Spilt tea over everything!

[john_satc]

AAAARRRGGGHHH!

I knocked over a giant mug of boiling tea onto my - ibook; apple wireless mouse & keyboard; universal dock & remote; my lacie drive and my ipod 5g!!!!

I need to know the best way to clean all this stuff and attempt to save it. mouse seems okay and the iPod also does, the invisible shield protected it well. Its jsut the rest.

Battery in the iBook actually took most of the tea and that got yanked out immediatley. iBook is now resting after being dried off.

I dried up the remote and dock as best I could, taking the battey out the remote. Hope those will be okay.

The lacie drive is okay I think as it has the big metal covering.

But by far the worst was the keyboard. There was tea swimming around in it! Stains on all the keys! I called my mate who does loads of computer stuff he said to wash it out under the tap - sounded an odd idea but i guessed that if liquid would kill it then the tea would have done that already. So i took all the keys off it and washed it out and now it is drying.
But how do I get the remaining water in the keyboard out???

I cannot believe I did this, I NEVER drink around the computer. But this one time, I came home in snow which never happens and I was freezing and really wanted a big cup of tea but also had to print off some stuff quick, so I risked it - and look what happend! This is a warning to you all, dont drink around your stuff!

Anyone got tips on the keyboard, or any of the stuff? BTW I on the iMac now

 

[robbieduncan]

Take all batteries etc out of everything and let it dry until you are sure there is not moisture in it. Then let it dry a little longer

As long as there was no sugar in the tea (and no milk too would be perfect) you may well get away with it!

 

[CanadaRAM]

Do not plug in or turn on anything until is is clean and has had a minimum of 24 hours - preferably 48 hours - to dry.

Put the keyboard upside down in a warm place like the top of the refridgerator and wait.

If you go tea between the membranes of the keyboard switches, that's all she wrote for that keyboard.

 

[Danksi]

Good thing it wasn't Coke - that stuff will totally wreck electronics stuff!

Once you're all cleaned and dried, use one of these in future!

EDIT: You too can look like a Canadian

 

[Will Cheyney]

Like CanadaRAM said, as long as nothing got between the sensitive membranes, you'll be fine. Pull out all the keys and mop up as much as you can. You will also be able to wash the keys clean. Then leave the keyboard in the airing-cupboard/somewhere warm and dry.
You're lucky though - the keyboard should be the least of your worries! Thank God the iBook/iPod/HD is ok!

 

[john_satc]

Do not plug in or turn on anything until is is clean and has had a minimum of 24 hours - preferably 48 hours - to dry.

Put the keyboard upside down in a warm place like the top of the refridgerator and wait.

If you go tea between the membranes of the keyboard switches, that's all she wrote for that keyboard.

Cheers. batteries are out of everything and just being left. keyboard got washed, keys will eventually be washed. drying now on radiator. thankfully i didnt lose my coursework in for wednesday that i am now frantically working on.
thanks for your help fingers crossed will come out fine!

 

[Will Cheyney]

Phew! Good luck

 

[ITASOR]

You should look into an iCurve. This way, if you do happen to spill something again (which I'm sure you won't ) the iBook will be raised and away from the liquid. Keyboards/Mice/iPods can be replaced and usually don't cause data loss (songs from iPod should be on your HD), but the iBook is both expensive and stores all your data!

 

[Will Cheyney]

That's the first time someone has made one of those things sound useful!

 

[john_satc]

I have an iCurve and was using it! That's why my iBook was saved - hopefully. If it had been on the desk it would have definatley died. But on the iCurve only the bottom corner where the battery is got splashed and the side. This was one giant mug of tea and the force of me knocking it made tea fly everywhere so even on the iCurve, the iBook was not out of reach of flying tea

 

[Will Cheyney]

Haha! And there's a testament. They should add it to the specification on their site.

• Your laptop’s rear access door or connectors are fully exposed when it’s on the iCurve. This makes it easy to reach cables and connectors.

• iCurve makes it very easy to move your laptop around your desk. To show your screen to a colleague just grab the round base and slide.

• The iCurve is perfect for tiling the PowerBook with Apple's LCD monitors: iCurve positions the top of Apple’s PowerBook at 16", the same height as Apple's 17" LCD monitor and roughly the same height as Apple's 23" Cinema Display. With the Cinema Display you’ll have almost 3.4 million pixels of side-by-side screen real estate!!!

• iCurve is beautifully rounded clear plastic that matches exactly Apple's LCD form and appearance.

