| Author |
 Replies: 40 / Views: 4,318 |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
808 Posts |
Sorry for back tracking here, but regarding using mint tubes for long term storage? Several of my PM dealers place a single packing peanut in the tube to minimize coin movement during shipping. I'm generally okay with this practice since shipping can be rather hard on coins if precautions aren't taken.
However, when I'm getting a full mint tube ready for storage in my SDB, I always pull the peanut out. Why? There's no way to be certain that the peanut is "PVC free" and thus a source of potential damage. Since the tube shouldn't move at all in the SDB, having the void at the top of the tube presents minimal risk. I have, however, considered making a round plug out of a small stack of old PVC-free coin flips that I've retired due to wear. I'm still experimenting, though.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
808 Posts |
Vault doors appear to vary widely from institution to institution. Most vaults that I've seen have a mechanical, heavy outer door, and then a smaller, inner security door. At one bank I use, there's a keypad on the inner door that controls access since the outer door is left open during banking hours. For safety reasons, I would assume that all vault doors have some form of manual operation that isn't power dependent. Alternatively, there is likely some sort of backup power capacity that allows access and alarm monitoring to continue even during a power outage. Of course, this is all just a wild guess on my part.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
Quote:
But what about locking it? Is only one key required to lock it back up? No, both keys are needed to lock and unlock the box but I replace the SDB back in the wall that holds them and then we lock it up together. They warn their customers multiple times that if we lose our key, they will have to have the lock drilled out and replaced, so there is a $100 fee for losing the keys. This is incentive for NOT losing both keys!  Quote:
However, when I'm getting a full mint tube ready for storage in my SDB, I always pull the peanut out. Why? There's no way to be certain that the peanut is "PVC free" and thus a source of potential damage. Good point, although it is unlikely that a foamed plastic product like that has any PVC in it, PVC being a very hard and brittle plastic. Most packing peanuts are made of foamed polystyrene. Newer formula peanuts are made of starch and are bio-degradable. Either one should be PVC and chlorine free. An alternative to adding a peanut would be to get one of those anti-tarnish silver cloths, tear it into 1.5-2" squares, fold up a square, and put it at the top of a coin tube. That should provide both chemical and physical protection to the coins inside the tube. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
808 Posts |
Quote:
Good point, although it is unlikely that a foamed plastic product like that has any PVC in it, PVC being a very hard and brittle plastic. Most packing peanuts are made of foamed polystyrene. Newer formula peanuts are made of starch and are bio-degradable. Either one should be PVC and chlorine free. See? Now this is precisely why I love this forum! Where else am I going to find a savvy bullion stacking chemical engineer who can set me straight on this kind of stuff? Thanks, Ed! |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
Chemical Engineer? Ack! Pfft!! That would be CHEMIST!  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
830 Posts |
Quote:
Just curious do vault doors depend on power? Seems relevant since safety deposit boxes are behind one. I don't know for sure, but I'd bet the bank wouldn't or couldn't even open without the power on. Something to think about if we have another EMP event. From what I've read, the last major EMP event from natural causes was before we had power grids and one today in the right spot could shut down most of the US power grid for years.  Edited by GoThunder
08/24/2012 11:30 am
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
My guess would be that most bank vaults are still mechanical but I suppose that it is possible that the lock could be powered in some way. If so, it likely has a long-life rechargeable battery as a back-up for just this situation.
This does raise a good point about banks opening in a no-power situation, though. I will have to ask my local CU what their ability to open and their policy is on it next time I stop in there.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
616 Posts |
What I was thinking is cutting the power might be a common thing for someone robbing a vault so maybe if the power is cut the vault has some emergency measure.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
808 Posts |
@starbux - Backup power and cellular service for monitoring is pretty common for security systems these days.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
I agree, CW. In fact, as far as alarm systems go, it is also likely that a loss of power causes an alarm to be sent immediately. The alarm system that we had at work was installed in 2002 and it had a good sized battery backup and an underground dual phone line connection to the security company servers. Those same servers would also "ping" our system routinely to see if a return signal was generated. If it wasn't, they would 1st contact our plant control room and then the local police. I would imagine that systems newer than this would be even better.
|
| |
Replies: 40 / Views: 4,318 |
First Page
Previous Page
Posted 08/22/2012 4:42 pm
