Water evaporation time

[DarkEgo]

While leak testing my loop, there was a slight leak. I fixed it fast but A little bit of water got on my gpu, and I am afraid some might have dripped into my PSU. This wasn't very much water, but I am still worried. How long should it be before I turn my computer on?

 

[newtekie1]

I would give it at least 24 hours. The amount of time varies depending on how much water we are talking about, and the environmental conditions(water evaporates faster if it is hot and dry vs. cold and humid).

 

[human_error]

what was it that leaked? - i.e. non-conductive coolant, water, distilled water? also how old was the coolant since you added it to the loop (if you only top-up your loop then how old is the oldest stuff in the loop?)

I had non-conductive coolant completely cover my 4870x2 while running a game benchmark and shut the pc down. I failed to see the leak and tried booting the machine 4 or 5 more times before i spotted it and unplugged everything - 1hr 25 mins, lots of paper towel and a hairdryer later the machine was back up and running no probs, so hopefully you'll be ok (my coolant was only 2 months old, so it hadn't had time to ionise and become conductive again)

 

[DarkEgo]

It was distilled water, and the oldest stuff in the loop was maybe a month or two old.

 

[human_error]

It was distilled water, and the oldest stuff in the loop was maybe a month or two old.

Should be pretty safe then - usually takes 4-6 months to ionise (that's how long i leave it before i clean out my loop with new coolant). I'd still try and dry it yourself and take the card out and put it under direct light/heat to dry out as much as possible, and only turn it on when you are happy it is dry (better to be safe than sorry - it will still allow a small current through it so letting it dry out fully is your best bet).

 

[DarkEgo]

I dryed it off with a paper towel. I will also wait 24 hours to be sure it evaporates.

 

[andrewsmc]

had this happen in an antec case with the 200mm fan on top.. My ferret knocked over a whole glass of water in it.. 24 hours later it was running beautifully. A good PSU will save your sysem.