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A few drops of water sprayed onto my 15-inch MBP

A

applejane

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 20, 2012
16
0
Hi,

Someone was watering plants with a sprayer a couple of feet away from me earlier today, and a few drops made their way to my Macbook Pro. I immediately wiped any liquid off and as far as I can tell no water made it past the case. The drops were on the trackpad, on the screen on a couple of keys and also in between two keys. There were no noticeable effects whatsoever, the Macbook Pro has worked normally ever since. In the meantime I turned it off and back on and it still seems fine. However, I am wondering if internal damage could occur in the next few weeks/months as a result of what happened today. Could some of the water have actually gotten in and might some of the components corrode as a consequence? I've had similar things happen to other MBP's and they survived rather well, but I am not sure if I should be doing something here.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jane
 
Fresh water shouldn't do any harm. Salt water is what you have to be careful of as that WILL corrode. You should be fine. I've used my DSLR several times in the rain and my iPhone has been underwater, both survived no problem.
 
applejane said:
Hi,

Someone was watering plants with a sprayer a couple of feet away from me earlier today, and a few drops made their way to my Macbook Pro. I immediately wiped any liquid off and as far as I can tell no water made it past the case. The drops were on the trackpad, on the screen on a couple of keys and also in between two keys. There were no noticeable effects whatsoever, the Macbook Pro has worked normally ever since. In the meantime I turned it off and back on and it still seems fine. However, I am wondering if internal damage could occur in the next few weeks/months as a result of what happened today. Could some of the water have actually gotten in and might some of the components corrode as a consequence? I've had similar things happen to other MBP's and they survived rather well, but I am not sure if I should be doing something here.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jane
Click to expand...

I've had similar incidents happen to me before. If it was just a few non concentrated drops/ spray I wouldn't worry about it at all. If nothing has happened by now, odds are nothing will happen in the future. Don't worry about it.
 
a3vr said:
Fresh water shouldn't do any harm. Salt water is what you have to be careful of as that WILL corrode. You should be fine. I've used my DSLR several times in the rain and my iPhone has been underwater, both survived no problem.
Click to expand...

If you note the forums, the laptops are delicate. Many people have fried their macbooks with a small amount of liquid that got under the keyboard. In this case the OP hasn't seen any adverse effects early on, so everything should be okay due to the lack of potential long term corrosion from what was spilled. Many dslrs are weather sealed. You're right about salt water though.
 
Thank you all for your replies, hopefully this unfortunate incident hasn't caused any real damage.

a3vr said:
Fresh water shouldn't do any harm. Salt water is what you have to be careful of as that WILL corrode. You should be fine. I've used my DSLR several times in the rain and my iPhone has been underwater, both survived no problem.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking the sprayer probably contained tap water. That's not what you mean by salt water, right? I guess tap water might contain small amounts of salt, but hopefully not enough to cause corrosion, if indeed any of the water did reach the electronic components inside the MBP...?

Thanks again,
Jane
 
applejane said:
Thank you all for your replies, hopefully this unfortunate incident hasn't caused any real damage.



I'm thinking the sprayer probably contained tap water. That's not what you mean by salt water, right? I guess tap water might contain small amounts of salt, but hopefully not enough to cause corrosion, if indeed any of the water did reach the electronic components inside the MBP...?

Thanks again,
Jane
Click to expand...

You are paranoid. Relax.
 
A few clean droplets of water should be fine. The heat from the MBP body might also help them evaporated already.

I think there was an Apple ad some years back on their current keyboard design lessen the water spill damage to the internal parts.
 
Feed Me said:
Put a raincoat on and hold the MacBook upside down over your head to dry it out
Click to expand...

There's always at least one idiot in the crowd. Why in the world would you write something like this? I just don't get it. MR is becoming less and less enjoyable.

Intelligent conversations are becoming a thing of the past around here.

Apologies for the off-topic comment!!
 
A few drops are very unlikely to do any harm. I had spilled very small amounts of water, beer, tomato sauce on several occasions onto the computer and i have also touched it with wet hands. Nothing ever happened. The important thing is not to get any water inside. Btw, if the amount is very small its probably better to leave the machine on so it evaporates quickly. You can't turn off the machine completely anyway, because of the battery. There is always some very light voltage on the mainboard.
 
Not much of a gamer, but hopefully having Photoshop and several other design/Web applications running produced the same effect. The MBP does seem to produce a fair amount of heat in such conditions.

Panini said:
If I were you I would have immediately started gaming to get that CPU temp high and evaporate any remaining water. :)
Click to expand...
 
rocknblogger said:
There's always at least one idiot in the crowd. Why in the world would you write something like this? I just don't get it. MR is becoming less and less enjoyable.

Intelligent conversations are becoming a thing of the past around here.

Apologies for the off-topic comment!!
Click to expand...

There's always at least one really boring person in the crowd who has to have his serious shoes on 36 hours a day 12 days a week.
 
