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Mac Studio and Liquids!

D

dennisbrekke

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 15, 2016
83
125
So today I was working and I reached out to grab a pen and I knocked over a full glass of water on my desk about 8 inches from my Mac Studio. I tried to act as quickly as I could, but wasn't fast enough to pick it up and move it before it shut off! Seems all the tiny ventilation holes on the bottom are the perfect place for water to enter the device. ugh!

I have spilled coffee and water before on my desk but with an iMac, it's not an issue.

I dried it off and put it in a large container of rice for a few hours and turned it back on. It worked! Everything was back to where I had left off - even my Illustrator file reopened. I got cocky and sent a message to our IT guy and said: "She's back!" Two minutes later it shut off again and would not turn back on.

Back into some rice. Then in front of a fan for a few hours.

It started up!

I'm typing this post on it right now and everything seems to be fine. I wonder if there is some sort of moisture sensor in the bottom that shuts everything down when it detects something and doesn't allow it to start back up until it's dry.

I'll be keeping close eye on it for weirdness - but so far so good. Anything I should keep an eye out for?

Also - NO MORE LIQUID ON MY DESK! I can't imaging I will be the last person to have this issue. Those holes are in a bad place!
 
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BeatCrazy said:
Please stop putting computers into rice. You'll get rice into the holes, and adding wet-rice-residue to already-maligned electronics helps nothing.
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The venting holes are much smaller than the grains of rice - all I had was short grain sushi rice. I checked before I did it. I only sat the Studio on top of the rice so only the bottom was covered. Nothing got near the I/O ports. Might not be the best choice - but it didn’t seem to hurt ;)
 
1. Using the computer before it’s completely dry can cause more damage than if you dry it out first. The fact it shutdown a second time is a sign that you didn’t dry it out enough. I would have let it dry overnight before restarting it.

2. Rice acts as a desiccant (absorbs moisture), but it’s one of the least effective desiccants you can use. In an emergency, damp rid is probably much more effective than rice As a makeshift dessicant.

3. Silica dessicant packets like this are great to store electronics (like camera equipment) in a case since they are self contained and can be reused: https://www.amazon.com/Dry-Packs-Indicating-Aluminum-Dehumidifying-Canister/dp/B0025OO8DO

The main thing is that none of these will dry out a soaking wet item. They just absorb the moisture in the air which will help dry out that last little bit that’s left after you’ve thoroughly dried it physically, but it needs to be dried before it’s enclosed so the desiccant is not fighting the humidity in the entire room along with puddles of water in the device.
 
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Putting a wet Studio in a bag of rice isn't any better than putting it in a bag of marbles. Well actually the rice will damage the Studio and the marbles won't, but putting it in any bag will also damage it more. It needs airflow to dry.
 
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dennisbrekke said:
The venting holes are much smaller than the grains of rice - all I had was short grain sushi rice. I checked before I did it. I only sat the Studio on top of the rice so only the bottom was covered. Nothing got near the I/O ports. Might not be the best choice - but it didn’t seem to hurt ;)
Click to expand...
It absolutely hurt. You blocked the air flow through the studio, which is the only thing that would have helped it dry faster (not saying it would have dried fast enough anyway).
 
Hi @dennisbrekke,

Thanks for the post. I fully intend to drink coffee while using my Max when it arrives. You've provided a very good reminder to raise it up a bit from table level :)

I hope that your own Max has indeed fully recovered.
 
Get a monitor riser for your Mac Studio and be done!!

672C4BA0-0EE6-43BB-AD6A-EADAAE5E56B4.jpeg
 
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A few years ago my dad spilt an entire glass of red wine over my almost brand-new PowerBook.
Dried it all off, but it wouldn't power on. Left it overnight over a radiator.
Was fine the next day and continued working for years - only issue was, if it got hot processing, you'd get a whiff of chablis or whatever it was he'd been drinking.
When I eventually upgraded to a newer laptop, I gave that one to my dad to use :)
 
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