Cleaning Smoke Damaged Electronics

1/3/2022 (Permalink)

After a fire incident the last thing you want to worry about is cleaning up the tiniest of things. Like phones, earphones, etc.

SERVPRO of East Honolulu offers premier fire cleaning services, soot and smoke are extremely corrosive and must be combated accordingly. It is important to clean everything that has been in a fire, even if it looks like no inherent damage. 

Smoke is acidic, the particulates are suspended within the air causing smoke. There may be little or many components of smoke, depending on the fire cause, fuel sources, and gasses in the air. Some of these compounds are: 

• Carbon dioxide 
• Carbon monoxide 
• Nitrogen oxide 
• Volatile organic compounds 
• Water vapor 

Which is a slew of highly acidic molecules, these molecules will damage surfaces and harm organisms. Especially affecting organisms with lungs and a nervous system. In combination with heat, smoke can be extremely harmful to electronics. The circuit boards within computers, and other electronic innards are sensitive to its environment. Just small overheating from the engine of the electronics itself could cause boards or wires to fry. Thoroughly cleaning all components of an electronic is imperative to your quality of life and your products.  

With anything else especially on electronics it creates a thick, black film of smoke that can abrupt the quality of your product. This residue slowly corrodes the metals over time, and also can create malfunctions that inevitably cause your electronics to fail. Leading to short-circuiting, overheating, and electrical fires. 

The reason a thin layer of black film occurs is from the soot mixing with the already existing particulates on your electronic goods. Dusts, allergenics, pathogenics, or microbes cling to the soot to create a greasy paste. It is hard to detect the damage within electronics as there are openings, and closings everywhere. It is best left to professionals, like our cleaners here at SERVPRO of East Honolulu. 

Our professionals have been taught to handle equipment and understand the materials and mediums they are cleaning. Soot happens to get everywhere after a fire, which is why it leaves a smoky odor on everything. There is no one size fits all to clean goods or your property after a fire. Each item needs to be handled with care as well as disinfected to ensure a safe, clean, environment again. "Like it never even happened." Call us with any questions, comments, or concerns at (808)395-9545.