• PowerBook's back access door is fully exposed and easily accessed.
iCurve increases airflow around PowerBooks - keeping their running temperature down significantly.

• Moving your laptop around on your desk (for example to show your screen to a colleague) is really easy. Just grab the round base and slide.

• iCurve stops clumsy people splashing liquid over your laptop.

 

[oreomac]

I really feel for you as I've done that before but with a bottle of archers! I was using a windows pc, the keyboard on the laptop was unuseable (sorry to tell you that) as the keys kept sticking but everything else was fine. The good note to my story is I got a iBook cause of it.

 

[annk]

My bluetooth keyboard was under a roof that leaked for 3 days before I noticed it (don´t use the keyboard so often for my PB, and the room is a tiny room over a porch).

The keyboard looked like an aquarium, the only thing missing was fish

I pried the back partly open with a screwdriver, emptied it as best I could, took a hair dryer on low to it, then left the screwdriver in for 2 days to let the last few drops dry out.

Turned it on and it worked. It now lives with my son´s Mini.

 

[pagartimun]

Hi John,

I dropped my handphone once into pool of water and a friend suggested to take apart the covers and everything, do not turn it on, and blow dry them using hairdryer.

And the handphone works!

Try this, maybe it will work.

 

[john_satc]

Well I couldn't wait any longer so I tried everything about an hour ago, and it all works fine. Took my ages to put all the keys back on the keyboard, some are really hard to get on. But it worked fine! I was in amazement, totally expected the keyboard to be broke. But thankfully it is all fine! THanks for your words of advice and fingers crossed nothing else happens!

 

[Qoxiivi]

I spilt a glass of wine over my iBook about a year ago and it cost me about £100 to get the thing sorted. To add insult to injury, it was the last glass left in the bottle as well. Which kind of makes sense now I think about it...

 

[annk]

Hehe...yeah, makes sense.

 

[Danksi]

I spilt a glass of wine over my iBook about a year ago and it cost me about £100 to get the thing sorted. To add insult to injury, it was the last glass left in the bottle as well. Which kind of makes sense now I think about it...

Did the iBook turn pink? (assuming it was white to begin with)

 

[Will Cheyney]

I really feel for you as I've done that before but with a bottle of archers! I was using a windows pc, the keyboard on the laptop was unuseable (sorry to tell you that) as the keys kept sticking but everything else was fine. The good note to my story is I got a iBook cause of it.

Oh dear! Possibly the worst stuff EVER to spill on a computer. Sticky, sugary, yucky.

 

[petej]

A cup of tea killed my Vaio laptop. Best efforts at immediate draining and drying failed to revive the machine. The liquid just drained through all the holes in the case and started flowing out of the DVD tray. I guess I did not expect that it would ever come back from dead.
If anyone is unlucky enough to have killed a laptop in this manner, check out your household contents insurance policy. If you are lucky enough to have accidental damage cover, there is a good chance they will pay up for a replacement. Don't forget to check that your excess is relatively low.

Glad to hear that the iBook survived.

 

[Qoxiivi]

Did the iBook turn pink? (assuming it was white to begin with)

It was white wine. I will only eat food that matches the aesthetics of my Apple products. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy some prawn crackers to go with my mayonnaise...

 

[RedTomato]

Oh dear..

I was sitting on the sofa, drinking my hot chocolate, laughing at your stupid posts, when...

you guessed it..

I knocked over my hot chocolate! Stupid me!

Fortunately it didn't go near my PowerBook, just all over my sofa cover (red of course). A few tissues later and it's more or less fine now.

Hope it doesn't get sticky, that hot choco had a big slug of Stones Ginger Wine (the devil's own favourite) in it.

..RedTomato..

 

[SolidSnake]

something similiar happend with my apple keyboard.. it died.. luckly, someone in my house had a another one and they didn't need it because they had windows.

 

[Spastik.Roach]

I drink, eat dinner, etc all around my keyboard. Never spilled much on it, few drips of juice, or those few times that ice cream fell on it. But food, thats another story. My keyboard has a zillion crumbs, and stains on it from various foods, and food sauces. Microsoft might be a right pain in the arse at times, but they make a bloody tough keyboard!

 

[Aarow]

I drink, eat dinner, etc all around my keyboard. Never spilled much on it, few drips of juice, or those few times that ice cream fell on it. But food, thats another story. My keyboard has a zillion crumbs, and stains on it from various foods, and food sauces. Microsoft might be a right pain in the arse at times, but they make a bloody tough keyboard!

I have crumbs in my keyboard too and I can see it through the clear casing. It's kinda gross..