Large amount of fruit juice spilled over mechanical keyboard

[Francisco Silva]

Hello, everyone

 

I want to start off by apologizing for any inconsistency/flaw in the way I'm posting. I have used several other forums throughout the years but it's my first time at the LTT forum. Plus, I'm not a native English speaker.

 

As a result of one of the usual gaming sessions, I mistakenly spilled a large amount of fruit juice over my keyboard (something like 200-300ml). I immediately disconnected the keyboard from my pc, then turning it around in the sink for a while to let all the liquid drain.

 

Afterwards, I removed the keys and completely disassembled the keyboard, then proceeding to clean the board with a cloth and cotton swabs. Even though I did (like 4+ hours ago), I can already detect some spots where sugar seems to have started to "crystallize" over/next to metallic parts (excuse me, can't come up with a proper way to describe those). Additionally, there are several pieces of "moisty dust" in places which I can't reach (somewhat between the board and the white plaque that holds the switches), therefore can't clean.

 

We're talking about a GSkill KM570 with cherry mx red switches which costed me around 35-40 euros (huge price cut from 110 euros originally, or so they advertised).

 

I would be very grateful if someone could provide some feedback, even though I have already started my research regarding getting a new keyboard.

 

[Tiona]

I would fully disassemble it and wash it with distilled water. Being sure to scrub it with a tooth brush. After that you can use alcohol (pref IPA 99%) to displace the water from any chips which might have water trapped underneath. And then just be sure that it dries thoroughly.

[minibois]

1 minute ago, Francisco Silva said:

I want to start off by apologizing for any inconsistency/flaw in the way I'm posting. I have used several other forums throughout the years but it's my first time at the LTT forum. Plus, I'm not a native English speaker.

Your post was written very well, don't worry about that

2 minutes ago, Francisco Silva said:

As a result of one of the usual gaming sessions, I mistakenly spilled a large amount of fruit juice over my keyboard (something like 200-300ml). I immediately disconnected the keyboard from my pc, then turning it around in the sink for a while to let all the liquid drain.

 

Afterwards, I removed the keys and completely disassembled the keyboard, then proceeding to clean the board with a cloth and cotton swabs. Even though I did (like 4+ hours ago), I can already detect some spots where sugar seems to have started to "crystallize" over/next to metallic parts (excuse me, can't come up with a proper way to describe those). Additionally, there are several pieces of "moisty dust" in places which I can't reach (somewhat between the board and the white plaque that holds the switches), therefore can't clean.

 

We're talking about a GSkill K570 with cherry mx red switches which costed me around 35-40 euros (huge price cut from 110 euros originally, or so they advertised).

I'm going to start by posting this video:

You're probably going to have to deep clean your keyboard, which means you will likely have to relube the switches and stabilizers too.

If there is corrision between the plate and PCB, that can be very bad as well.

[dizmo]

Stick it in the dishwasher.

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, NZgamer said:

I was so surprised all those keyboards still worked

As long as you make sure they're still try it's not too surprising. Better if you dry it faster.