Best practices for electronics restoration
It’s difficult to imagine that home electronics can be restored following a flood, lightning strike, or fire, but they often can be.
It’s difficult to imagine that home electronics can be restored following a flood, lightning strike, or fire, but they often can be. Through careful post-disaster assessment, tracking, and restoration, home electronics — many of which store critical family data — are often restorable at 30% of the cost of replacement.
While the restoration process requires specialized training and equipment, it’s highly successful. Moreover, restoration best practices put electronics — and stored data — back into the hands of owners quickly and efficiently, many times within 24 hours.
It all starts in the affected home, where a customer service team performs an assessment while working in close cooperation with the adjuster and homeowner.
On-site testing, collection & documentation
Restoration best practices launch with an on-site assessment and documentation of findings. The goal is to provide complete transparency so the homeowners and insurance team know exactly which electronics can be restored, and which cannot.
First, wet electronics are unplugged and completely dried before testing. Once all electronics are unplugged and dry, they are powered on using a mobile testing cart. The cart allows the restoration team to test a large variety of devices, which can significantly speed up the claims process and reduce restoration costs. It allows the team to immediately determine which items were damaged prior to a loss, helping insurance companies reduce loss liability.
In the case of lightning strikes, the cart makes it possible to see if in-home electronics were damaged by the actual strike without removing them from the home. The results are reported back to the insurance carriers.
Data transfer
Next, data transfer can be performed immediately, right on the cart. Cell phone and computer files, for example, are loaded from the devices onto a memory stick and immediately handed to the homeowner. Because so much content is stored on home electronics — from kids’ schedules and work projects to financial documents, pictures, recipes, and videos — this step is crucial. It’s ideal to immediately restore the homeowner’s day-to-day functions by delivering their data to them in real-time. If a device doesn’t power on, it can’t be restored. So, only electronics that power on are collected for restoration back at the cleaning facility, or when it makes sense, on-site.
Documentation & mapping
All the while, the devices are photographed, and the home is mapped. Some restoration providers use proprietary technology to capture and process an inventory of items, digital images, and other documentation. The mapping ensures electronics are returned to exactly the same places they were found once all home restoration is complete.
Restoration process
At the restoration plant, electronics are once again cataloged, documented, and tracked. Then, they are disassembled, if needed, and carefully restored using a four-phase process: prewash, ultrasonic cleaning, deionized water rinse, and chamber dry. What many people don’t realize is that the safest and most thorough way to clean contaminated electronics is by using water. It’s how the military and NASA have maintained and cleaned electronics since the 1950s. It’s safe, proven, and how we continue to do it today.
Sound waves & cavitation
In basic terms, best practices involve submerging electronics in a specialized tank containing chambers with separate solutions of water and cleaning or rinsing agents. Inside the tank, electro-mechanical transducers produce sound waves that create millions of microscopic bubbles. As the ultrasonic bubbles form and collapse — a process called cavitation —significant heat, pressure, and vacuum action combine to pull contaminants away from crevasses.
“We can’t see what the microscopic bubbles are doing,” said Lisa Morantz, president of Morantz Ultrasonics, a leading manufacturer of ultrasonic cleaning systems. “But, the pressure at the core of each bubble collapse reaches around 10,000 psi. It’s very powerful, yet very safe and gentle.”
Extremely effective, the process successfully restores up to 99% of the collected devices, she said.
Rinsed, dried, inspected & stored
Once cleaned, electronics undergo a deionized rinse as a protective measure to prevent electrical issues as the drying process begins and to prevent spotting. They’re then dried inside a convection drying chamber or drying room that combines low humidity levels and constant air movement. This ensures any residual moisture is safely removed before powering the devices on again.
Following a detailed inspection, they are electronically scanned and placed in secure, well-lit, and humidity-controlled storage environments. At any time, displaced homeowners can access these storage areas — and their electronics.
Days, weeks, or months later, when home repairs are concluded, the restoration team re-enters the home to re-install and power up those items.
Convenient & cost-effective
While a lot goes on behind the scenes, electronics restoration returns items to owners at 30% of the cost of replacement — helping to lower insurance premiums. From the homeowner’s perspective, it also offers convenience and peace-of-mind. Not only do owners know upfront which items can and can’t be restored, but best practices also ensure critical data is provided to them immediately.
Finally, completing the circle, restored items are conveniently returned and installed once the home is ready.
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