Here’s why storing electronics in your garage is a bad idea

You’ve just finished a weekend decluttering session and are left with a mountain of your old tech gadgets. Not sure where to put them, but it seems like a good idea to just put your electronics back in the box they came in and store them in your garage. But treating your garage like a tech graveyard is a guaranteed way to permanently ruin your devices. Circuit boards, batteries, etc. are really only designed for temperature-controlled use, and the wild temperature swings of a garage can really wreak havoc on your equipment.

During the summer, a closed garage serves as an oven. This heat can dry out specialized thermal pastes, which keep processors cool, or even warp plastic cases. Likewise, freezing winter temperatures are just as damaging, creating problems like LCD screens being sluggish or plastic frames being fragile (and prone to breakage). Worse yet, this year-round heating and cooling cycle forces the metal components inside your electronics to expand and contract, which can affect things like solder joints on circuit boards.

Then there’s the problem of humidity. Ambient humidity can create condensation that settles inside your devices on parts like motherboards. This can cause corrosion on the tiny metal pathways that your device relies on to function. Even if your equipment looks good on the outside, internal corrosion can cause a short circuit as soon as you decide to try to power it up.

Unfortunately, the countless risks of garage storage don’t stop there, especially when it comes to batteries. Most modern wireless electronic devices use lithium-ion batteries, from smartphones and tablets to handheld gaming consoles and even the best robot vacuums. This type of battery has a volatile reputation when it comes to extreme temperatures.

When temperatures in your garage rise during a summer heatwave, the delicate chemical components of a lithium-ion battery begin to degrade quickly. This intense heat can prevent battery cells from retaining and distributing charge. Even more alarming, continued high temperatures can cause these batteries to swell, pushing against the device’s casing until it cracks; in the worst case, they can leak toxic battery fluids and pose a legitimate fire hazard. Deep freezes in winter are just as punishing, effectively killing the battery’s internal chemistry and rendering it completely dead by the time spring arrives.

If you store unused technology equipment, everything should stay in a dry, climate-controlled location, such as in your home or a storage facility. To keep your electronics safe and functional, store them in a dry hallway closet, store them in bins under a bed, or even manage your tech clutter with a storage DIY. Also avoid unfinished basements, as they will cause the same corrosion problems as your garage. It’s best to store your unused technology in a temperature-controlled location, so you can easily reuse it years later.

Even if you somehow manage to control the temperature and humidity in your garage, you’re still battling the environment itself. Garages are inherently dirty and busy spaces. Every time you open the door, you invite bursts of dirt and exhaust particles. And if you’re also using the space as a workshop, add sawdust to the mix. All that dust is a magnet for static electricity, which penetrates deep into exposed USB ports and air vents.

Then, when you finally decide to bring that old console or PC tower inside and plug it in, the dusty internal components struggle to function properly and can lead to overheating or even hardware failure. But dust isn’t the only thing that could settle inside your old electronic devices. Garages are accessible to creatures looking for a cozy place to hide. Mice are notorious for chewing on cords, while insects like spiders love to nest in dark, enclosed spaces like receivers and computer towers. When you turn on a device containing critters, that electrical arc can instantly fry both uninvited guests and the device’s internal components. So, by simply keeping your unused technologies inside your home, you give them the chance to be reused years later.