Electronics

Guest · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:35 pm Post subject: ELECTRONICS AFTER FIRE

Hello,
I had a kitchen/dining room fire on Oct. 20, 2005 and wondering what
effects the smoke and soot would have on my electronics. I guess you
would say the fire caused "medium" smoke and soot damage. The fire
started on my stove and involved, plastics, countertop, etc. My
homeowners insurance had a fire/restoration company come in to clean,
but they only wiped down the outside of my electronics. Since it's
been well over a month since the fire, should I ask them to get the
electronics cleaned or should I have them replaced? The items, I'm
concerned about are my refrigerator, microwave, Computer, TV, DVD,
Stereo, etc. How do I know if they should be cleaned or replaced?

Thanks for your help!
MCR

spudnuty · Guest

My experience with this is fires in the house and in a Nagra tape
recorder. Usually the problem with large items is the smell never goes
away. Like in the insulation of the refrigerator. Depending on the
amount of smoke peneteration to clean the interior of your electronics
could be a major undertaking and probably not cost effective.
If there was burning PVC in your fire that can form HCL which will
corrode electronics. That was the case with the Nagra tape recorder. It
was in a car fire, these guys parked on some straw in a field and the
catalytic converter caught the straw on fire. In attempting repair of
the tape recorder I found every metal part had been etched by the acid.
(re: fires in aircraft} so the Nagra was a total loss.
Richard

basfm6 · Guest

This is a tricky issue. Insurance company is going to pay only if these
items do not currently work or noticeably impaired due to fire damage. They
could care less if they stop working next year. I'm sure the restoration
company gave your electronics a clean bill of health to the insurance
company which will further hinder you.

Your best course of action is to seek out any existing smoke odors or signs
of hidden damage that you can find. Do research via Google and Yahoo
regarding smoke / soot damage to electronics over the long term and present
all of this info to your agent. There's tons of info out there on this
subject. I'd do all of this quick since it's already been well over a month.
If it were me, I'd try to get all of the major electronic items replaced.
It's not everyday you file a homeowners insurance claim.

3T39 · Guest

Might be a bit late now but insured items should be either restored to as
good as new condition or replaced. The items will always smell of smoke
afterwards unless they are dismantled and cleaned internally by
professionals. Even after a month I would ask the Insurance company to
replace everything. That's what you pay insurance for.

With best regards, 3T39. E-mail: rubbishrat@hotmail.com

3T39 · Guest

And another thing, a cleaning company isn't in any way able to certify a
peice of electronics as safe. So get it all replaced. This stuff is fire
damaged, Don't take no for an answer!

With best regards, 3T39. E-mail: rubbishrat@hotmail.com

Sky · Guest

I have totally cleaned VCR's, T.V.'s, stereos, DVD players,
computer towers, & monitors, as well as the cables, inside, &
out. We use a special "soup mix" of aftershave, windex, armourall,
& one other chemical...not sure, & it works very good...no call backs.
Sky.

Mike Berger · Guest

Maybe I misunderstood what kind of cleaning company he used --
we have "cleaning companies" around here that specialize in
disaster recovery and have lots of experience recovering
electronics.

I wish you were my insurance adjuster but I'll bet you
wouldn't last long in the job.

3T39 wrote:

Mike Berger · Guest

No, you pay insurance to be "made whole" after a catastrophic event.
Demanding new stuff when the old stuff looks and works ok could be
construed as superfluous.

3T39 wrote:

Tom MacIntyre · Guest

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