Smoke Damage to Electronics - What to do?

Here's a little bit of Ask Yourself...

Obtaining proof. Did all the products work before you left? Is there damages on the consoles/electronics? You could have been robbed and vandalised.

And what I would do in this situation is get them to pay the money for the damages if you have came to the conclusion that they are responsible, and maybe bring this to court for suing.

if the electronics where up there, that is proof enough, a similar thing happened to a friend of mine and without even testing them, they where replaced.

Smoke damage may not appear right away, it can take effect months or years in the future as the acids in the smoke wears away on the contact points. Contact your or your neighbors insurance and explain the situation. This is a case of a careless accident, someone should have been monitoring the fire and made sure the smoke stack was working properly.

if possible, take photos of the area where the smoke did it's damage and got into the attic

(only do this if the insurance company has done any inspections that they need to do)

Then do close ups on all of the electronics, then provide evidence of smoke damage by taking apart a single non working device and taking pictures of any corrosion and discoloration of solder points and PCB traces

I will try to find some examples online that show how smoke damage looks, at which point you can show that you have similar damage

First image: http://www.drsrestoration.com/property look at the image that says inside TV smoke

Also get a few articles on smoke damage in electronics as evidence.

If you need further evidence and are able to record video of the entire process, then you can fine one spot on the wall that you are okay with wiping with a paper towel, then you can do this, get a small cup of water, then get some hydrion paper, then dip one sheet into it to show the water having a PH of 7

now wipe down a small spot that was covered in smoke, then dip the paper towel into the cup to dissolve the smoke into the water, then test the PC again to show it becoming acidic.

wow I guess ya all have to smoke faster and more efficiently get all the residue out of it before releaseing !!

or do what I did after almost 40 year of smoking quit toss the stuff away and say enough

the brown slimy staining of everything in the area where people smoke that oozes over everything should be proof enough ..