Can smoke from cooking steak harm electronics?

[5cub4 573V3]

Today, I cooked steak and filled up my small condo with smoke. I had the fan going and opened up all windows and the sliding door. After about 5 to 10 minutes, the smoke cleared out of the house through the windows but it was very smoky. My living room is close to the kitchen and I have a TV, two laptops, Xbox and a MIDI keyboard controller. My question is can the smoke from cooking the steak result in damage to my electronics before the smoke escaped the house? I know that I’m probably being overly paranoid but I just want to make sure that I didn’t cause any harm. I also want to know if I should be more cautious going forward. Thank you for your help!

 

[USAFRet]

You should be cautious going forward, in that you apparently burned up a good steak!

No, that smoke did not damage your PC.
If that were the case, hundreds of millions of electronic devices all over the planet would have met an early demise.

Many many people, myself included, have the kitchen in the same airspace as all the electronics.

 

[5cub4 573V3]

I now have peace of mind. Thank you for your reply! The steak was delicious by the way.

 

[Ralston18]

Just a quick question:

Did your smoke detector(s) go off?

If you have them (and you should) and if they did not go off then check them.

 

[christopher.john.sr]

I know I'm late with this, but you should be wary of PCs and laptops in the kitchen.

Have you ever been to someone's house that does a lot of deep frying? The kitchen walls become coated with grease. The same oil that collects on the walls over time can collect inside the computer.

I once repaired a laptop that was kept in the kitchen. When I opened the case, the motherboard was actually oily, especially near the open vents and ports. Ended up replacing the motherboard.

 

[mihen]

Yes, but you need to have your electronics in a smoke house 24/7. The tar in smoke builds up a thermal layer over your cooling surfaces, but it needs ALOT of smoke.

If you are pan frying a steak, I have found using a good amount of oil helps prevent excessive smoke. Usually when I cook I use enough oil to coat the bottom surface of the pan. But with a steak I use enough oil were it's just starting to pool. You can also use oil with a higher smoke point temp like grapeseed oil, corn oil, peanut oil or animal fat.