Liquid damage refers to any type of unexpected damage to an electronic device due to the inflow of fluids into the device. Liquid damage is usually split into two main categories: non-acidic liquid damage and acidic liquid damage. Non-acidic liquids such as mineral water and coffee are the most common causes of liquid damage and don’t often pose too much difficulty in repair. On the other hand, acidic liquids such as citric juices and alcoholic beverages are not as common but might be completely destructive to most devices.
How Does Liquid Damage Affect Your MacBook?
Typically, any kind of liquid damage to electronic devices make the repair process rather difficult. As of recently, some mobile phones have become water resistant such as iPhones from the iPhone 7 onwards, however they are not completely resistant to the remaining types of liquid damage. MacBooks are not an exception either since many components within the MacBook are extremely susceptible to all types of liquid damage. For example, a simple water spill on a MacBook could cause the water to enter into the MacBook’s logic board, in which the water’s minerals and salts begin corroding the metals and fiberglass in the motherboard, thus destroying the MacBook.
What Should You Do In The Case Your MacBook Gets Liquid Damage?
Step 1: Remove the charger
When liquid has accidentally entered your MacBook, what should you do? The first and most important step you should take is to disconnect the charger from the power outlet on the wall, and then remove the charging cord from the MacBook. This step is very crucial and must be done as soon as possible as this prevents any potential electrical hazards such as short-circuits from occurring.
Step 2: Shut down the MacBook
Secondly, you must fully shutdown the MacBook as this task plays a major role in preventing more damage to your MacBook. In order to shut down your MacBook, hold the power button on the keyboard until your MacBook shuts down completely. If there was no response at all from the MacBook after holding down the power button for longer than 5 seconds, this indicates that your keyboard might have been damaged. In that case, try shutting down the MacBook using the mouse by navigating to the Apple logo icon on the top left corner of your Mac, then click “Shut Down”. This will then be followed with a dialogue box which would open where you would have to click “Shut Down” again.Step 3: Disconnect any external hardware
Now that you have shut down the MacBook, make sure to unplug any kind of hardware that might be plugged to your MacBook via USB 3, USB-C ports, 3.5mm audio jack, the SD card reader slot, the HDMI slot, and the Ethernet slot (if available). This is to ensure that any other hardware that was connected to the MacBook does not get damaged along with the it.Step 4: Dry the MacBook
After you have disconnected any external hardware from the MacBook, get a dry towel that is large enough to fit the bottom surface of the MacBook, then lay it flat and place the MacBook on top of it. The MacBook will begin to dry; hence any excess liquid would exit from the MacBook onto the towel. Another step you could do to further dry the MacBook would be to get a microfiber cloth and begin wiping any wet area on the MacBook to prevent any more of the liquid from entering into it and potentially damaging its components further.Step 5: Send it to a repair technician
The next and final step that you should take after the MacBook has relatively dried is to send it to a repair center and get a full diagnosis and repair of the damaged components within your MacBook from a professional technician. Cases of liquid damage in MacBooks are difficult to deal with even for a lot of repair service shops, hence it is crucial that you get your MacBook to a professional repair technician as soon as possible.
If you are residing within Australia and you happen to find yourself stuck with a water damaged MacBook, fret not, as ManMade Cycle offers a professional MacBook repair and support service, in which a qualified Apple technician will be able to fully assist you with any hardware and software issues including cases as challenging as liquid damage to your MacBook. ManMade Cycle makes the process of repairing your MacBook very simple by being very transparent about the service pricings as well as offering an appointment-based service so that one of our expert technicians are able to repair your MacBook to the highest of standards. Make sure to inform the repair technician regarding the type of liquid that has entered your MacBook and the location at which the liquid has entered your device, as such information would help the repair technician waste less time troubleshooting and potentially save your beloved MacBook from any avoidable long-term damage.
