When I drop my phone in the toilet, or dive with my phone in my pocket, or spill water on my notebook, what happens to it? Why does it stop working? Is rice any better than just letting it dry?
In: Technology
Pure water generally will not, so long as the electronic is off. In fact they wash circuit boards with pure water in factories.
And even with less than pure water, generally washing your unpowered electronics will be fine so long as you wipe it down such that there is no water left on it.
Its the impurities in the water that cause issues. If you wet your electronics and leave them to dry, chances are that water has impurities in it that don’t leave when it dries off. This can cause short circuits and all kind of nuisance. If left long enough, it can also cause corrosion of some electronic contacts, which firstly increases impurities in the water and secondly might cause the wire there to no longer contact.
With modern electronics things are more complicated. Its hard to wipe down some parts with “internal areas” like solenoids, transformers, etc. Electronics are also often hidden inside cases which makes cleaning them of all water more difficult. Wiping water down after it is spilled generally takes the impurities with it, letting it dry does not.
Powered electronics are worse, there could be voltage going to places that it shouldn’t go as a result of water spilling, which breaks some electrical components. The voltage also can turn some impurities that otherwise wouldn’t conduct into ions that do, and corrode certain contacts.
Long story short, I could take the motherboard out of my computer and wash it down with water if I were able to wipe down every nook and cranny in it afterwards. I cannot, so I do not.
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