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Smoke on LCD Screen

barr08

barr08

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 9, 2006
1,361
0
Boston, MA
I am a huge worrier with my electronics, I will get that out in the open right now.

I was wondering about the effects of different kind of smoke on my electronics, particularly with the LCD screen. I have a 20 inch iMac, and will be returning to school with a 37 inch LCD HDTV, and I wanted to know if smoke had a very negative effect on these screens. While my college activites are largely tame, my roomate smokes cigarettes, burns incense, and participates in...other activites that fill my room with smoke. Does this harm my screens that I love so much? He is also a big tech guy, and tells me not to worry about it. I'm not so sure though.

Thanks for your input.
 
barr08 said:
I am a huge worrier with my electronics, I will get that out in the open right now.

I was wondering about the effects of different kind of smoke on my electronics, particularly with the LCD screen. I have a 20 inch iMac, and will be returning to school with a 37 inch LCD HDTV, and I wanted to know if smoke had a very negative effect on these screens. While my college activites are largely tame, my roomate smokes cigarettes, burns incense, and participates in...other activites that fill my room with smoke. Does this harm my screens that I love so much? He is also a big tech guy, and tells me not to worry about it. I'm not so sure though.

Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't worry unless he starts inhaling sulfuric or chloric acid puffing at your screens :)
 
I would worry a LOT. I do repair equipment in my job and remember the days when smoking was still allowed in the building.
Your screens will get a nice yellow coating, like everything else in your house including your lungs. Also the lens of your DVD burner in your mac will be coated and will not work anymore in a couple of years.
Also most smokers smoke behind the computer ruining the keyboard with their ashes.

I would tell him to smoke outside.
 
I usually point a fan away from my computer when he smokes cigs. It is most often not cigs or incense, but the third thing I mentioned. Should I be as worried?
 
Yes, because that third thing contains the most tar, about 20x more than a cigarette. And believe me, I know, I am from Amsterdam :D
 
Altho I can only speak for the PC side of the issue, I have not found any personal issues with smoke and electronics as I partake in such "activies" myself and feel that as long as there is some sort of ventilation (the computer isnt soaked in constant smoke 24/7) and once in a while the computer/keyboard is cleaned, there SHOULDN'T be a problem. But that doesn't mean that there might be one down the line. But this is an opinion based on personal experience. :)
 
With all the warnings out there that cause cancer he should respect your air and smoke outside. Here I love my state that bans smoking in public places. Go DE and NJ for ban smoking
 
Smoke is Smoke.
Doesn't matter if it's from a cigarette or diesel truck, it gets on and into any area air can.

Go see what computer terminals really look like in a diesel repair shop. You'd wonder how they even function.

No different than when you have to clean the TV screen at home and no one smokes. Electronics are dirt magnets. Look inside your tower after a year. It's worse than the inside of your kirby.

This is where most people have no clue about air filtration.
But you could keep the tower pristine if placed inside a pressurized filtered cabinet. Now it's secure as well.

As for my cinema 20", I keep it covered with padded full cover slip over jacket front and back. Anything can happen with a target this big.
 
I know this is off topic but i'm curious.

Are you living on a college residence, if so, which college are you attending that allows you to smoke in dorm rooms?
 
Interesting... I doubt the smoke will have any serious negative effect on your screen, but for the sake of your air and health (for you and your screen) try to get him to smoke elsewhere.
 
Any kind of smoke is going to be bad for your computer, your clothes, your furniture, etc. My mom's a smoker and it's disgusting what the smoke does to her home. The walls and blinds are a dingy yellow (they were off-white when she moved in!), everything stinks (I bring a clean shirt when I visit so I can change right away), and I can't stay in there for more than a couple hours before I start to cough.

And I grew up with that crap. You'd think I'd be immune but it's the fact that she smokes inside now that makes it so concentrated. When she smoked outside, she had bad breath for a few minutes. Now all that crap is contained and settles onto every available surface.

Incense also leaves plenty of residue. See all that smoke curling up? Those particles have to go somewhere. They'll eventually fall and settle all over the room. Just like every other kind of smoke.
 
He's right about 'other stuff', but seeing as it isn't smoked nearly as often as cigarettes, if thats all you smoke, its not such a problem. Keep your room ventilated. Don't puff smoke at it. If your talking about light use it shouldn't make much of a difference. However many a beautiful microphone or other pro-audio bit of tech has died cause of smoke. In England we're allowed to smoke in our student rooms, and people are very very lax about other stuff - at christmas I smoke one with my dad.
 
Tarkovsky said:
He's right about 'other stuff', but seeing as it isn't smoked nearly as often as cigarettes, if thats all you smoke, its not such a problem. Keep your room ventilated. Don't puff smoke at it. If your talking about light use it shouldn't make much of a difference. However many a beautiful microphone or other pro-audio bit of tech has died cause of smoke. In England we're allowed to smoke in our student rooms, and people are very very lax about other stuff - at christmas I smoke one with my dad.
Click to expand...

The other stuff is smoked the most frequently. He rarely smokes cigs. I was just wondering if by some off chance a small amount of smoke can seriously hurt LCD screens or computer components.
 
I don't believe the residue is conductive, and the hard drive (the only moving part) is inside the case. I've burned a million and one joss sticks in my room and my ibook is still cheery 3 years on - in my experience smoke hasn't been especially harmful. Much more likely to mess up an old CRT screen.
 
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