Receiver Cap or Brie?

[paul-f]

Don't you just love it when you open that cardboard box and realize your storage area hasn't been quite as dry as expected?     

Fortunately it generally protects the finish and cleans off relatively easily.

[McHeath]

Holy Mildew Mania Batman!  That's amazing!  Out here in dried up Californialand we simply don't see that kind of mold or mildew, at least not in my area. 

[Craig T]

 Glad to hear they will clean off. The caps look pretty scary and so do the cords!

[paul-f]

Agreed.  Cord cleaning isn't high on my list of fun activities.

[JorgeAmely]

Are these soft plastic, ABS or bakelite caps? Wondering which one is more likely to catch a mold? 

[Greg G.]

Wow, it must be warm as well as damp where you're at.  I thought the cap in the first photo was a cake of soap at first.  It doesn't even get that bad up here in the cool, wet NW.  My preferred method of cleaning heavy, icky stuff on phones is to dismantle them and throw all the non-electronic parts in a bath of Oxiclean. 

[AE_Collector]

Are these soft plastic, ABS or bakelite caps? Wondering which one is more likely to catch a mold? 

My experience is that soft plastic is the most likely to "catch a mold".

I started to sort a bunch of boxed up sets a year or more ago and many of them were looking just like Pauls examples.

Terry

[Dan/Panther]

I think that might explain the Cheesy smell in soft plastic parts, and the lack of that same smell in plastic parts for the most part here in California. I've yet to experience the so called Cheese small. We have a relatively dry climate. I've never seen mildew that bad. Well Maybe except for my refrigerator occasionally.
D/P

[foots]

  I live in hot-n-humid land and haven't seen mildew that bad on plastic.

[LarryInMichigan]

I have had some moldy tenite, but nothing like that.  Remember that tenite is cellulose-based (ie. wood), so it provides a good growing medium for mold.  The important part in cleaning it is killing all of the spores so that the mold will not grow back.

Larry

[Dan/Panther]

Can you imagine spending your entire life on the surface of some piece of plastic in a box in a dark basement.
How long does a mold spore live anyhow?
D/P

[bwanna]

save those little packets of silica when you buy a new purse or shoes. i don't know how long they last, so far i don't have any moldy phones.

[Jim Stettler]

I tried to buy the "salt packet" size  of desiccant in the past. The company I tried to deal with were to knowledgeable. 

They quoted me all the variables required for sizing the packets. ( Material, surface area, cubic volume, climate etc).
He was apologetic that they didn't have "salt packets".

As Terry said, you can revive it by drying, Sun, oven or even microwave.
Jim

[baldopeacock]

save those little packets of silica when you buy a new purse or shoes. i don't know how long they last, so far i don't have any moldy phones.

Do the ones from new purses work better than the ones from shoes?   Don't buy too many purses around here but if it works, I guess I can make an exception.

[bwanna]

lol b-o-p... the silica packs are in with most electronic items, too.