What To Do If You Spill Water On Your MacBook | Laptopsgeek

Spilling water on a thousand dollar plus MacBook Air or Pro is a horrible and detested feeling. But as you start to lose your sanity, you need to take some proactive steps which can help you preserve your Mac or potentially your data.

If you have spilled water on your MacBook, you’d have to move fast to save it from drying out.

First of all, don’t panic, and the expedite first thing to do, is to unplug your MacBook’s power cable, then hold the power button to shut down the machine. Don’t waste any time following the proper procedure to turn off your system. If you lose even a couple of seconds, it poses a danger of causing a short circuit, leaving the system components permanently damaged.

If your machine is running on battery, hurriedly remove the cells at once, if removable.

Remember, every second count. The faster you can turn off your machine the better chance you have to save your system.

Follow the tutorial below for further steps that might help in saving your MacBook from permanent damage.

Safety first: It’s imperative to keep yourself away and safe from any potential shock hazard. If you are wet or standing in water, don’t reach out to unplug the machine, instead find the circuit breaker, or a switch to cut power. Also if you feel any heat, smoke coming out of the machine avoids holding the device.  

What To Do If You Spill Water On Your MacBook? 7 Easy Steps

Step 1: Mac should be instantly shut down. Shut down the machine by holding the power button for six to seven seconds, that will power off the computer immediately.

Step 2: Unplug all the remote devices and the ones that can be easily detached, for example, your mouse, keyboard, USB and any other peripherals.

Remove the battery: If the battery is detachable, you should remove it hurriedly. (newer MacBook laptops don’t have removable batteries, MacBook models’ until 2012 have removable batteries, that can remove pretty easily)

Step 3: Take a cotton towel and dry out your machine from outside wholly. First, dry out all visible water entirely. People who are familiar with technicalities and have the necessary tools can opt to disassemble the machine and dry out each component as well. It is not under the scope of this article about teaching you how to open up your Mac.

Note: This will void your warranty, but by spilling the water you already have.

Step 4: With the screen still open, flip over the Mac so that the keyboard faces downward, place a cotton towel or a paper towel below it. This will allow the water inside the keyboard to seep out and be absorbed by the sheet. The type of liquid does matter, as sugary or alcoholic liquids are the worst corrosives while water is least corrosive and harmful.

These steps need to be performed real quick to save the Mac.

Step 5: Little Tricks: To improve the drying process, you can use a hairdryer, but keep it to low heating, as you can further the damage and also, keep it at a distance. Similarly, you can try to place your Mac in front of a fan. This will fasten the evaporation of water from the machine. Or you can try the rice or silica gel trick. Where you need to place your Mac in the bag of uncooked rice or silica gel because they both excellent absorbers of water, leave it for at least 48 hours.

Step 6: Do not try to turn on the Mac for at least 96 hours, before you even think of turning on the Mac. You don’t need to rush; it can take a little time for the water to dry out.

Step 7: After letting it dry, take the Mac to a nearby Apple Service Center to look into the machine for any damage by the water.

If you follow these steps, you considerably improve the chances of saving your MacBook from imminent destruction.