Forgot the Safe Code? Your Options

Pin down what kind of lock you're dealing with

"I forgot the code" plays out very differently depending on the lock on the door. A small electronic safe in a bedroom cupboard, a dial safe inherited with a house, and a keypad safe in an office with several staff codes each have their own way back in. Before you try anything else, look at the front of the safe and work out which of these you have.

Write down the make and model if you can find them. They are usually printed on the keypad, the door edge or a sticker inside the door, and they decide which manual applies.

Give your memory a fair chance first

A surprising number of "forgotten" codes turn up again once the panic passes. Before you call anyone:

• Look through the safe's manual, the original box and any purchase file. Some owners write the first code on the instruction sheet.
• Ask everyone who might have set or changed the code: a spouse, a parent, an office manager, a bookkeeper.
• Think about what changed recently. A code that "stopped working" after someone changed it, or after a battery change, points to a different problem than one that was simply forgotten.
• Check whether the keypad is behaving normally. A weak battery can make a correct code look wrong. Replace it only as the maker's manual describes, and only if the battery compartment is on the outside.
• For a time-delay safe, let the full delay run without pressing anything, then enter the code again inside the opening window.

Many locks have more than one code

Better electronic safe locks are built for more than one person. The Sargent & Greenleaf 6124 and 6125 locks, for example, have a master code, a supervisor code and up to eight user codes. The master code can create and delete the others but cannot itself be deleted. The same instructions describe a separate management reset code that clears the supervisor and user codes and sets a new master code. The owner is meant to change the factory reset code to their own and keep it confidential.

In practice this means:

• At work, the person holding the master or supervisor code can usually remove a forgotten user code and set up a new one. Ask them before anyone calls a locksmith.
• At home, cheaper safes often have a single code. If that's the only one and it's gone, the override key is your next stop.
• If the master code itself is lost, the lock maker's reset route, where one exists, is controlled by the maker or its dealers. Expect to be asked to prove that the safe is yours.

Override keys and maker reset routes

Many home safes ship with a mechanical override key, usually hidden behind a cover near the keypad or under the battery panel. Yale's guidance for a forgotten code on its safes is to open the safe with the override key and then set a new code. Yale adds that if you open the safe with the key, you also need to lock it with the key.

Three things often go wrong here:

• The key is inside the safe. It's more common than you'd think. If so, it can't help you.
• The key has been lost since the safe was bought, or never came with a second-hand safe.
• There is no override. Burg-Wächter, for one, notes that safes with certified electronic locks generally have no mechanical emergency lock at all.

Don't try to work the override cover or keyhole with anything other than the correct key. Damaging it can block the one non-destructive route the safe has.

Dial safes and inherited safes

A mechanical combination lock has no battery and nothing to reset from outside. The combination is normally changed only with the door open, using the lock maker's procedure. If nobody knows the combination, the realistic routes are the paperwork from the original purchase, or having the safe opened.

Safes that come with a house are their own category. If you've bought a home with a safe built into a wall or bolted into a cupboard:

• Ask the seller or agent whether the previous owner left the code, key or manual.
• Keep your transfer or purchase documents handy, as they show the safe is now yours.
• Don't assume it's empty. Have it opened with you present, and treat anything inside as the previous owner's until you've checked.
• If there's any sign it was used for firearms, see our article on gun safe rules in South Africa before you put a firearm in it.

What turns a locked safe into a damaged one

• Drilling, prying or hammering. It is slow, noisy and often unsuccessful, and a damaged lock or door can make a clean opening much harder.
• Removing the keypad or cutting wires. On many locks the keypad is only the input; the lock itself sits inside the door, and a pulled keypad can leave you with no way to enter a code at all.
• Guessing during a lockout or pressing buttons during a time delay.
• "Tricks" from online videos. They rarely match your lock and can leave visible damage.
• Trying to move a safe that's fixed down. You can damage the floor, the wall and your back.

If the safe holds firearms, stop and involve the licence holder before anyone does anything else.

Proof of ownership, and what to have ready

A safe protects things that matter, so before opening one we ask for proof that it belongs to you, or that you live at the address and are entitled to have it opened. Useful documents:

• your ID, and a utility account, lease or title document for the address;
• the purchase invoice or delivery note for the safe, if you still have it;
• for a business safe, a signed letter on the company's letterhead from a director or owner;
• for a deceased estate, the executor's authority.

It also helps to send photos of the keypad or dial, any label with the make and model, and the hinge side, and to tell us whether the safe is fixed down and how easy it is to reach.

Getting it opened, and not doing this again

Our safe opening service covers home and office safes whose codes have been lost, and non-destructive entry is always tried first. If the lock turns out to be faulty rather than forgotten, safe repairs takes it from there. Safes are one of our everyday services, alongside doors, gates and cars.

We work 24/7 as a fully mobile locksmith in Boksburg, so we come to the safe rather than the other way round. There's an R250 call-out, the technician quotes on site before any work starts, and nothing happens until you agree. Payment is by EFT, cash or card.

Once the safe is open:

• Set a new code with the maker's procedure, then test it several times with the door open before you close it.
• Change any factory codes that were never changed.
• Write the code down, seal it, and keep it somewhere secure that isn't the safe.
• Keep the override key away from the safe, and not in an obvious drawer nearby.
• At work, record who holds which code. Our article on master key systems for small businesses covers the same idea for keys.

Need a locksmith to look at it?

If this hasn't solved the problem, our safe opening service covers it. We're a mobile locksmith in Boksburg, so we come to your door.

Sources and further reading

• Liberty Safe: Common problems with electronic safe locks — several wrong entries in a row lock you out for a period; a low battery can light the keypad without the lock fully opening
• Sargent & Greenleaf: 6124/6125 multiple-user lock operating instructions (630-764) — master, supervisor and user code positions; master code cannot be deleted; owner should change the factory management reset code; reset clears lower codes and sets a new master
• Yale UK: Certified safes troubleshooting — forgotten code: open with the manual override key and reset the code; a safe opened with the key must be locked with the key
• Burg-Wächter UK: Point Safe and safe FAQs — safes with certified electronic locks generally have no mechanical emergency lock; admin code and emergency keys on simpler models