FA+
Shop
How To Wash Your Laptop
15 years ago
<puff>
Aka, a professional's take on electronics and water.
If there's one thing everybody knows, it's that water is conductive. This is why you see warning tags and special devices for electrical appliances that tend to be used in wet areas.
There's a few fun details though, that some tend to omit. Your average electronics are 100% washable!
Let's use the titular laptop as an example, as it contains almost everything you could encounter in an electronic device, although you can apply this to your cell phone, MP3 player, or even a full size PC.
Because impurities can leave water spots, and these may be conductive, I recommend using purified, if not distilled, water. Also, this should go without saying, but ensure your device is dry before restoring power.
First and most obvious is to remove the AC adapter, and the main battery.
Keyboard and touchpad: Directly washable.
Case: Washable and wipe-down-able.
Display: Displays are a special case. You must use distilled water if you wash a display. I recommend simply wiping the LCD module down with a clean, lint-free cloth, to avoid getting water inside the display, where it'll be hard to dry and may leave spots.
Speakers: Don't wash paper-cone speakers. Metal-cone or plastic-cone speakers can be washed.
Microphone: Directly washable. If PCB-mounted, see "Internal PCBs".
Webcam: Not recommended, same considerations as Display.
Internal PCBs: Watch for hidden batteries that may be directly soldered to the board, or hiding in miniature sockets. Leave the boards set for 4 hours or more after complete power removal to let any capacitors bleed off their charge before washing. Boards with direct-soldered batteries should either not be washed, or have the battery professionally removed before washing.
AC adapter: You should only have to wipe it down with a damp cloth, but they are washable. If you choose to do so, disassemble the adapter and follow the same considerations as Internal PCBs above.
Battery: Never wash batteries. You can wipe them down, but don't allow water to reach the contacts.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you break your electronics by following my advice here. This is informational only, and should only be followed by people who know what they're doing.
If there's one thing everybody knows, it's that water is conductive. This is why you see warning tags and special devices for electrical appliances that tend to be used in wet areas.
There's a few fun details though, that some tend to omit. Your average electronics are 100% washable!
Let's use the titular laptop as an example, as it contains almost everything you could encounter in an electronic device, although you can apply this to your cell phone, MP3 player, or even a full size PC.
Because impurities can leave water spots, and these may be conductive, I recommend using purified, if not distilled, water. Also, this should go without saying, but ensure your device is dry before restoring power.
First and most obvious is to remove the AC adapter, and the main battery.
Keyboard and touchpad: Directly washable.
Case: Washable and wipe-down-able.
Display: Displays are a special case. You must use distilled water if you wash a display. I recommend simply wiping the LCD module down with a clean, lint-free cloth, to avoid getting water inside the display, where it'll be hard to dry and may leave spots.
Speakers: Don't wash paper-cone speakers. Metal-cone or plastic-cone speakers can be washed.
Microphone: Directly washable. If PCB-mounted, see "Internal PCBs".
Webcam: Not recommended, same considerations as Display.
Internal PCBs: Watch for hidden batteries that may be directly soldered to the board, or hiding in miniature sockets. Leave the boards set for 4 hours or more after complete power removal to let any capacitors bleed off their charge before washing. Boards with direct-soldered batteries should either not be washed, or have the battery professionally removed before washing.
AC adapter: You should only have to wipe it down with a damp cloth, but they are washable. If you choose to do so, disassemble the adapter and follow the same considerations as Internal PCBs above.
Battery: Never wash batteries. You can wipe them down, but don't allow water to reach the contacts.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you break your electronics by following my advice here. This is informational only, and should only be followed by people who know what they're doing.
accidently dumped a whole huge much of coffee into my computer one day when the side of the PC case was open.. >.<
which I'm suprised it worked after (and still does, which I'm writing this on now) because the computer was on with the initial coffee soaking. X3