Degaussing a TV

When a TV picture is discolored, chances are good that it is caused by an unwanted magnetic field and can be fixed by degaussing the set. My grandma recently got a new TV and had this problem. Every channel was in purple and green. The TV was located under a metal cabinet. The cabinet apparently produced a magnetic field strong enough to affect the picture, because moving the TV away from the metal solved the problem. Unfortunately, relocating the TV was not an option, so a permanent solution was needed.

Color TV works by firing electrons at the back of the screen. Each electron gun represents a specific color, and an electromagnetic field is applied in order to spread the electrons across the entire screen. When an outside magnetic field interferes with this, it changes the electrons' path. In the case of my grandma's TV, it appeared that the "red" electrons weren't making it to the screen. Most modern TVs have a built-in degausser which eliminates a magnetic field. A quick look in the manual told me that the TV does have a degausser which runs at plug-in. I unplugged the set, waited for it to cool off, then plugged it back in. Voila! The color was back to normal. At least most of it was. One corner was still distorted.

If the degausser doesn't work, or if the TV set doesn't have a degausser, a soldering gun can be used. Simply point the gun away from screen so that the rear of the gun is near the discolored part of the screen, then pull the trigger. Move the gun slowly away from the screen until the picture returns to normal. I have heard that this works really well, but I haven't had any luck with it. I tried it very briefly on the corner of my grandma's TV with no success. I am very hesitant to do much more because I don't want to permanently screw up the picture. I suspect that if I used the soldering gun for a longer period of time, the color would return to normal.

Of course, if there is a strong magnetic field around the TV, no amount of degaussing will work. Magnets should be kept away from TV sets and computer monitors.