Do you still have an old phone lying around somewhere in the back of a junk drawer? You might no longer get money for it, but you can make sure it doesn’t end up burning down your house.
It’s a good idea to take care of your phone from the beginning, keeping it clean, dry, and away from extreme temperatures, without ever dropping it. If you succeed, you can often still get trade-in credit or sell your old phone for more than 5 years after it initially came out.
Particularly, the battery can be a sensitive part, but there are a couple of things you can do to keep your phone’s battery in good health and make it last longer:
Avoid extreme temperatures: phones work in a wide range of temperatures, but if it gets too cold or too hot, the phone and its battery can get permanently damaged. Avoid anything below freezing and above 95°F (35°C).
Remove the phone case when charging: the battery might heat up during the charging process and if you have a well-insulating case, the heat can get trapped and damage the battery. If you use a slim-case, you are less likely to run into these problems.
Keep it dry: this one is probably self-explanatory. Even if your phone is water-resistant, it is good practice, to keep it in a dry environment.
Form healthy charging habits: don’t let your battery die completely and charge it in one go, without using the phone at the same time and turn off GPS, Wifi, etc. MyRepublic also recommends not to charge your battery all the way to 100% and disconnect the charger when it’s full.
Give your phone a break: using your phone 24/7 will wear it down more quickly, than using it more sparingly. Watching hours of video every day, for example, will decrease its life expectancy, by straining your battery.
Store it right: if you don’t need your phone for a while, Apple recommends you charge it to about 50% and keep it powered off. But if you no longer need it, remember to recycle it directly, or exchange it for trade-in value instead of keeping it in a drawer long-term. If you must store it, put it in a dry location, away from moisture and inflammable objects.
Keep it clean: it is well-known that phones are some of the dirtiest objects around us. As a close companion during all our daily activities, it’s not hard to see how the bacteria accumulate. Keeping it clean might not give you better battery life, but it will help you enjoy your phone longer for sure.
Unfortunately, regardless of how well you take care of your phone, there comes a moment when it’s time to part ways. On average, people replace their smartphones every 2-3 years, but often the old phone stays somewhere in a junk drawer “just in case”. In a household with multiple people, these out-of-use devices can quickly add up and only one malfunctioning battery is enough to start a fire. Even without open flames, a punctured battery can release toxic gasses.
Once you replace your device with a new one (here we put some guidance together on selecting a new device), if you are not turning in your old phone for its trade-in value, you might be tempted to keep it in a drawer, “just in case”. Before you know it, you have a whole bunch of phones in that drawer, which, let’s be honest, you will never use again. At best, they will clutter your space and gather dust, at worst, they can set your house on fire. So at the very least, discard them at a recycling location that specializes in electronics. You could also return your old phone (or really any electronic device) to a store that sells them. Most larger chains maintain recycling programs: it’s free and you don’t need a receipt.
Never throw an old phone in with your regular trash. Just one sorting facility in Ohio has seen seven fires from ill-disposed batteries in a single month. These fires put people’s lives at risk and release toxins into the environment.
And of course, phone batteries are not the only hazard. Use the tips above to take care of all your battery-powered devices.
In addition to caring for your device to ensure that it lasts a long time and does not damage your surroundings, take care of your charging cables too. Frayed cables can damage your device if electricity does not flow into your device as intended, and could damage the sensitive components of your phone (or other electronic devices you’re charging). A battery-powered device that is not charging properly is prone to overheating as well - increasing the risk of, you guessed it, fire. Finally, an electric shock is a real possibility - to you, and in particular, to pets or kids if you have those running around your home.
Savvee wants you to get the most out of your things, and taking care of your phone to avoid a fire seems like a no-brainer. Want to get more tips and keep track of your things? Download Savvee now for iOS or Android, it's free!
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