Homes, holiday flats, businesses
Safe opening in Santa Pola, when the code or the battery fails
The keypad that stays silent after a winter in an empty flat, the room safe a guest locked with a code of their own, the safe that came with the house and no instructions. Opened with as little damage as the safe allows.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Override and battery first
- Proof of ownership asked for
- Price agreed before work
Before anything else: try new batteries, and look for a small keyhole behind the maker’s badge or the keypad. Many safes that seem broken are only flat. If that changes nothing, send a photo of the front and the make.
Where the safes are
Wardrobe safes, room safes and the till
With around 2,450 registered tourist apartments in Santa Pola, the small electronic room safe is everywhere, and easy for a guest to lock with a code nobody else knows. In second homes, the problem is time: a flat closed from September to Easter will drain any battery.
Santa Pola also has more than 900 businesses in trade, transport and hospitality, and in its bars, restaurants and shops the safe holds the day’s takings and has to open in the morning. Locks for business premises are on a page of their own.
How
Override, manipulation, and the drill as a last resort
- Power and override first. External battery terminals, override keys and master codes, where the safe has them.
- Manipulation of mechanical and some electronic locks, without opening up the safe.
- Drilling at a single point as a last resort and with your agreement, after which the lock is replaced and the safe can be used again.
You are asked to show the safe is yours, or that you may open it: the deeds, a rental contract that includes it, or the owner on the phone. For lets, the holiday-let page explains how owners abroad can authorise the work.
Fitting
A new safe, fixed where it cannot be carried off
A safe that is not anchored is a box with a handle. New safes are fixed to the floor or a structural wall with fixings suited to what is behind the tiles or the plaster. After a break-in, this often comes alongside a stronger lock on the door. Questions before you buy one? Ask us.
Asked on the phone
Safes that will not open
We came back after the winter and the safe in the wardrobe is dead. Is it broken?
Probably not. Months in an empty flat drain the batteries, and some keypads stay silent rather than warn you. Most safes have a hidden battery terminal or an override key; that is tried first.
A guest set their own code on the room safe and left with it locked.
A common one in holiday lets. Many hotel-style safes have a master code or an override lock. If yours has neither, it is opened at a single point and given a new lock, and you get a usable safe back.
The safe came with the flat and nobody knows the code.
Have the deeds or the purchase contract to hand, and a photo of the front and the make. With that, it is opened and set up with a new code of your own.
Can you fix a safe to a floor of tiles over concrete?
Yes. Fixings are chosen for what is under the tiles. A small safe fixed down properly is worth more than a large one that can be carried out under an arm.
What people book after this
Asked for along with a safe
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Changeover lock work
Cylinders changed between guests, a guest locked out at check-in, a flat that has been shut since last summer. For the property you do not live in.
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Locks for a shop or bar
Shutter locks, glass shop doors, back doors and office locks for shops, bars, restaurants and offices, fitted around your opening hours.
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A high-security lock
A forced door made to shut and lock on the first visit. Later, if you want it, a stronger cylinder, a guard plate or a high-security lock.
Send a photo of the safe
The make and the front of the safe tell us how it is likely to open. Or just ring.