Can you actually Wash a laptop? [closed]

I've seen demonstrations of similar things. Nobody washing their laptop, but somebody actually rescuing it from rain or submersion. Instead of just sitting it out, they immediately removed the battery, and turned the laptop on its side to allow all fluids to drain out. After a couple days, re-insert the battery and they were up and running.

I cannot vouch that this will be the case for everybody else on just any laptop. Each case would be unique.


No. Oy vey. Not for washing.

If your laptop falls in the toilet, or you spill coke all over it, or you leave it out on the rain, here's the best advice for trying to salvage it.

  1. Immediately remove battery and AC power.
  2. Rinse anything that got dirty with clean water, or, if available, distilled or purified water
  3. Soak up as much of the water as possible with paper towels
  4. Let it dry for a REALLY LONG TIME. Like, a week or even two weeks.

This is NOT a recommended procedure, just something to do in an emergency if you've dumped your milkshake inside your laptop, right on the motherboard, to improve the chances that it survives.

Some modern laptops are somewhat spill-proof in the sense that they are actually designed to drain spilled coffee through channels beneath the keyboard.

I have heard from Leo Laporte that he regularly puts keyboards through the dishwasher. Keyboards are ten bucks so there's not much to risk here. Two key points: do not put anything else in the dishwasher, do not, for the love of god, use soap, and let them dry for TWO WEEKS.