Learn what you can do on how to fix a water damaged laptop

Many of us multitask at our desks, including working while drinking our morning coffee or eating lunch.

We all dread spilling liquid onto our devices yet, no matter how careful we are, this happens more often than you’d think.

Fortunately, in most cases, laptop water damage is a relatively easy accident to rectify.

How much damage can water do to my laptop?

Water can cause significant damage to the sensitive electronic components inside your laptop. Because they’re hidden away inside your laptop case, it’s just about impossible to assess the damage when the spill happens.

The mix of water and electricity results in short circuits, damaging the fragile components inside your device. If the liquid is coffee, soft drink, wine, or something other than water, more damage usually occurs.

That’s because these liquids are often corrosive, and they leave behind sticky residues, which cause further problems.

Minimise water damage inside your laptop

It’s possible to reduce the chances of severe water damage if you act quickly.

Unplug your laptop first, then shut it down, dry it out and leave it switched off for at least a day (or shut it down, do not turn it back on and bring it straight into us here for repair at PC Pitstop.

This reduces the chances of any spillage causing lasting damage to your device.

Reduce laptop water damage with the following steps:

How to fix a water damaged laptop

• Unplug your device from the power and turn it off as soon as possible. 
• Wipe off liquid carefully to prevent it from getting inside your laptop. 
• If possible, remove and dry the battery and any peripheral devices.  
• Leave your laptop to dry as long as you can before turning it on again.  

How long should I let my laptop dry out?

Don’t rush to check that your laptop is working; electricity and water don’t mix well. The longer you leave it to dry, the better – at least 48 hours is ideal.

We suggest a bare minimum of twenty-four hours and only if you really need to access your laptop urgently.

You can air out your laptop by opening it and placing it face downwards to create an upside-down V shape, or what looks like a tent. This position lets the water drain out properly.

Leave the water damage laptop repair to the experts

As many modern laptops aren’t designed to be opened up, we recommend leaving this to professional laptop repairers like PC Pitstop.

Our expert technicians have the right knowledge and tools to do this correctly and the experience to identify and repair water damaged devices. 
A device may become inoperable immediately after becoming wet. Sometimes, however, water damage may not take effect right away. 

So, if you’ve given your device time to dry out and it’s working fine but suddenly develops issues days or weeks down the track, this will likely result from delayed water damage.  

Water and electricity don’t mix – especially in a laptop

The main damage with liquid damage is that when you turn the laptop back on or charge it, you are introducing power and current into the machine, and if any liquid is still present, you will fry the delicate internal electronic components.In this case, it’s likely that water left behind has slowly corroded or compromised an essential component within your laptop.

If you want to maximise the life of your potentially water damaged device, we recommend taking it to a professional laptop repairer as soon as possible so they can make an assessment.

Signs your laptop has water damage:

• Your laptop won’t turn on at all.
• Issues with charging or retaining battery power.
• Unreliable keyword or trackpad functions.
• Parts of your screen are flickering or dim.
• Visual signs of residue.

Get professional laptop water damage repairs

If you’ve unsuccessfully attempted to fix a water damaged laptop yourself, all hope is not lost! We recommend taking it to a computer repair shop as soon as you can to minimise the damage.

Here at PC Pitstop, we can professionally dismantle it, assess the damage, and replace the damaged components to get your laptop working again as soon as possible.

If you’d like to talk first, just contact us or give us a call on 02 6584 1551.