacturer, and have them recover it for you. This isn’t always possible but just in case, have your safe’s serial number handy if they need it. If you have completely forgotten the number sequence or combination, you can use the services of a licensed, bonded and insured locksmith to reset it. If you live here in Winnetka, IL, you can always call us to help, but you are free to call anyone that offers authentic, certified locksmith service; preferably on a 24-hour basis.

But, I used the right combination and it still won’t open!

It happens! Sometimes even the right key code or number sequence won’t get your safe open. If this happens; try this easy trick and see if it works. It could be that the safe’s lever is stuck. Here’s an easy way to alleviate that. Spin the safe’s dial. Now go to the first number in the combination. Okay, now go the second number in the sequence. So far; so good. Now, instead of going to the third number, go to number 8. Once you’ve done that, take a rubber hammer and hit the safe door a few times. Don’t go crazy and smash it, but do give it a few solid whacks. Don’t hit the dial – only the door! Now, go ahead and line up the third number and the rest; your safe should open. You can repeat this process a few times in case it doesn’t work the first time.

Does your safe’s dial seem hard to rotate?

Your safe has a re-locker mechanism built into it. Once in a while it gets activated, but there’s a simple way to over-ride it. Here’s what you do. Spin the dial as if you were lining up the first number. Apply force against the dial with your spinning hand at the same time. Now, have that rubber hammer ready. Give your safe door a couple of good whacks and see if that doesn’t make everything better.

No luck?

If your safe is still hard to open, it may be time to call in the pros. Be selective in your choice of safe experts. We recommend a full service locksmith shop and nothing less. Finding someone in the free classifieds or hiring your neighbor’s teen nephew to do the work usually results in disappointment or worse damage. It doesn’t matter if the locksmith you choose specializes in residential or commercial locksmith services, as long as they sell, service, install and maintain safes, you should be in good hands. Repairing a safe can be more involved than simply changing a door knob or replacing a peephole. Most shops offer free price quotes so be sure to give the technician, the make and model number of your safe in order to get an accurate repair estimate. We recommend getting at least two or three quotes before deciding on one. For a more accurate estimate, be sure and tell your locksmith all the symptoms that your safe is displaying.

Digital safes

You can compare your digital safe to your car’s keyless entry system. If you enter the wrong number sequence, too many times, you will get locked out. There’s an automatic shutdown that is triggered when this happens. Your lockout time can be from a few hours to a day or so depending on your model. After this cooling off period, you should be able to access your safe, as before. Other things that can affect digital safes include power fluctuations, power outages, low batteries and shorts in the electronic circuitry.