|
Electronic equipment is tougher than you might think. It can be sprayed off, dried out, and even melted circuit boards can be made to work again for at least a short period of time. The most important thing to pay attention to is whether the item was still plugged in when the damage occurred.
When an electronic device has current running through it and gets wet, the water short circuits the electric current. This sends electricity of a more powerful current than the device was designed to withstand through places that weren’t supposed to receive direct current at all. You’ve seen smoke come out of something electronic? That’s a short circuit – it destroys whatever it runs through by melting it or burning it off.
Your first and most important step in saving your electronics is removing the power source as quickly as you can following the damage. That does not mean wading through water to unplug the microwave – people die that way! Instead, when you see the potential for water damage to your equipment, you unplug them before the water gets there, even if you can’t get the equipment away from the water. If it’s a device with a battery or battery backup, remove the battery right away – more than a minute, and your cell phone or pager is probably fried.
If you’ve removed the power source – and thus the risk of short circuits – you can take your time with the rest of the recovery. The first step is to dry it out. Set it at an angle, so that water can drain through cracks in the casing, and put it over a towel; the fibers will wick away moisture. Do not use heat to dry out your electronics – that can cause more damage than the water. Next, open up the case and, with a Q-tip, dry out and clean with alcohol anything that looks dirty or damp. While you’re doing this, look for telltale scorch marks on circuit boards that will tell you the device is already gone. Once you’ve got the device clean and it seems as dry as it’s going to get, let it sit out overnight (to get rid of residual moisture), then put it together and plug it in the next day. Use a surge protector instead of a wall socket, just in case.
There are some electronic disasters that can’t be recovered in this way – for instance, flooding with very muddy waters, or fire damage. If it’s imperative that you recover the data or device, this sort of damage requires the attention of an electronics recovery specialist.
|
