Spilled coffee and a sugary drink all over my PC

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Rhyseee

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Feb 2, 2012
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Last night I knocked a coffee all through the top vent of my PC, Computer immediately shut down , I cleaned it out, there wasn't much of a spill, turned it on and during use got a BSOD, restarted got a freeze , went to sleep, it was early hours...

Woke up tried it again everything seemed good games worked fine good temps good voltage etc, turned it off and went to get all the thing I needed to clean each component individually, returned with the stuff that I needed and a nice 500ml monster energy drink, walked past the open computer laid flat on the floor out jumped my drink busted all over the motherboard...

I removed CMOS battery and ran the motherboard under the tap , I just figured being covered in water is better than covered in a sugary drink ,

Cleaned every component individually, and I'm now sat just waiting for it to dry, I'm using an led lamp to look closely at the motherboard and it just looks brand new , I know water is corrosive so my question...

Should I clean the motherboard with this isopropyl that I have? Should I use it to cleanany marks I can see? Or should I just pour it all over...i mean I know that sounds terrible but I'm already at the stage of having ran it under the tap so surely alcohol can only help prevent the corrosion and remove any left behind crap from the drink?

Any advise would be awesome
 
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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The point of using alcohol is twofold.

  • ■ To dissolve and pick up anything not soluble in water - things like oils and waxes. Since you spilled water-based drinks, there are unlikely to be any of these. And oils are generally safe for electronics - a computer will operate just fine while completely immersed in mineral oil.
    ■ To displace water from little nooks and crannies where water might remain and corrode components before it evaporates. Alcohol evaporates much more quickly than water.

For disastrous spills like this, I usually rinse with water, with a final rinse of distilled water. Then a couple rinses with alcohol to displace any water trapped under or between components. The alcohol evaporates quickly enough you can power it on a couple hours later. But for a complex object like a motherboard I'd give it 24 hours just to be safe.

Unfortunately, you went to sleep after spilling the coffee. It's best to clean these things immediately after the spill. Allowing the coffee to sit may have caused corrosion. And even if it didn't, the coffee which evaporated may have left conductive coffee residue which has now hardened and will resist washing off by simple rinsing.
 
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bit_user

bit_user

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Jan 20, 2010
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This is how I've used it on keyboards. Make sure to use isoproply alcohol (91%, if you can find it). Unless you use the type for drinking, ethyl alcohol is denatured to prevent people drinking it. I've heard that denaturing agent can leave a residue.

Also, I'd advise using compressed air to help remove water (or alcohol) from tight spaces.

BTW, I think water is used to rinse PCBs, at the end of the production process. As long as it's not powered on & you dry it fairly quickly, water is pretty safe for electronics.
 
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bit_user

bit_user

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Did you try using a can of compressed air to blow all the liquid out from under any components or other tight spaces?
 
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