Spilled a whole cup of coffee into a client's tower last Thursday

I was at a house in Oak Park doing a routine hard drive swap on an old Dell Optiplex. The client set their coffee right next to the open case and I accidentally bumped it. Coffee went straight through the top fan and all over the motherboard. I pulled the plug right away, disassembled everything, and hit the board with 91% isopropyl alcohol and a soft brush. Let it dry for 2 hours with a fan on it and somehow it booted right up. The client didn't even get mad, just said "guess that's why you have insurance." Has anyone else had to clean up a liquid spill on a board and actually got it working again?

3 comments

3 Comments

laura_schmidt821mo ago

Did you check if the client had a "spill-proof" guarantee on that coffee? I've bailed out a few boards with alcohol and a prayer, but my worst was when I dropped a full can of Monster into a buddy's gaming rig. I swear I used half a bottle of 91% and let it dry for almost a whole day before even trying to power it on. It worked, but the smell of burned caffeine and desperation lingered for weeks. You got lucky with just 2 hours though - my back was in knots from staring at that thing.

the_wendy1mo agoTop Commenter

Oh come on, a full day of drying is overkill. Two hours is plenty. Modern boards aren't that fragile. I've saved three laptops with just paper towels and a hairdryer on low. That Monster story? You probably overdid the alcohol. 91% is overkill for most spills. Regular 70% works fine and dries just as fast. The real problem is people panicking and plugging things in too soon. That's what kills boards, not the liquid itself. Your buddy's rig probably would've been fine with just an hour in front of a fan. That burned caffeine smell? That's from the alcohol residue, not the spill. You caused that.

kimmurphy1mo agoMost Upvoted

Exactly! People get way too dramatic about this stuff. I had a friend dump a whole mug of Coke into his laptop and I just popped the battery out, wiped it down with some paper towels, and left it next to a fan for maybe three hours. Booted right up and still works two years later. The panic is what gets you every time. Everyone thinks they need to rip the whole thing apart and drench it in alcohol when half the time a simple dry out would do. And yeah, that alcohol smell is nasty. I tried cleaning a keyboard once with 91% and my room smelled like a hospital for days. I stick to 70% now and it works just fine.