How to clean a remote control

Find out how to clean your remote control now. It’s one of the devices we use the most that can accumulate lots of dirt and even stop working.

The remote controls we find in houses at the moment are probably the items we touch the most as we constantly channel hop, increase and decrease the volume, switch the TV on and off. Plus, we no longer just have one remote control at home, we usually have other electric devices that are also operated using a remote control.

Remote controls are a wonderful dust collector, but also dirt, grease and germs, since we touch them so many times throughout the day. This dirt builds up on the buttons, but also around the buttons, creating a film of dirt that ends up inside the remote and shortens its use life, making it malfunction or break completely. 

How to clean a remote control step by step

The first thing you should do before starting to clean the remote is remove the batteries so they don’t get damaged and to ensure no liquid interferes with them.

Next, take a cloth with clean water and, avoiding using any abrasive product, scrub the case of the remote well.

Then rinse the cloth and repeat the action, focussing more on the dirtiest areas. In this step, you could replace the cloth for cotton buds.

For the buttons, you can also use a cotton bud wet with alcohol and go button by button until all the dirt surrounding them has been removed.

If food or grease has been spilled on the remote, which is easy to do, clean the case with a cotton bud that is wet with water in ammonia, but don’t let the ammonia come into contact with the mechanism of the remote control. Another option is to use alcohol as this will guarantee the board doesn’t rust because alcohol evaporates.

In addition, you should occasionally carry out a more comprehensive maintenance of the remote controls. To do this, you need to unscrew both parts of the remote and open it to clean the inside thoroughly with a dry cloth.