Can You Clean Smoke-Damaged Electronics?

5/25/2022 (Permalink)

Computers can suffer from smoke damage.

The aftermath of a fire at your Northshore Town Center, TN, home can feel overwhelming. Many of your belongings may have suffered untold damage, including your valuable electronics. Fire cleanup efforts for these items are usually different from other belongings because of their delicate components, but there are several ways a professional restoration service may be able to help.

The Effects of Smoke on Electronics

Computers, televisions, tablets and even cell phones can suffer from smoke damage, even if they were not outwardly affected by the heat from a fire. There may be problems you cannot see, including:

• Wiring and insulation damage caused by soot
• Corrosion of internal components
  
• The possibility of a short circuit from magnetic charge
  
  

These unseen problems may pose a danger to you or other users, so having the electronic items examined by a fire cleanup and restoration service may help you salvage them properly.

The Cleanup Process
The first step your restoration technicians may take is to gauge the amount of visible damage and manage that first. For example, if your laptop has visible soot on the keyboard and screen, your techs will probably use commercial-grade cleansers to clear it away. Allowing your techs to examine your electronics and perform fire cleanup on them may prevent the items from shorting out and rendering them useless.

Listing the Damage
Most electronics carry significant value, so you may want to keep a running list of which can be salvaged by your restoration service and which cannot so you can enter a claim to recoup your losses. Remember to include a copy of the sales receipt for each item and a photo so your insurance company can compensate you properly.
When your Northshore Town Center, TN, home suffers fire damage, your electronics may need different fire cleanup techniques than your other belongings. Having them examined and cleaned by a restoration service can give you peace of mind when it comes to caring for these valuable items.