Liquid spilled on your laptop: what to do right now and how we clean it
If you’ve just spilled coffee or a glass of water over the keyboard, unplug the charger and shut the laptop down: hold the power button for about ten seconds, until it switches off completely. Only then read on. Liquid on a powered board does more damage by the minute.
What to do in the first five minutes
- Shut it down by holding the button, not by closing the lid. A laptop that’s “asleep” is still powered.
- Unplug the charger and anything plugged into the ports.
- If the battery can be removed from the outside, as on older models, take it out. If it’s inside, don’t open the laptop yourself.
- Don’t switch it on “just to check”. Every power-on is another chance for a short circuit.
- Stand it up like a tent: open the lid as far as it goes and turn the laptop keyboard-down, in an upside-down V, on a dry towel. That way the liquid drips out instead of running towards the board.
- No hair dryer, no radiator. The airflow pushes the liquid deeper under the keys, and heat speeds up corrosion.
- Rice doesn’t help. It won’t draw moisture out from under the chips or take sugar off the board, and while the laptop sits in the bag, the corrosion carries on.
Why it can’t wait, even if the laptop still works
On most laptops today the battery is built in and stays connected to the board even when the computer is off, so part of the circuit is always live. Liquid sitting between two live traces sets off electrolysis: the copper dissolves, thin traces get eaten through, and short circuits form between the pins of the chips.
Corrosion doesn’t stop once the liquid dries, either, because the residue pulls moisture from the air and keeps eating into the board for days. That’s why we so often hear “I spilled something on it, it worked fine, and a week later it won’t turn on”. Clean water is the mildest case. Sweetened coffee, juice, beer and wine leave a sticky, often acidic film that is far more aggressive.
What we do when your laptop arrives
Liquid-damaged laptops come in almost every day, and we have a set routine for them. We take the laptop apart and disconnect the battery first. Then we take out the motherboard and inspect both sides under a microscope, looking most carefully around the connectors and the power circuitry. After that we clean it in an ultrasonic bath, rinse it with isopropyl alcohol, dry it and protect it against oxidation.
We replace components that corrosion has eaten away using a board preheater and a hot-air station, and we bridge any broken traces. Before the first power-on we check the power rails for shorts, and the first time we power the board, we do it from a lab power supply while measuring its current draw, so that a remaining fault doesn’t take anything else with it. Once the board works, we test the keyboard, touchpad, ports, display and battery charging, because liquid rarely stays in one place.
The keyboard takes the first hit. If the keys are still sticky after cleaning, or some of them don’t respond, the fix is a keyboard replacement. When the board is more seriously damaged, the next step is component-level motherboard repair, and you get an estimate before we start.
The realistic odds, and your data
We don’t promise anything in advance. If it was a little water, and you switched the laptop off straight away and brought it in the same day, cleaning is usually all it takes. If it was juice, and the laptop was turned on several times and then left for a week, the damage is usually more serious. When a repair isn’t worth it, we tell you so plainly.
If your data matters more than the laptop, tell us when you hand it in. On most laptops the SSD is a separate module, so we can usually copy your files even if the board doesn’t work. On some thin and budget models the drive is soldered to the board, and the data can usually only be reached once the board works again. If the drive is encrypted with BitLocker, reading it on another computer will need the recovery key; for a home laptop it is usually saved to your Microsoft account, and for a work laptop your company’s IT department has it. There is more on the data recovery page, and for MacBooks we have a separate page: liquid spilled on a MacBook.
Prices — in the official price list
Cleaning after a liquid spill, with protection against oxidation, is listed in the price list as a labour item. If a part needs replacing, its price depends on the model. Diagnostics without disassembly are free, but a liquid-damaged laptop almost always has to be opened, and we only do that once we’ve agreed it with you. We tell you the exact amount after the inspection, before any work starts, and we do nothing without your approval.
How long it takes, and the warranty
The board has to dry out completely before it is powered on for the first time. When cleaning is enough or the part it needs is in stock, it’s usually done the same or the next day; we order rarer parts and let you know the timeframe after the inspection. The 6-month warranty on the work is recorded on your service sheet. One thing we say up front: liquid can also damage parts that are still working at the time of the repair, so a fault sometimes shows up later, somewhere else.
A specialised service, independent of any manufacturer
Besides liquid-damaged laptops, every day we replace screens, keyboards and USB, HDMI and USB-C ports, repair hinges and motherboards, and clean the dust out of laptops that run hot, fitting new thermal paste, liquid metal or a PTM7950 thermal pad, depending on the model. We work on MacBooks regularly too, from the keyboard to the logic board. You’ll find all our services on the laptop repair page.
We are not an authorised service for any manufacturer, and we use brand names only to describe the devices we repair. We fit quality parts that match your model.
Frequently asked questions
I spilled something on my laptop, but it works normally. Should I still bring it in?
Yes, and the sooner the better. The fact that it works only means a short circuit hasn’t happened yet, while the liquid residue keeps eating into the board.
I only spilled water. Is that less dangerous?
Less than juice or coffee, but it isn’t harmless. Tap water has minerals dissolved in it and conducts electricity, so corrosion starts with water too, just more slowly.
Can I open it up and dry it myself?
We don’t recommend it. The battery inside is still supplying power, so one wrong touch with a screwdriver is enough to cause a short circuit. And drying doesn’t remove the residue, which is what causes the fault a few days later.
The keyboard is sticky after I spilled juice on it. Is cleaning enough?
Sometimes it is. But sticky keys mean the liquid has gone through the keyboard, and the board sits right underneath it, so we always check the board as well. On many newer models the keyboard is fixed to the top case, which makes replacing it a bigger job.
How do I send my laptop if I can’t come in?
Send it by courier, switched off and well packed, with a note saying what was spilled and when. Once it’s repaired, it comes back to you by courier.
Bring it to a shop or send it by courier
Three locations in Belgrade: Arena and Piramida (New Belgrade) and Centar near the Botanical Garden. With a liquid-damaged laptop every day counts, so if you can’t come in, send it to us by courier as soon as you can. We inspect it, tell you what it needs and, once we’re done, it comes back to you by courier.
Specialist repairs
This is our everyday work in our three Belgrade shops, with the right tools (microscope, soldering and preheating station) and parts for your exact model. Pick a service:
Laptops
MacBook & Apple
Drives, system & data
For businesses
Diagnostics without disassembly are free, and labour prices are in our price list. Bring your device to a shop or send it by courier — it comes back to you by courier.
We cover every Belgrade municipality
Bring your device to one of our three shops or send it by courier — it comes back by courier. Click your municipality for the neighbourhoods we cover and the problems we fix most often: