Smoking near a computer?

[Pop_Rivit]

If you do then you may void your warranty if it's a Mac.

Mac denies warranty coverage to smokers computers

Quote:
Specifically, in at least two instances in different parts of the country, Apple has voided the warranty and refused to provide repair service on Macintosh computers exposed to environments where cigarette smoke has been present. Calling cigarette smoke residue (tar and whatnot) inside a computer a health risk and a "biohazard," in both cases Apple customers have been denied service despite having time left on a valid warranty.

 

[d00df00d]

Oh boy. This is going to open up a can of worms. In bold, so people understand:

They are denying service because the cigarette smoke gets trapped in the machines with the dust (of which there is a LOT) and released at the service center. They do not want to expose their employees to it.

The problem with their conduct is that they do not mention anything about this in the terms of their warranty.

Not saying where I stand on this. Just wanted to put that out there before the inevitable comments from people who think Apple cares what they do to their own bodies. This is about Apple's employees, not their customers.

 

[JHZR2]

So it is not because the tar, surface stickiness, etc. builds greater amounts of heat-trapping dust and junk inside? It is because of the "offgassing" and requirement to handle that stuff?

I think there is a valid claim that smoke will speed-up the buildup of bad stuff inside of the computer case, but exposure is questionable to me.

 

[d00df00d]

I was thinking the same thing. I'm just going on what the article says. I'm sure there's more to it but I don't know.

 

[Virtuoso]

Exposure sounds like [censored] to me. I can tell a smoker's computer pretty quick, usually before it's even opened. All the dust has a certain greasy feel to it. It dosen't come off as easy, and probably traps heat. And the smell....ugh

Voiding warranties, though, that's getting harsh. Although, according to the quote, there have been only two instances (that we know of..) where warranties have been voided because of this. I'd bet it's a pretty extreme occurance...where there's enough tar build-up to cause equipment failure in the first place

 

[JustinH]

Every smoker's computer I have serviced looks terrible.

Yellow tar gets into all the fans, and I could see how it could cause problems with the cooling of the machine in a hurry.

Honestly, I wear a mask when I blow them out. It is pretty bad, I blow them outside also.

Just a painters dust mask.

 

[greenaccord02]

Cigarette smoke does cause the buildup of thick, matted dust. It can cause heat to increase and components to fail, though I wouldn't think it would be a warranty issue as it takes a few years to get to that point. However, it's been demonstrated that the particles from smoke can migrate into drives and cause bad sectors to develop more quickly than in a non-smoking environment. Also, Optical drives that have been contaminated with it are very hard to clean once the lens gets dirty.

 

[kc8adu]

we get these computer ashtrays at my shop quite often.
i have severe allergy to the stuff.
if i get one in an employee who smokes gets to work on them.nasty!
if i were a one man shop i would refuse to touch some that i have seen.you know someone smokes bad when the inside of a samsung led hdtv is brown!panel was busted so i just saved the boards.washed them before putting them in my spare stock.6 month old set.
i sometimes get motherboards in for recapping that the normally white pci slots are brown.out with the cmos battery and into the sink with simple green.then i will recap.
dont blame anyone for not wanting to touch a badly smoked up unit.apple should void the warrenty on nasty units.at the least it ruins optical drives and hard drives.
i have gotten smoked up units in auction lots that i have dropped in the nearest dumpster as i didnt want the stink in the van with me.