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The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-53-55G9 is a laptop targeted towards budget gamers. It boasts 256 GB of storage, Nvidia GeForce Graphics and an Intel i5 quad-core processor at a more affordable price than most gaming laptops.

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Water on top right keyboard

I had a water bottle with no lid by my computer for some reason. I spilled a pretty small amount of water on the top right of the keyboard and the fan system on the right. Because the spill wasn’t on top of the fans and on the bottom. Water barely made contact with the fans. But it did with the top right keyboard. I immediately turned it off and dried it with a cloth. Because the spill was centralized by the fan system. And the liquid isn’t coke. I ran the fans at max speed to try to remove/dry it. At this time I had dryer the desk charger etc. I then googled and realized I should turn off my computer. I then kinda shook it around a bit to try to hear water. And I don’t hear anything. Probably not the best idea on my end. I’m leaving it on it’s side overnight. But I need some help on what to do next.

update. It’s been two days and today I opened my computer. Here is a picture of what it looks like. Is there any water damage visible?

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Hi, same thing append to mine but i spilled juice.

48hrs after keys are working fine but a few are sticky like the space bar. Laptop works fine but I’m afraid the temperature while gaming (cpu and gpus temperature) could melt the juice/caramel.

I also watched a video dissasembling the keyboard laptop annd I think it is sealed so maybe the juice couldnt reach other components.

Any advice? the space bar is hard to press and im afraid to screw it up.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

Hi @Isaac Díaz

What is the model number of the laptop?

It may be easier to replace the keyboard than to try and fix it. You can cause more problems than what you had when trying to fix keyboards

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Hi @heivnslahwyd

The impurities in the water causes corrosion and provides circuit paths for the electricity which were not in the laptop’s operating design and could damage the components. The corrosion starts immediately and is ongoing until it has been properly cleaned away

First do not try to charge or to turn on your laptop and then you need to disconnect the battery as soon as possible to prevent any further damage.

After this dis-assemble the rest of the laptop and clean all the affected parts using Isopropyl Alcohol 99%+ (available from electronics parts stores) to remove all traces of corrosion and water. If possible, do not use "rubbing alcohol" as in some cases this is <70% IPA, can contain additives which may leave conductive residues and is not as effective. If you do have to use it, check the label to verify the amount of IPA. The higher the percentage of IPA the better

Here is a link that describes the process. Electronics Water Damage

As always with electronics, especially surface mounted pcbs be gentle when handling and especially when brushing away the corrosion. You do not want to remove any components from the boards. Disconnect any flex cables and clean the ends of the cables and the connectors as well.

Hopefully after you have done all this the laptop might possibly work correctly again.

Here is a link to the ifixit Acer Nitro 5 AN515-53-55G9 repair guide which may be of some help.

If this process seems too daunting, take your laptop to a reputable, professional laptop repair service, experienced in water damage repair and ask for a quote for a repair. If you decide to do this, do it sooner than later.

Update (12/20/2020)

Hi @heivnslahwyd,

It looks OK but zooming in I think that I can see where it might have been wet. I may be wrong but I think that you can see the discolouration that has occurred due to the water. You may just want to go over the areas indicated and do a final check. Moreso where there are components rather than just plastic covers etc.

Here’s a zoomed in image of your image showing what I mean. The arrows are only to show the general areas and not to pinpoint exact spots

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(click on image to enlarge for better viewing)

What does the underside of the keyboard look like?

Looks like that you may have been lucky ;-)

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What if my water that I spilled is pure water. With NO impurities?

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@heivnslahwyd unless it was distilled or sterile water it WILL have impurities. Clean it......

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@heivnslahwyd

As mentioned above it has to be distilled water anything else (spring water, spa water, tap water and even plain bottled water) has got impurities in it which will cause corrosion and conduct electricity.

At the very least you need to open it and check as best you can to avoid making a possibly expensive mistake.

If everything looks OK (use the electronics water damage link I posted to see what it can look like) then all is good. If not then at least you will know and can do something about it and avoid problems that may only surface 3-6 months from now.

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Updated the post with a picture of the internals. How does it look?

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I also noticed there is thermal paste there. And while it’s discolored I tried wiping it up but it didn’t dry. Also. I can’t see the underside of the keyboard from the laptop. But all the keys are working fine. And yes. I got VERY lucky.

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