Key safe

[David]

Recently had one of those Careline things installed for an elderly relative so she can get help if she has a fall by pressing a button on a pendant. One of the options given was to install a key safe outside the house so that staff can gain access in an emergency.

This seems eminently sensible.

They fit it at the rear of the house and I presume it is fitted in an inconspicuous place. They are fitted by Age Concern for GBP50 and as the retail price of the safes they fit

around GBP40, this seems very good.

Before I go ahead, are there any pitfalls of fitting one? Anything to watch out for? Are the GE ones OK?

Ta

David

[F]

Check to see if your local authority will fit one for less/free.

[Bruce]

An elderly relative has the GE Slimline KeySafe illustrated in your link. She has carers calling four times a day and they all use the KeySafe. There have been no problems, although I feel the layout of the numbered buttons and the clarity of their numbering could be improved. It can also be a little fiddly removing and replacing the key in cold weather.

The carers don't have any problems - they use these things all the time.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I saw someone along the road had one fitted. It was in the front porch, and fully visible. I didn't look closely, but I guessed it's a combination lock. (I think the person either moved on or passed away, as the house has since been sold.)

I did wonder why they didn't simply fit a combination lock on the door itself.

[Ash]

Good point

[David]

Because the poor old b****r would forget it....

[Rob Horton]

Wonder how well it would resist a battery powered angle grinder?

Save money and use a bump key to gain access to the house and everyone else's.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Absolutely. At one care home I visited, the patients - dementia - were completely defeated by combination locks the staff would pass through with ease.

[Mike Barnes]

David :

I had a bad experience with one of those. We'd rented a holiday cottage and the owners told us the code so that we could get the key when we arrived. The safe just wouldn't open. My mother used to have one on her bungalow so I knew how they worked but I couldn't get this one to open at all. Eventually the owner agreed to make a 200-miles-each-way journey to get a key to us. Feeling for her, I picked up a first-sized rock from the garden and hit the box, *hard*. Somewhat to my surprise it opened. Nothing obviously wrong, but it occurred to me that the mechanism behind the door was exposed and the keys could have jammed it. Alternatively the door could have been put on crooked by the previous tenants I suppose.

So if the mechanism turns out to be exposed, I'd cover it, just in case.

[Dave Starling]

Probably not very well. A battery powered sabre saw would work just as well. Or else jemmy off the wall and work on it elsewhere. The best thing would be to locate it out of view or in a place where its awkard to get access for an attack.

Looking at it another way why not a oversized one like the big plugtop they had on the Crystal Maze or a whole row of key safes where you open the first one to get the combination to the second one, etc. Back to being sensible, you can buy them for around =A320 in Toolstation or Screwfix.

Dave.

[Dave Liquorice]

They are diecast zinc, a well aimed blow with a hammer would have it of the wall. Or a cold chisel in the hinge or gap have it open.

Having it out of sight means that a scroat can "play" with it without passers by or neighbours seeing anything.

[Kevin Poole]

In an exactly similar situation a few weeks ago, I fitted the Toolstation 19 quid one:

I doubt it would resist an angle grinder, or even a can of WD40, but neither would the average door or window.

There's an argument for putting it where anyone trying to attack it might be seen by neighbours or passers-by.

[Peter Parry]

They all share the same problem which is someone forgetting to put the key back. Key loss isn't uncommon. The combinations are also commonly written down by users against the address (and not infrequently lost) so they are not particularly secure.

They can relatively easily be knocked off the wall and taken away to be sliced up to access the key.

As the combination is known to lots of people it isn't easy to secure the house when empty. Using the keysafe its simple - if the occupant goes to hospital or on holiday just removing the key allows the house to maintain its usual security.

[Andrew May]

Would that count as forced entry as far as an insurance company is concerned? Or would having a key 'easily' accessible mean that the insurance company would not pay up in the case of a burglary?

Andrew

[John Stumbles]

Some clients of mine recently bought a house with one of these attached to the front wall besides the front door. Obviously fitted for carers of the previous occupants. They didn't know the combination, I tried brute-forcing it (in cryptanalytic terms) without success, and they didn't want to damage the wall (Georgian stone) by prying it off so it just stayed there a while until, by chance, they met someone who used to come in to look after the Old Dear who remembered the combination!

[tinnews]

Surely just as easy to fit a digital lock and much less complicated.

[Bruce]

Do that, and my relative, who has Alzheimer's, would not be able to get into her house, because she could not remember the combination.

The GE KeySafe allows the door to be opened normally by all other keyholders. Only those who don't have a key but need access (such as the carers) need to use the KeySafe.

If you don't understand the value of it, you don't need one. ;-)

[neverwas]

When I fitted one for an elderly relative we asked. Her insurers said that use of the key from the keybox would not count as forced entry. Not a big deal for her as it just meant she would have to bear the £250 excess on her policy. But with other policies the effect could of course be more painful.

[dennis]

I hope not! They aren't that difficult to open by going through the combination and fitting it at the rear out if sight gives the crook as much time as he needs.

They are best fitted where they can't be seen but anyone using it can be.

I have fitted them in the past and were £20 from a local shop.

I fitted a code lock on the door as it saves having keys.

[dennis]