Wet PC

[Allen]

In the process of moving, I had everything stored in a garage. Last night the garage door was left open and it absolutely hammered down. You all know my luck... My PC is now soaking wet.

I have taken it apart, the mobo, GPU, PSU and rear of the case are very damp. I have put all damp components in the airing cupboard and will leave them there for a while, but I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can do to speed it up, like put it in the oven?

Also, any thoughts in insurance? Could this be something that's covered? I guess it depends in the policy, but am thinking it would be accidental damage?

[DanceswithUnix]

Insurance will depend on the policy, specially if it was in a garage and the door was open.

If it was me I would probably use a hairdryer on the PSU, possibly even take the lid off it. In fact the rest is pretty well exposed and low voltage so not so troubling, but if water got inside the PSU then that could be hard to dry out.

[peterb]

Insurance will, as you say, depend on your insurance policy. They might say that leaving the door open was contributed to the damage, but you won't know unless you ask.

However, to more practical matters.

The good news is that rainwater is relatively pure, although it is very slightly acid because of dissolved carbon dioxide. You can dry it by using a hair drier, the air flow will help chase water out of crevices and so on. Take care not to let any one component get too hot. Disconnect all plugs so you make sure they are dry. You could put the components in a very cool oven, but I think a hair drier (or hot air gun) would be better.

Isopropyl alcohol absorbs water, so you could use that to flush out hard to reach places, but although not an aggressive solvent, it will attack some plastics, so use with caution if you use it at all.

But with a bit of careful drying, and a bit of luck, it should work again.

There I'd one caveat. The power supply. If you suspect water has got into that, then unless you are very confident about what you are doing, replace it with a new one. It isn't worth taking any risk with water and mains voltages.

[MrJim]

The usual advice for electrical items which get wet, is to let them dry out slowly I believe. Taking the cover off the PSU might help, but would probably invalidate any remaining warranty, & I guess there may be safety issues regarding capacitance? I wouldn't go poking around myself!

[Agent]

Don't try to speed it up. As above - let it dry out naturally. You risk causing more damage by 'putting it in the oven'

[Biscuit]

Definitely don't put it in the oven, haha!

Here is a video linus did after he left his laptop outside and it rained

[KeyboardDemon]

Definitely don't put it in the oven, haha!

Here is a video linus did after he left his laptop outside and it rained

Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[shaithis]

Lots and lots of silica gel pouches. You might be lucky and have a load lying around.

Also, when you think a component is dry, shake it around, place it down on a completely different angle and dry for another day or so. Moisture can get in some odd places.

Also second the idea of just binning the PSU for peace of mind.

[peterb]

Oven would be fine one the lowest setting with the door open. You want to get it dry quickly to reduce the risk of corrosion, particularly electrolytic corrosion where two dissimilar metals are in contact.

[kidLink]

If you do put it in the oven, clean it well so that no smoke/oil deposits replace any water displaced

[DanceswithUnix]

If you do put it in the oven, clean it well so that no smoke/oil deposits replace any water displaced

And have heard of people having phones wreaked because someone in the house cranked the temperature right up to pre-heat for making pizza because they didn't know there was a phone in there. If you share a house with anyone, put a note on the door

From what you have said, I expect it is pretty dry by now though so no oven necessary. It isn't heat that demists car windscreens as much as airflow, the desk fan in that video seemed a good idea.

[Allen]

That video was pretty cool, thanks for sharing. I left all parts I was concerned about in the airing cupboard and they look dry, but I am worried about the PSU still and the mobo and GPU having corrosion that I can't see. We called the insurance company, they weren't too specific (as usual) and left it to us to make a claim before they would commit to giving us an answer. I am going to try and claim for the wet parts and purchase replacements. Hopefully I can find some parts that fit what else I have (i5 2500K and DDR3). Gonna look around now.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, I will keep them in mind for next time... Hopefully there won't be one though!

[Agent]

Don't power it on yet. Leave it a couple of days at least. Moisture is a killer!

[Allen]

I won't get the new parts for a few days, until then I will leave everything else in the case in front of a fan or an electric fan heater on low.

[DanceswithUnix]

That video was pretty cool, thanks for sharing. I left all parts I was concerned about in the airing cupboard and they look dry, but I am worried about the PSU still and the mobo and GPU having corrosion that I can't see. We called the insurance company, they weren't too specific (as usual) and left it to us to make a claim before they would commit to giving us an answer. I am going to try and claim for the wet parts and purchase replacements. Hopefully I can find some parts that fit what else I have (i5 2500K and DDR3). Gonna look around now.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, I will keep them in mind for next time... Hopefully there won't be one though!

A word of warning from the one time I made a claim for PC parts. The insurance company insisted that the PC went to a third party company to assess the damage. A neighbour's house had been hit by lightning, the surge had gone through the modem (dial up days) and taken out the serial card and motherboard. So I had to put all the bits back into the case, and lug the lot 10 miles, leave it there a couple of days, then go get it back. The PC repair company charged to assess the damage, so that got added to the claim.

So if you are going to go the insurance route, you need something to hand over to them as part of the claim, I'm not sure a set of dried out boards would cut it.

Was there a hard drive in the machine or an easy to dry out SSD?

[Allen]

The drives were at the front of the case and seemed to be unaffected, it was only the rear of the case that got wet. This included the PSU at the bottom (which was dripping as I pulled it out), the motherboards ports and the area around them, and the GPU had a thin layer of water on the top of it.