Condensation damage, help please

[HeavyMantra]

So my father apparently left his Air outside in the evening moisture for a few hours, and now it won't start. Any tips on what he can do?

Is it best to open it up and hope it dries since Applecare probably won't help with this? I don't think he has Applecare anyway..

 

[Shirasaki]

Don’t open it up. But simply leaving it out dry won’t help much either, as the moisture is already inside the MacBook Air.

Try to contact Apple and see what ridiculous price they are gonna charge for a repair.

 

[Audit13]

There may be some residual moisture inside that is causing a short. I recommend removing the bottom casing, disconnecting the battery, and let it dry out.

There is nothing wrong with removing the bottom casing to dry it out. In fact, I have fixed several Macbooks that were liquid damaged by cleaing the boards with pure isopropyl alcohol reassembling them to yield a fully-functional Air.

 

[Willo34]

Disconnecting the battery is an important step. Makes sure no electricity is running through the machine anymore. Go find a good repairshop (could be Apple, but they don't do liquid damage treatment, they just tell you to replace the parts which have liquid on them, so it's going to cost an arm and a leg) who do a liquid damage treatment of a sort, pref with a ultrasonic bath to clean the parts. With a bit of luck your machine works after the treatment......

 

[Macdctr]

Do what Audit13 and Willo34 recommend. If the logic board is not damaged then a simple cleaning of the logic board using isopropyl alcohol should do the trick. Allow the air to completely dry out but first disconnect the battery from the logic board so no electricity will be running thru circuitry on the logic board.

Apple traditionally does not warrant any "liquid spills" to their computers and will give inflated pricing for a full logic board replacement with no warranty so you end up paying full price. In that case, you're better off either going to eBay to find another computer or biting the bullet and paying full price for a new Apple laptop. If it were me, I would go on eBay and not pay full price for an Apple Laptop... Good luck!