Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Taking Care of Your Water Damaged Laptop

Anyone who has ever owned a laptop or other electronic device knows that whatever you do, you should not let it come into contact with water, especially a large quantity of it. With laptops, water is usually spilled on the keyboard due to the misplacement of a drink or by knocking it over. The problem is not with the water itself, but with the electricity running through the device at the time the liquid is spilled. It is the combination of the two that does the damage to the motherboard, not the simple act of spilling water on it. During the manufacturing process, circuit boards like this are washed in clean water to remove anything from their surfaces before they are packaged and shipped. However, if you need to clean off your motherboard on your desktop or your laptop due to a collection of dust or spilling anything, you should use rubbing alcohol, not water.

As with your response to water coming into contact with any electronic device, it should be immediate.

As soon as it happens, you should turn the laptop upside down, remove the A/C cord, and remove the battery. Turning the laptop upside down serves to let the excess liquid drain out of it and you should do this until it stops dripping out. Proceed to dry off the outside of the laptop with a cloth or paper towels after this.

As long as you disconnect the power source as soon as possible and allow the device to dry out completely, it should be fine. Do not try to power on the device before you are certain that it is completely dry on the inside. Of course, this is only if you have only spilled water on it, not if you have spilled an acidic beverage such as cola or coffee onto it. This will require some extra steps to take care of and may require that you take the laptop apart.

If you think you may have to have it taken apart to clean the cola or coffee off of the circuit board on the inside, then you may want to consider having it taken to a computer repair shop. It will cost a little money, but unless you are familiar with electronics and really feel that you know what you are doing, this is your best option. They will make sure that your laptop is in working order, as long as you made sure that the liquid did not assist in frying the motherboard.

Saving Up Water and Other Supplies For Hurricanes

The most important thing that you need to worry about if you plan on sticking out a hurricane in your home instead of evacuating is just how much clean water you have to drink. If you live alone and there will be no one staying with you, it will be a lot easier for you to prepare to stay at home during the storm, but if you have a family that will stay with you, you will have to gather a lot more supplies. You should also have a good supply of non-perishable food (preferably foods that you do not have to cook and are ready to eat out of the package), batteries for anything you think you will need, flashlights, a hand-crank radio, and blankets.

The hand-crank radio will ensure that you have the capability to hear what is going on in the outside world during the storm, even if your electricity does go out. This will let you know what your local, state, and federal government is doing at this time.

As far as your water supply, if you have just moved to an area that is prone to hurricane damage, you should start saving up water as soon as you get moved into your new home. You can do this by re-using milk jugs after you have rinsed them out and storing them in a safe, convenient place in your home. You should keep at least one gallon for yourself and for each person you will have with you during the storm to use each day you expect the storm to last. Saving up a week’s worth of water in this way is advised and will ensure that you do not run out of water.

While the storm rages outside, do not drink water from your faucet because of the fact that it may be contaminated with anything from bacteria, sea water, and leaves to sewage and other hazardous waste. You can boil water from your faucet if you run out of the supply that you have saved, but it is much better to make sure that you have enough water put back so that you do not have to do this. Boiling water does not remove all impurities or harmful materials, especially if it has been contaminated with chemicals.

You can also buy some water purification tablets from some department and outdoor supply stores. Anyone who hikes or camps purchases these if they plan on going into an area of wilderness where clean water is not always able to be obtained.

Saving Up Water and Other Supplies For Hurricanes

The most important thing that you need to worry about if you plan on sticking out a hurricane in your home instead of evacuating is just how much clean water you have to drink. If you live alone and there will be no one staying with you, it will be a lot easier for you to prepare to stay at home during the storm, but if you have a family that will stay with you, you will have to gather a lot more supplies. You should also have a good supply of non-perishable food (preferably foods that you do not have to cook and are ready to eat out of the package), batteries for anything you think you will need, flashlights, a hand-crank radio, and blankets.

The hand-crank radio will ensure that you have the capability to hear what is going on in the outside world during the storm, even if your electricity does go out. This will let you know what your local, state, and federal government is doing at this time.

As far as your water supply, if you have just moved to an area that is prone to hurricane damage, you should start saving up water as soon as you get moved into your new home. You can do this by re-using milk jugs after you have rinsed them out and storing them in a safe, convenient place in your home. You should keep at least one gallon for yourself and for each person you will have with you during the storm to use each day you expect the storm to last. Saving up a week’s worth of water in this way is advised and will ensure that you do not run out of water.

While the storm rages outside, do not drink water from your faucet because of the fact that it may be contaminated with anything from bacteria, sea water, and leaves to sewage and other hazardous waste. You can boil water from your faucet if you run out of the supply that you have saved, but it is much better to make sure that you have enough water put back so that you do not have to do this. Boiling water does not remove all impurities or harmful materials, especially if it has been contaminated with chemicals.

You can also buy some water purification tablets from some department and outdoor supply stores. Anyone who hikes or camps purchases these if they plan on going into an area of wilderness where clean water is not always able to be obtained.

Have Clean Water During Hurricanes

Most of us know just how dangerous hurricanes can be, especially since the disasters of Hurricane Rita and Katrina a few years ago. If you live further inland, you are probably not as concerned about these events, but if you are planning on moving to the coast, there are a few things that you need to know, since you will probably have to deal with a hurricane at your new home at some point or another. It is not as easy as you may think and sometimes the best thing that you can do is leave the area.

Probably the most important resource that you can save up ahead of time is clean water to drink. Flood waters from the sea, burst pipes, rivers running over their banks, and even sewage from the city can get into the local water supply, so you should never trust the water that comes out of your faucet after the storm has already begun. Always assume that it is contaminated with something and do not drink it until the storm is over and you are sure it is safe.

You can save up clean water by filling up milk jugs that you have rinsed out and saved over time. You should have at least one gallon for every person in your house to use for each day, preferably for a week’s time. This will give you the peace of mind that you will probably not run out of clean water during the storm and have to make more.

How can you make clean water? You can boil the water that comes out of your faucet, although if your local water supply has been contaminated by sewage due to hurricanes or flooding in the past, this may not be a good idea. No one wants to drink sewer water, even if it has been boiled.

Water purification tablets can also be bought at some camping and department stores. People who go hiking or camping often use these if they are going into the wilderness where a clean water supply is not guaranteed.

To help protect your home from the storm damage that could occur to it, one thing that almost everyone does is put plywood over their windows and doors. This keeps the glass from blowing in, but if you plan on staying in your home, you will have to leave at least one door uncovered.

Lastly, if there is a chance that your home will flood during the storm, you should evacuate. The horror stories of victims of Hurricane Katrina who stayed in their homes and were flooded are extremely well known and should not be ignored.