Go Back   Cyber Tech Help Support Forums > Hardware > Hardware

Notices

Hardware Use this board for problem solving and the discussion of Computer Hardware issues

Reply
 
Topic Tools
  #1  
Old September 5th, 2015, 05:33 PM
Rwhunt99 Rwhunt99 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 128
Smoke damage to computers

I recently had a house fire, the fire chief told me I could get my stuff out after the fire, and I removed several computers. Later the contractor who cam in and cleaned the contents of the house told me, they don't usually clean the inside of electronics, and recommend they get replaced. I'm concerned. it had been two months after the fire, and my computers seem to be working, how serious is it, since my main computer was on during the fire, until the power was cut, and my external drives were running too. Should I go through the hassle and get them replaced? or maybe just the external drives? What are thoughts on this? Too make matter more complicated I upgraded to Windows 10 and if I get new computers, I might have to buy another copy of Windows. I have two computers I built with oem O/S's.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old September 5th, 2015, 08:05 PM
Murf's Avatar
Murf Murf is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
O/S: Windows XP Pro
Posts: 17,424
If they are running don't worry about it, any smoke damage should of had an immediate affect. Just make sure the inside of the case is clean, use compressed air, rag/q-tips with isopropyl alcohol works great also.

I would take the external drives out of the case and also clean them, a thorough cleaning of everything should suffice.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old September 5th, 2015, 09:41 PM
renegade600's Avatar
renegade600 renegade600 is offline
CTH Subscriber
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
O/S: Linux
Location: Osceola, Ar
Posts: 26,675
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rwhunt99 View Post
I recently had a house fire, the fire chief told me I could get my stuff out after the fire, and I removed several computers. Later the contractor who cam in and cleaned the contents of the house told me, they don't usually clean the inside of electronics, and recommend they get replaced. I'm concerned. it had been two months after the fire, and my computers seem to be working, how serious is it, since my main computer was on during the fire, until the power was cut, and my external drives were running too. Should I go through the hassle and get them replaced? or maybe just the external drives? What are thoughts on this? Too make matter more complicated I upgraded to Windows 10 and if I get new computers, I might have to buy another copy of Windows. I have two computers I built with oem O/S's.
not too sure how that complicate matters. as long as you are not using the same oem key there are no problems. If you get new computers and they are from a major manufacturer, you can still upgrade free to win10 if it is not already installed. If you build your new computer, yep, you will have to purchase the new os. You cannot reuse the old if oem or used to justified the free upgrade.

as far as the smoke damage, the previous post cover it all.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old September 6th, 2015, 02:00 AM
Digerati Digerati is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Nebraska, USA
Posts: 2,562
My only concern might be if the smoke contained grease or oil particles that coated the heat sinks, that may result in a faster than normal, and harder to clean build up of dust sticking to the smoke residue.

I would make a backup of your data just in case, then contact your insurance agent. He/she should then tell you if you are authorized replacements.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old September 9th, 2015, 12:34 PM
smurfy's Avatar
smurfy smurfy is offline
Cyber Tech Help Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
O/S: Linux
Location: Christchurch New Zealand
Posts: 9,538
Hi there. I did 20+ years in the insurance industry so here is my perspective:
We usually paid out to replace computer hardware that was "smoke" damaged. Simply because no-one can give the same guarantee of functional life after being cleaned after the event than the expected life before being "damaged". Your policy may differ so you would need to check with your agent/insurer as Bill suggests above.

The "damaged" hardware was then sold as salvage, some of which I managed to buy and much of it made up many of the computers I built, along with a bunch salvaged from a power surge claim, and some from literally a "fell off the back of a truck" claim.

Most of it is still running to this day, upwards of 10 years later, and the bits that aren't are mainly due to being upgraded while operational rather than failing. The biggest failure rate was probably optical drives (CD writers) so you'll probably need to replace that.

Your external hard drives should be fine.

The computer that was running at the time will have been inducting smoke and will need to be thoroughly cleaned to be safe. Whatever particulate matter is in the smoke could potentially be conductive and can create electrical shorts. To be safe, I would consider replacing the Power Supply since they are pretty hard to completely clean out.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Topic Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Topics
Topic Topic Starter Forum Replies Last Post
White Smoke after PC Upgrade Skyferia Hardware 9 June 8th, 2016 12:44 PM
Smoke from a SATA cable lokishadow Hardware 5 May 8th, 2012 04:23 PM
Smoke Coming Out!!! madmick96 Hardware 7 February 4th, 2007 12:17 AM
Smoke damaged computer Cinders The Anything Else Board 2 September 17th, 2003 06:32 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:36 AM.