Spilled Liquid on Your Laptop? Do This First
Spilled a drink on your laptop or phone? What you do in the next few minutes makes the difference between a quick clean-up and a write-off. The enemy isn't just the liquid — it's the corrosion it leaves behind once power is flowing through wet circuits. Act fast, and resist the urge to "check if it still works".
Do this immediately
- Power it off. Hold the power button and shut it down straight away — don't wait to see if it survives.
- Unplug the charger and, on a laptop with a removable battery, take the battery out.
- Turn it upside down like an open tent so liquid drains away from the internals rather than pooling on the board, and gently wipe what you can reach.
- Remove what you can — case, SIM tray, SD card — and dab away visible liquid with a lint-free cloth.
What to avoid
- Don't turn it back on to test it — powering wet circuits is exactly how short circuits and corrosion start.
- Don't charge it. Adding power to a wet board is the single most common way a recoverable device becomes a write-off.
- Skip the bag of rice. It's a myth — it does little for liquid trapped deep inside, and rice dust and starch can cause their own problems.
- Don't use a hairdryer on heat — it can warp components and blow moisture further in. Don't shake or "flick" it dry either.
Why speed matters
Clean water alone might evaporate harmlessly, but most spills aren't clean water. Tea, coffee, fizzy drinks, juice and salt water contain sugars, acids and minerals that leave a conductive, corrosive residue behind even after the device feels dry. That residue keeps eating away at connections over hours and days — which is why a phone can seem fine for a day or two, then fail. The sooner the device is opened, professionally cleaned and dried, the better the odds of a full recovery.
"It dried out and seems fine" — be careful
A device that springs back to life after a spill isn't in the clear. Corrosion may already be forming inside, and problems can surface weeks later. It's still worth having it opened and cleaned, and — importantly — back up your data straight away in case it does fail.
Get it looked at quickly
A professional clean of the board (an ultrasonic clean for the worst cases) gives the best chance of full recovery — and we can often rescue your data even when the device itself is touch-and-go. We handle liquid damage on laptops, smartphones and tablets for all major brands (and see why "water-resistant" isn't waterproof).