Water in a PSU

Uhtred · 4 Jan 2016 at 11:19

So this morning I managed to knock a glass of water over on my desk

I was happily mopping it up when I smelt that dreaded electrical burning smell

I realised that some of the water had gone down the back of my desk to where my PC lives although it wasn't switched on it was getting power from the wall socket. I immediately switched it off, moved the tower and got a towel to it. It's now sitting next to a radiator.

As best I can tell a few droplets went in the back of the PSU (Corsair HX520w) where the fan is.

I've unplugged it from the motherboard/drives/gfx and will power it up in a few hours (from a safe distance) with an old motherboard.

What are my chances? Is it ruined? What would be a good replacement if so?

TWiNKLeT0Es · 4 Jan 2016 at 11:30

Oh dear sorry to hear that lets hope it all works fine after a good drying out. Maybe 24 hours to be safe.

Although i would use the paperclip trick instead of using an old motherboard just incase it goes pop.

Uhtred · 4 Jan 2016 at 11:35

Good shout, will do

darwin1859 · 4 Jan 2016 at 11:36

Just leave it for a long time. You could open it up to help the drying, but make sure it hasn't been plugged in for at least a day.

TWiNKLeT0Es · 4 Jan 2016 at 11:38

Good luck hope you have a long stick to poke that power button.

robin66 · 4 Jan 2016 at 11:41

And this is why I always now use one of these while near my PC.

http://sistemaplastics.com/products/hydrate

darwin1859 · 4 Jan 2016 at 11:42

robin66 said:
And this is way I always now use one of these while near my PC.

http://sistemaplastics.com/products/hydrate

What about beer??

Uhtred · 4 Jan 2016 at 11:57

robin66 said:
And this is why I always now use one of these while near my PC.

http://sistemaplastics.com/products/hydrate

I'm renowned for doing this at work. So much so that one morning I walked into the office and found this...

Uhtred · 4 Jan 2016 at 14:19

It's alive!

powered it on with a paper clip and let it run for 10 minutes. Plugged everything in and it's running fine with no funny smells

Thanks all for the input and sympathy!

russell664 · 4 Jan 2016 at 14:42

Glad it all worked out for you OP!!

theMilitant · 4 Jan 2016 at 22:10

Good to hear your PSU has survived OP. I thought it was almost certainly a goner when you mentioned the dreaded electrical burning smell.