How Fire Can Damage Different Parts of Your Business's Computers

4/20/2020 (Permalink)

How Fire Can Damage Different Parts of Your Business's Computers

Computers are one of the most important pieces of electronic equipment your business in Chicago, IL, needs to run its everyday operations. When damaged in an electrical fire, how the computer cleanup process goes depends on the different parts affected by the heat, soot, and smoke.

1. Metal
Different metals, such as aluminum, silicon, lead, copper, and tin, make up a large majority of computer components. Although most of these metals remain intact even when exposed to higher temperatures, the longer exposure to heat continues in a fire, the more the metals will continue to break down.
2. Platters
The platters within a computer are disks that store the device's data, and they are typically made from cobalt, ceramic, aluminum or glass. These disks can withstand high temperatures and smoke damage for a certain period of time, but after prolonged exposure to an electrical fire, they will start to bubble, melt and warp.
3. Rubber Seals
Some solid-state drives and most hard disk drives include metal casings that protect the disks within the computer. An industrial-strength rubber gasket seals these cases to prevent damage, but during a fire, it will begin to melt when the surrounding environment reaches approximately 620 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Plastic Parts
The exterior case, the insulation within the exterior case, the keys in the keyboard and even some of the electronic circuits within a computer are plastic. Even if fire cleanup professionals can salvage most of your business' computer parts, it is unlikely the plastic components will survive, as they typically start to melt soon after exposure to a direct flame or indirect heat.
The sooner you can save your business's computers from exposure to heat and flames during an electrical fire, the better. While you may not be able to use the devices again, you may be able to recover some of the important data stored within them.