Is it safe to use a laptop after water spilled on the keyboard?

[kyphysics]

I was reaching for some crackers across the table. My arm tipped over a full opened bottled water that splashed about 1/3 of its contents out of it.

Of that 1/3, about 50% got on the table and the other 50% splashed across my laptop's keyboard area. I immediately reached for towels to soak everything up.

I have no idea what the inside of a laptop is like and whether water could have seeped into areas that could cause damage. I turned it off and waited 24 hours to turn back on. I'm using it now. It feels a bit slower (when browsing), but otherwise is running.

I'm going to turn it off again shortly after this post. But, just wondering if this is safe?

 

[anorlunda]

Many modern laptops have a membrane below the keyboard to protect the PC from dirt and water. As long as it works OK, don't worry.

 

[DaveC426913]

Go to this page and leave it on overnight.
Should be OK by the morning.

 

[Keith_McClary]

Spilled water on your laptop? Here’s how to fix it

 

[sysprog]

I wanted to be the first to say, put it in (a big (10-25-50 pound) bag of) rice for 24 hours, but other members beat me to it $-$ rice is very hygroscopic (absorbs moisture) $\dots$ obviously, but still in my opinion (for safety reasons) worth saying: please do not thereafter use the rice as food if there could have been anything toxic in what could have been absorbed.

 

[sysprog]

I respectfully disagree with DaveC426913 regarding the "leave it on" part of his advisory $-$ I think that it's better to power it down, leave it off, disconnect the power supply, and if you can, remove the battery $\dots$

Go to this page and leave it on overnight.
Should be OK by the morning.

 

[sysprog]

@DaveC426913, you've given a 'sad' reaction to my post (#6), in which I respectfully disagreed with you only regarding whether to leave the machine 'on' or 'off'$-$ if I'm wrong about my 'off' recommendation versus your posted 'leave it on' recommendation, could you please explain how my recommendation is wrong? Both of us recommended drying the machine out with rice, right?

 

[sysprog]

I think that seepage could create new circuits, so that until the drying has occurred, it's better that no source of electrical power remain connected.

 

[sysprog]

Maybe @DaveC426913 meant to type 'leave it in' rather than 'leave it on' and I'm just being too fussy about something that's really just a typo $-$ if so, I'm sorry for being such a fussy guy $\dots$

 

[FactChecker]

Maybe @DaveC426913 meant to type 'leave it in' rather than 'leave it on' and I'm just being too fussy about something that's really just a typo $-$ if so, I'm sorry for being such a fussy guy $\dots$

I took it as a joke -- go to the web page of rice photos and leave it on that page overnight. I thought it was a good joke -- still do.

 

[DaveC426913]

^^ Wut FactChecker sed.

 

[sysprog]

I took it as a joke -- go to the web page of rice photos and leave it on that page overnight. I thought it was a good joke -- still do.

Maybe instances of a cell phone or other electronic device being saved by being put in rice kept me from seeing the joke.

 

[sysprog]

@DaveC426913 Sorry for being so slow to get the joke.

 

[FactChecker]

Maybe instances of a cell phone or other electronic device being saved by being put in rice kept me from seeing the joke.

In hindsight, maybe a person who thinks their laptop is ruined might not appreciate a joke. Oh, well.

 

[DaveC426913]

My little joke has now consumed 10 out of 14 (71.4%) posts in this thread, in which a member is asking for help.

 

[sysprog]

In hindsight, maybe a person who thinks their laptop is ruined might not appreciate a joke. Oh, well.

When someone reports a computer problem to me I want to fix it.

 

[sysprog]

My little joke has now consumed 10 out of 14 (71.4%) posts in this thread, in which a member is asking for help.

Didn't we already give him our (sensible, serious, good) by-rice water-absortion advice ?

 

[MikeeMiracle]

With any liquid spills just turn it off immediately, remove any batteries and let it air out / dry out for severals days. With a bit of luck several days later when the liquid has evaporated you will retry it and it will come back to life. Simples.

If it doesn't then its replacement time. The quicker you can turn the unit off after the spill the less the chance of anything shorting inside it.

 

[sysprog]

With any liquid spills just turn it off immediately, remove any batteries and let it air out / dry out for severals days. With a bit of luck several days later when the liquid has evaporated you will retry it and it will come back to life. Simples.

If it doesn't then its replacement time. The quicker you can turn the unit off after the spill the less the chance of anything shorting inside it.

Yes, disconnect all power, and after wiping off the surfaces with a towel, or paper towel, putting the device in dry rice is a reasonable thing to do to speed up the drying-out process $-$ sometimes that can even clear out water that continues to from-behind fog a cell phone screen $-$ as said before, rice is hygroscopic, much more so than normal-humidity air $\dots$

 

[hutchphd]

But @DaveC426913 deserves credit for a very funny multilevel joke. Better than his average even.
And clean water is not that conducting...the thermal shock is probably equally bad but the keyboard itself is not particularly hot. So the advice was fine. Does the danged thing work now?

 

[sysprog]

@hutchphd I liked @DaveC426913's joke too, although I was slow to get it $-$ I just noticed the "leave it on . . ." part, without noticing where (a rice site) he was saying to leave it (located) on, and I thought oh no leave it off.