key safes

cavework

Don't k now if this will be of any help to anyone who has elderly parents/ relatives that live alone but I will post this any way.
My Mum is 86 and now lives alone . She always locks her door. She has an emergency line which she wears around her neck (when she remembers) .. but if any emergency service needs access , they would have to break in if she could not get to the door.
I have fitted a keysafe on the outside of the house with a set of keys inside. It has a numerical code for access that only the family know.
If my Mum is ever in a position that the emergency service need access I can give them the code no matter where I am .

Mojisola

cavework wrote: »

Don't k now if this will be of any help to anyone who has elderly parents/ relatives that live alone but I will post this any way.
My Mum is 86 and now lives alone . She always locks her door. She has an emergency line which she wears around her neck (when she remembers) .. but if any emergency service needs access , they would have to break in if she could not get to the door.
I have fitted a keysafe on the outside of the house with a set of keys inside. It has a numerical code for access that only the family know.
If my Mum is ever in a position that the emergency service need access I can give them the code no matter where I am .

Do you have your contact details written by the keysafe so that they know who to contact?

cavework

I have given the care line the code if it is required.. but that is a good idea
Thanks

Torry_Quine

We fitted one for my husband's mother as she used to leave the key on the window-sill for the carers. :eek: Now we live there it is still handy as a spare rather than leaving one with a neighbour.

Biggles

The Keysafe is good, as long as those who need to know have the code.

But there is one issue with them that you should be aware of. Don't use a four-digit code, such as the PIN numbers we now use all the time.

Anyone trying to crack the code will assume it's a four-digit PIN and, because (due to the design of the mechanism) each number (from 1 to 0) can only be used once, it is a simple matter to run through all the possible combinations. I have tried this and know that I could crack one in about 20 minutes - but only if it had a four-digit code.

As long as you use more than four digits (Keysafe themselves recommend 5 or 6) it would be virtually impossible for anyone to crack the code except by chance.

Archergirl

Mojisola wrote: »

Do you have your contact details written by the keysafe so that they know who to contact?

How would you know if they are genuine people wanting entry?

Mojisola

Archergirl wrote: »

How would you know if they are genuine people wanting entry?

Good point. Perhaps it would be better to have good relations with neighbours who can have the number.

getmore4less

Make sure you tell the house insurance.

With my mum we decided to not bother with the key safe and use neighbours and some one very local with the alarm.

If they were not available then a new door was not a big deal for someones life.

Russe11

must be quick to go through 5040 combinations in 20 mins

that would mean putting in more than 4 codes every second

even doing a code every 5 secs it would take 7 hours to go through them all

lets say thats an average of 3.5 hours to get it then if you entered randomly

but a good point none the less to have at least a 5 digit code

Biggles

Russe11 wrote: »

must be quick to go through 5040 combinations in 20 mins

There are only [STRIKE]205[/STRIKE] 210 combinations.

Squoozy

We had one fitted for my 82 year old mother on the advice of the police. If you contact your local police station they keep a list of the keysafe numbers in their area + next of kin details, so if anything happens and they or someone else needs entry they can enter the house and contact relatives.