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Spilled Juice on my Laptop! - HELP!

I just spilled orange juice on the keyboards of my mac. (1 cup). I started to dry it off when it suddenly shut down in the first minute of when I spilled the juice. I know this was a really stupid mistake. My laptop is now drying on the fan. I have tried turning it on once every hour and there is still no hope. Is there still hope that my laptop can survive? If not, do you think Apple will help me fix the laptop for free?

MacBook Air (13-INCH, MID 2011)

Posted on Jul 14, 2012 4:10 PM

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29 replies

Jul 14, 2012 4:13 PM in response to bananaqueen64

Liquids of any form and electronics do not play well together, especially those that are acidic in nature. Do not attempt to charge or power up a wet unit.


If when dry it will not start, you need to visit an Apple genius bar or authorized repair to see what they think can be done. Apple is not likely to do anything for free on this as the warranty and AppleCare, should you have it, do not cover spills and accidental damage.

Jul 17, 2012 5:29 PM in response to bananaqueen64

It will take a lot longer than 24 hours, especially for a laptop that has little airflow between the tightly-packed components, and especially on the integrated circuits that may have liquid lodged between them. For example, I spilled beer on a keyboard once, an it took that several days to dry after I soaked it in deionized water several times and then set it out to dry.


The best way to dry a system is to use a dessicant (not rice): http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57330736-263/using-desiccants-to-soak-up-we t-electronics/


With a dessicant I would recommend letting it dry for a couple of days, but without it may take a good week to dry. Hopefully the short that caused the shutdown didn't damage anything, and hopefully you can get the liquid out of the system. I would not submerge the system as I described doing with my keyboard, as the hard drive will surely be damaged by the water should it penetrate (there are vents on the drive that will allow water entry). Your best bet would be to open it up as much as possible (take off covers, take out batteries and the hard drive, along with your RAM), and then prop it up to dry out as much as possible (keep using your fan).


The slightest electrical short will prevent it from running, so you may have to wait for it to completely dry to hopefully break all shorts between the circuits (the salts and other charged particles in your juice may dry into an electrically-conductable connection that maintains the short, but hopefully this will not be the case).

Spilled Juice on my Laptop! - HELP!

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