PSU gathering water!

[Arem]

I built my first computer last August with some hard earned cash. I have had very little issue with it. I took it to college, and used it all school year with no problems. I have now come back home had it set up in the living/family room. Just after a week of being home, I was showing my mom what a graphics card was, and comparing the dinky little thing in their pre-built to my 980Ti. When I tilted my computer to get a better view, we both freaked out because there was a lot of water that had accumulated underneath my power supply. The dust filter was soaked, and the bottom of the computer was dripping. To my knowledge there have been no spills, and I have a fully air cooled system, but the wood floor has a bit of water damage, indicating that the water has been there for some time. I have been using my computer almost daily, mostly to play games with friends. My PSU is an EVGA SuperNova 750 B2. I pulled it out, and the bottom (intake area)  seems to be dry, but I don't know about the inside, and I am not about to open it up. For now I have the system open with the PSU out as far as it can go without unplugging everything. I am very worried because I payed a lot for this computer and I don't want to fry anything. 

 

Also, I was quite surprised that I could not find anything about water accumulation and PSUs on Google, so I am thinking that this is not a common phenomenon. 

 

A bit of extra information, at college the computer was on carpet, at home it is on a wood floor.

 

Any explanation, advice, or course of action you guys might have would be greatly appreciated. 

[I am an SSD]

Just now, Arem said:

I built my first computer last August with some hard earned cash. I have had very little issue with it. I took it to college, and used it all school year with no problems. I have now come back home had it set up in the living/family room. Just after a week of being home, I was showing my mom what a graphics card was, and comparing the dinky little thing in their pre-built to my 980Ti. When I tilted my computer to get a better view, we both freaked out because there was a lot of water that had accumulated underneath my power supply. The dust filter was soaked, and the bottom of the computer was dripping. To my knowledge there have been no spills, and I have a fully air cooled system, but the wood floor has a bit of water damage, indicating that the water has been there for some time. I have been using my computer almost daily, mostly to play games with friends. My PSU is an EVGA SuperNova 750 B2. I pulled it out, and the bottom (intake area)  seems to be dry, but I don't know about the inside, and I am not about to open it up. For now I have the system open with the PSU out as far as it can go without unplugging everything. I am very worried because I payed a lot for this computer and I don't want to fry anything. 

 

Also, I was quite surprised that I could not find anything about water accumulation and PSUs on Google, so I am thinking that this is not a common phenomenon. 

 

A bit of extra information, at college the computer was on carpet, at home it is on a wood floor.

 

Any explanation, advice, or course of action you guys might have would be greatly appreciated. 

Well you will definitely have to invest in a power supply thats for sure....check your other components...

 

DONT open up the PSU unless you know what you are doing...

 

you're pretty lucky nothing really bad happened honestly....any water logged PSU would have given up the ghost ages ago...and would have taken some other components for company,...

 

As for explaining what happened, well its college..weird things happen ...maybe it was just a dirty prank,...

[RazorStorm]

Water doesn't come out of nowhere so either something must have been spilt and gone unnoticed. Or the weather at you parents house must be cold and have high enough moister to create some form of condensation around the PC. What ever you do, never pull apart your power supply.

[Guest]

First i would take out the PSU and make sure it's dry before putting it back into the case but this time fan side up.

[STRMfrmXMN]

19 minutes ago, Arem said:

I built my first computer last August with some hard earned cash. I have had very little issue with it. I took it to college, and used it all school year with no problems. I have now come back home had it set up in the living/family room. Just after a week of being home, I was showing my mom what a graphics card was, and comparing the dinky little thing in their pre-built to my 980Ti. When I tilted my computer to get a better view, we both freaked out because there was a lot of water that had accumulated underneath my power supply. The dust filter was soaked, and the bottom of the computer was dripping. To my knowledge there have been no spills, and I have a fully air cooled system, but the wood floor has a bit of water damage, indicating that the water has been there for some time. I have been using my computer almost daily, mostly to play games with friends. My PSU is an EVGA SuperNova 750 B2. I pulled it out, and the bottom (intake area)  seems to be dry, but I don't know about the inside, and I am not about to open it up. For now I have the system open with the PSU out as far as it can go without unplugging everything. I am very worried because I payed a lot for this computer and I don't want to fry anything. 

