My Amplifier Got Wet

[MartinIAm]

Hey, I spilled some water on my Onkyo amplifier. I unplugged it as soon as it happend but I smell a burnt smell. I'm worried to turn it back on (in case something electrocutes me). Do you have any suggestions?

[circeseye]

yea if you can open it up and wipe what you can. then set it somewhere warm and let dry for a couple hours.

if you smell electronics thou you might have killed it but wait till dry to check

[BigDamn]

Point a fan at it and let it sit for a couple days if not longer. You want every water particle in that thing dried up before firing it up again.

[johnt]

6 minutes ago, BigDamn said:

Point a fan at it and let it sit for a couple days if not longer. You want every water particle in that thing dried up before firing it up again.

I second this. I'd give it at least a week.... not sure it's worth the risk.

[Derkoli]

43 minutes ago, MartinIAm said:

Hey, I spilled some water on my Onkyo amplifier. I unplugged it as soon as it happend but I smell a burnt smell. I'm worried to turn it back on (in case something electrocutes me). Do you have any suggestions?

Open it up, leave it in a warm, dry place for a good week. Then check everything is dry, gently blow it with a hairdryer or something similar, then try and plug it back in, but get ready to pull the power just in case something is burnt out. Also check for black spots on PCB's and check the capacitors look fine when opening it up. Also put the amp in different positions when its drying out just to get all the water out. And dont go touching stuff when you open it up as capacitors hold charge, and touching the power supply is a big no-no

Edit: Make sure there are no speakers of any kind hooked up to it when you turn it on for the first time. You dont want to give them a high current DC signal or anything bad and screw them up aswell.

Edit 2 (ty to @TomvanWijnen) : Dont blow the hairdryer in one spot for a long time, or with high heat. Just enough to get the water to evaporate.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Derkoli

[TomvanWijnen]

6 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

gently blow it with a hairdryer

I've seen someone do this but wrongly before: don't put the heat on at all/too much, you'll melt whatever you're blowing at.

 

Opening the product up if possible to dry out everything manually is indeed a good idea. Otherwise, as others have said, allow the water to leak out and point air at it, for a good long while. Good luck!  

[Derkoli]

1 minute ago, TomvanWijnen said:

I've seen someone do this but wrongly before: don't put the heat on at all/too much, you'll melt whatever you're blowing at.

 

Opening the product up if possible to dry out everything manually is indeed a good idea. Otherwise, as other have said, allow the water to leak out and point air at it, for a good long while. Good luck!  

Forgot to mention that. I'll edit it again

[MartinIAm]

2 minutes ago, TomvanWijnen said:

I've seen someone do this but wrongly before: don't put the heat on at all/too much, you'll melt whatever you're blowing at.

 

Opening the product up if possible to dry out everything manually is indeed a good idea. Otherwise, as other have said, allow the water to leak out and point air at it, for a good long while. Good luck!  

Thank you! Hope my amplifier survives!

[MartinIAm]

Forgot to mention that the amplifier was on standby. Don't know if that made a difference.

[MartinIAm]

9 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

Open it up, leave it in a warm, dry place for a good week. Then check everything is dry, gently blow it with a hairdryer or something similar, then try and plug it back in, but get ready to pull the power just in case something is burnt out. Also check for black spots on PCB's and check the capacitors look fine when opening it up. Also put the amp in different positions when its drying out just to get all the water out. And dont go touching stuff when you open it up as capacitors hold charge, and touching the power supply is a big no-no

Edit: Make sure there are no speakers of any kind hooked up to it when you turn it on for the first time. You dont want to give them a high current DC signal or anything bad and screw them up aswell.

Edit 2 (ty to @TomvanWijnen) : Dont blow the hairdryer in one spot for a long time, or with high heat. Just enough to get the water to evaporate.

Is it possible for me to just leave it out in front of the window for around 3 weeks? (With the window closed)

[Derkoli]

1 minute ago, MartinIAm said:

Is it possible for me to just leave it out in front of the window for around 3 weeks? (With the window closed)

Yes that will work fine. If anything it could be better as it would be slightly warmer, The amp being on standy and not feeding speakers when you spilt water on it will save the output stages if it is really damaged, and other components wont be as damaged if it is really bad.

[TomvanWijnen]

Just now, MartinIAm said:

Forgot to mention that the amplifier was on standby. Don't know if that made a difference.

Being used < standby < off

 

Standby means less electricity was going through it than would've been when it was being used, but it's still worse than if it would've been turned off. In general though, if the water does NOT reach the "bad parts", it doesn't matter whether it's turned on or on standby. The first instinctive reaction to water on products should always be TURN IT OFF COMPLETELY. After that, immediately continue to remove ALL water from EVERYWHERE. Don't wait, as things could corrode. I once spilled water (due to some stupid cable) over my laptop (primarily all over my keyboard, also touchpad and the bottom though), and by immediately turning it off and completely dismanteling it to dry, I somehow seem to have managed to save literally everything! So get on and dry, if you haven't already.  

[MartinIAm]

2 minutes ago, TomvanWijnen said:

Being used < standby < off

 

Standby means less electricity was going through it than would've been when it was being used, but it's still worse than if it would've been turned off. In general though, if the water does NOT reach the "bad parts", it doesn't matter whether it's turned on or on standby. The first instinctive reaction to water on products should always be TURN IT OFF COMPLETELY. After that, immediately continue to remove ALL water from EVERYWHERE. Don't wait, as things could corrode. I once spilled water (due to some stupid cable) over my laptop (primarily all over my keyboard, also touchpad and the bottom though), and by immediately turning it off and completely dismanteling it to dry, I somehow seem to have managed to save literally everything! So get on and dry, if you haven't already.  

Oh, I spilled the water about 10 hours ago and haven't done anything about it till now. All the water around the amp was dried by present time so let's hope nothing corroded in there while I was waiting for the tomatoes to turn red.

[MartinIAm]

Everybody, after drying the amplifier everything works! All that it has is an odd smell but everything else is working like a charm!

[TheFlyingTraut]

Smell might just be some corrosion that happened on the board when it was wet. Should go away. Everything still working fine?

[Derkoli]

On 7/19/2019 at 5:13 AM, MartinIAm said:

Everybody, after drying the amplifier everything works! All that it has is an odd smell but everything else is working like a charm!

Good to hear. losing audio equipment is a bummer.

[MartinIAm]

On 7/21/2019 at 11:12 PM, TheFlyingTraut said:

Smell might just be some corrosion that happened on the board when it was wet. Should go away. Everything still working fine?

Yea everything is working fine. The smell even went away.