Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

I just spilled some water on MBP...will this void the warranty?

K

Kyouya

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 9, 2008
77
0
Hello;

I spilled a little water on my mbp...there doesn't seem to be any damage but I had a similar problem with my previous sony and they refused to repair a damage that wasn't inflicted by the spill.

I just bought Applecare too...

Think it'll void the warranty?


EDIT: I have recently upgraded to AppleCare and the normal 1 year warranty is about to expire...would it be wise to cancel applecare before its too late? Damn I am a moron :(
 
Wirelessly posted (BB 8900: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

There are water sensor stickers inside MB/MBPs. If you tripped one, then yea, your AppleCare is invalid as they will use it as an excuse to deny any future repair. It would then behoove you to cancel it and get your refund if they are indeed tripped.
 
Thanks for the responses....sigh. At least there doesn't seem to be any damage.
 
bought my mbp from best buy just last week... man i should get the geek squad accident protection plan cuz it covers everything applecare does + accidents like dropping it / spilling it.... could also maybe break my mbp in a couple of years to get a newer version like i did to my last laptop...


but ugh... $349 :(
 
LReyes66 said:
bought my mbp from best buy just last week... man i should get the geek squad accident protection plan cuz it covers everything applecare does + accidents like dropping it / spilling it.... could also maybe break my mbp in a couple of years to get a newer version like i did to my last laptop...


but ugh... $349 :(
Click to expand...

Check out www.safeware.com they provide insurance for devices like these at much better rates than retail outlets and cover things like accidents and theft.
 
Put it in a hot oven to dry it off; should restore any watermark stickers to their previous state also.
 
Ropie said:
Put it in a hot oven to dry it off; should restore any watermark stickers to their previous state also.
Click to expand...

Seriously? This is the first time I've heard this. It seems like putting your computer in an oven would be a bad idea. :eek:

And if letting it dry at room temperature doesn't "reverse" the sensors, why would drying it at a higher temperature do so?
 
Tallest Skil said:
Sarcasm. Staple of human survival. ;)
Click to expand...

Haha, now that actually made me laugh out loud.


But about the water...if it is just a splash on the top i wouldnt worry. On the other hand if you got a bit in the keys that could find its way to the inside i would check on it.

Is there a way to see if there is water damage on your unit? Would a Genius be able to check for you?
 
The only way to definitively answer your question is to open the machine and see if the moisture sensors have been triggered. If so, Apple will not honor the warranty and you will be charged for just about any repair.
 
I spilled a full 12 oz. glass of water on my MBP a week after I got it in June. After I dried it out, I opened it up and took it apart to see if I tripped the water sensors--luckily I did not. The sensors are located inside your MBP and under the keypad area. It's a pain to take the computer apart and the taking apart and putting together took about an hour. However, I was relieved to know that my apple care would not be voided.
 
tcphoto said:
The only way to definitively answer your question is to open the machine and see if the moisture sensors have been triggered. If so, Apple will not honor the warranty and you will be charged for just about any repair.
Click to expand...

Will opening the case to look at the sensors void the warranty?
 
Well, I just took my laptop in to fix a faulty fan and the process went smoothly. I did not remove the battery from it's casing because that does void the apple care.
 
Yep. If you get your mac wet it kills the apple care. I heard that nothing will happen to your mac it you get it wet. And I've seen some video on then getting wet, everything was ok.
 
EMKarelia said:
- I heard that nothing will happen to your mac it you get it wet. And I've seen some video on then getting wet, everything was ok.
Click to expand...

I spilled about 4 oz of water in the keys on my early 2008 MBP (the screen didn't get wet). First the screen was absolutely crazy. I turned it upside down to dry off for the night. (I was in a hotel with no access to an oven. Didn't think of a hair dryer). The next morning there was a faint white discoloration about 1/3 of the way in from the right, about an 1.5" thick. It's pretty noticeable. It's been there ever since (5 months now).

Apple says it would take $1200 to fix. THis is why I use an external monitor for most things.
 
EMKarelia said:
Yep. If you get your mac wet it kills the apple care. I heard that nothing will happen to your mac it you get it wet. And I've seen some video on then getting wet, everything was ok.
Click to expand...

that depends on what you spill and the volume. if you spill tap water you have a high chance of issue. worse with pop, OJ, stuff like that. and the more you spill the higher the chance. however, if you spill distilled water, you are safe from issue. it may still trip a sensor but it will not short electrical components.

tap water and the sorts have minerals in them such as sodium (which is highly conductive). these minerals are what conducts electricity not H2O. however, distilled water has absolutely no minerals, NONE.

in fact if you take an old cell phone, fill a glass with distilled water, turn on the phone and drop it in, it will continue to work. even under the water.

sorry for the science lesson, it just came out.
 
Most of the splash was on the speaker and some on the keyboard...however there is absolutely no damage or whatsoever.

Its just the warranty I am worried about...I guess I'll cancel it and get a full refund. I am not experienced with opening up notebooks ,etc.

Oh, and my MBP is the SantaRosa aluminum one, older case. Does it even have a sensor?
 
Kyouya said:
Oh, and my MBP is the SantaRosa aluminum one, older case. Does it even have a sensor?
Click to expand...

The water sensor was only introduced with the unibody so you will have no water sensors on your MBP.

Leave the applecare on.
 
mattwolfmatt said:
I spilled about 4 oz of water in the keys on my early 2008 MBP (the screen didn't get wet). First the screen was absolutely crazy. I turned it upside down to dry off for the night. (I was in a hotel with no access to an oven. Didn't think of a hair dryer). The next morning there was a faint white discoloration about 1/3 of the way in from the right, about an 1.5" thick. It's pretty noticeable. It's been there ever since (5 months now).

Apple says it would take $1200 to fix. THis is why I use an external monitor for most things.
Click to expand...

Here's the picture of what it looks like now. Like I said, annoying but not unusable. It's not noticeable on white pages. I had to find a purple page to really show it off (who knew there was a purple google?)
 

Attachments

  • photo-5.jpg
    photo-5.jpg
    103.5 KB · Views: 119
Unethical, absolutely. Illegal, Unlikely.

those are the issues they deal with when companies offer "accidental damage" coverage and why not many companies do.

the difference in damage from an accidental drop and an intentional drop would be indistinguishable. therefore, for it to be illegal they would have to prove what you were thinking when it happened and no one can really do that.

However!!!!!! i do believe you get what you give.. people that go around screwing others like this will no doubt eventually get screwed themselves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back