 

Also, I was quite surprised that I could not find anything about water accumulation and PSUs on Google, so I am thinking that this is not a common phenomenon. 

 

A bit of extra information, at college the computer was on carpet, at home it is on a wood floor.

 

Any explanation, advice, or course of action you guys might have would be greatly appreciated. 

PSUs don't have a little pouch of water in them so you've got condensation from somewhere else if this is a problem.

[ItsMinJunLol]

Might have been condensation because temp. Or ur college colleagues might have trolled you, like, put this kind of automated water dispense thingy on there. Who knows, but the best guess is condensation, and dry your PSU out and I suggest an investigation.

[VoyexTech]

18 minutes ago, HydraGaming said:

First i would take out the PSU and make sure it's dry before putting it back into the case but this time fan side up.

I wouldn't even use the same psu I would get a new one

[pyrojoe34]

Sounds like you need a dehumidifier... although I can't figure out why water would condense onto a PSU/PC since that would be way warmer than ambient air temp.

 

Sounds like someone had a spill and either didn't tell you, or doesn't remember/realize (considering university student).

[Arem]

Thanks for all the responses, after some investigation I found that last night a family member spilled a cup of water near my computer after I had gone to bed. Obviously they did not check under my computer. The computer was in sleep mode, and I had not woken it up since. So that should mean that the PSU is fine since the fan never turned on, therefore not sucking in any moister, right? 

[pyrojoe34]

10 minutes ago, Arem said:

Thanks for all the responses, after some investigation I found that last night a family member spilled a cup of water near my computer after I had gone to bed. Obviously they did not check under my computer. The computer was in sleep mode, and I had not woken it up since. So that should mean that the PSU is fine since the fan never turned on, therefore not sucking in any moister, right? 

No, that doesn't mean it's fine. Unplug it, let it thoroughly dry (good air flow+mild heat/sun). Once you're 100% certain it's dry (wait a couple days if you're unsure), plug it in to the wall (don't connect anything) and monitor it for a little bit. Make sure you don't smell, hear, or see anything. If that works turn on the PSU (you should be able to manually connect the power on pins with some wire (be very careful with this, make sure you are 100% certain you're connecting the right ones), if you're not confident doing that then connect it to a mobo (preferably an old one) and turn it on, Again monitor it. If everything seems fine you can put it back in your PC and hope there are no dormant issues waiting to come up. Obviously the best option is to replace it but that's just not an option for a lot of people.

[Arem]

4 minutes ago, pyrojoe34 said:

No, that doesn't mean it's fine. Unplug it, let it thoroughly dry (good air flow+mild heat/sun). Once you're 100% certain it's dry (wait a couple days if you're unsure), plug it in to the wall (don't connect anything) and monitor it for a little bit. Make sure you don't smell, hear, or see anything. If that works turn on the PSU (you should be able to manually connect the power on pins with some wire (be very careful with this, make sure you are 100% certain you're connecting the right ones), if you're not confident doing that then connect it to a mobo (preferably an old one) and turn it on, Again monitor it. If everything seems fine you can put it back in your PC and hope there are no dormant issues waiting to come up. Obviously the best option is to replace it but that's just not an option for a lot of people.

Thanks, I'll do what you suggested, though perhaps I can get the person who spilled the water to pay for a new PSU.

[pyrojoe34]

3 minutes ago, Arem said:

Thanks, I'll do what you suggested, though perhaps I can get the person who spilled the water to pay for a new PSU.

This is the best option, the risk is that if the PSU suddenly surges/shorts/fries it can take anything connected to it out at the same time. It probably will be just fine but are you willing to take the chance with your components? Especially a system with such high end parts? If you can get a new one just put the old one in storage as a backup (don't try to resell it though, that wouldn't be cool).