Thank you all for your replies. Like one poster pointed out, I may be a tad paranoid but I just recently shelled out a little fortune to make this purchase after my previous MBP expired following three and a half years of loyal service and it was a little heartbreaking to think I would possibly have to spend nearly an equivalent amount to get this one fixed so soon.

I was also more than a little miffed with the gentleman who thought it would be a good idea to play around with a water sprayer in a room full of electronic equipment. Taking aim at the plants and pressing as hard as he could seemed rather unwise as the water projectiles that landed all around the room immediately demonstrated. It didn't help matters any when he thought he would assist by wiping the couple of drops on the trackpad with his bare hand, I was afraid tiny droplets of water would get lodged in the crack and somehow reach the battery or some other sensitive component.

However, since the Macbook really hasn't been acting up since the incident, and after reading your messages and watching several videos on Youtube about the insides of an MBP including a protective sheath under the keyboard, I'm thinking chances of damage are highly unlikely for now, especially in light of the small amounts of water involved. I'll definitely be on the lookout for any abnormal behavior in the next couple of weeks but hopefully most of the freaking out regarding this is now behind me.

Thanks again for your helpful comments and for reassuring me!

Jane
 
applejane said:
I was also more than a little miffed with the gentleman who thought it would be a good idea to play around with a water sprayer in a room full of electronic equipment. Taking aim at the plants and pressing as hard as he could seemed rather unwise as the water projectiles that landed all around the room immediately demonstrated. It didn't help matters any when he thought he would assist by wiping the couple of drops on the trackpad with his bare hand, I was afraid tiny droplets of water would get lodged in the crack and somehow reach the battery or some other sensitive component.
Click to expand...

What was your immediate reaction when this happened? I can only imagine the amount I would snap out if it were me.
 
katmeef said:
What was your immediate reaction when this happened? I can only imagine the amount I would snap out if it were me.
Click to expand...

Well, the second I saw him pick up the sprayer out of the corner of my eye, I immediately thought "oh no, what are you up to??" and a split second later I felt the impact of a few drops of water and immediately looked at the MBP and noticed 6-7 small drops... he tried to dismiss the incident and laugh it off and by then I was fuming of course. I internalized for the most part though... :-/
 
Last edited:
It's a few drops of water. Relax. Have some common sense.

You probably got all freaked out on the guy over something inconsequential.

I know you paid a lot for it but it's not like he spilled a coke on your keyboard.

rocknblogger said:
There's always at least one idiot in the crowd. Why in the world would you write something like this? I just don't get it. MR is becoming less and less enjoyable.

Intelligent conversations are becoming a thing of the past around here.

Apologies for the off-topic comment!!
Click to expand...

He was JOKING. It was a silly answer to a silly question. You know what's lacking from MR these days? A sense of humor.
 
latestmonkey said:
You probably got all freaked out on the guy over something inconsequential.
Click to expand...

Right, yeah... quick question: at what point did I get "all freaked out on the guy" pray tell? And my sincerest apologies for posting a question that caused me some alarm yet failed to live up to your MR standards.
 
Hi,

I'm guessing your computer was ok? Reason I ask, I had a very similar thing happen. 2 drops of water on my track pad. Seriously, 2 drops. The track pad started acting weird. Shut it down, unplugged it, let it dry. It worked fine. 2 days later, started jumping around again. Apple store tells me it is water damaged, and the track pad needs to be replaced. However, it is Apple's policy that any water damaged machine, they replace ALL components (logic board, etc.). $1200 for 2 drops of water!!! I'm furious. (So for the folks on this thread calling Jane paranoid, a couple drops of tap water can do a LOT of damage). My only other option is to take the machine to a 3rd party to replace the track pad, voiding the warranty. I find it unbelievable that 2 drops of water could cause that much damage. Any suggestions? Should I just replace the track pad, and roll the dice with a voided warranty? My other MBP I spilled about 20 oz. of water on when it was in a backpack. I let it dry out for a week, and everything has functioned fine.
 
nosarrra said:
Hi,

I'm guessing your computer was ok? Reason I ask, I had a very similar thing happen. 2 drops of water on my track pad. Seriously, 2 drops. The track pad started acting weird. Shut it down, unplugged it, let it dry. It worked fine. 2 days later, started jumping around again. Apple store tells me it is water damaged, and the track pad needs to be replaced. However, it is Apple's policy that any water damaged machine, they replace ALL components (logic board, etc.). $1200 for 2 drops of water!!! I'm furious. (So for the folks on this thread calling Jane paranoid, a couple drops of tap water can do a LOT of damage). My only other option is to take the machine to a 3rd party to replace the track pad, voiding the warranty. I find it unbelievable that 2 drops of water could cause that much damage. Any suggestions? Should I just replace the track pad, and roll the dice with a voided warranty? My other MBP I spilled about 20 oz. of water on when it was in a backpack. I let it dry out for a week, and everything has functioned fine.
Click to expand...

I spit out at least two drops of water on my own trackpad reading your post.
 
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