Spilled beer on Power supply and it made crackle sound and rebooted.

[tech24]

As the title saids I did spill some last night on it and the way my vent on the case are set up (cyberpower pc) is that I have open vents on top of the case (terrible design) and the motherboard along with most things are attached on the wall (luckily) EXCEPT the power supply that sat on the bottom directly under vent and ate the beer that spilled.

Now it was not a lot but almost instantly with computer on i made spark noises restarted then during post failed but by then I ran to the chord and pulled it off wall and turned computer upside down (nothing ran down).

Figured I fried it and maybe other stuff with it right? Well next day I took it to work and opened it up and used compressed air can gently on power supply from inside blowing some dust out and cleaned it a bit with some cloth. After that I decided to try my luck.

The computer booted up with np with keyboard,mouse monitor attached.

MY QUESTION: The spark I heard with a restart obviously worried me. Should I just replace power supply? Is it possible it was minor damage that dried out much like when you put a wet phone in rice? I just do not wanna use it if it's gonna just go off in flames..what do you guys think? I know they say with water people have returned it from the grave but with stuff like beer/soda I know it's not the same.

 

[Gary]

What brand of Beer was it? Just make sure it is thoroughly dry and wait and see . If it worked to boot your machine then you are probably OK.

 

[tech24]

What brand of Beer was it? Just make sure it is thoroughly dry and wait and see . If iy worked to boot your machine then you are probably OK.

Bud light Platinum. Does that matter( honestly wondering lol)? Well it is as dry as I could see. I would open up power supply but I know that is a big no no from what I read cause of discharge.

 

[Dude]

tech24, welcome to the forums. As it has dried and seems good I would continue to monitor it. My advice is if you feel the power supply is bad, replace it. Never attempt to open it yourself.
I would also do a very detailed inspection of all parts including the MB for any signs of burnt parts.

 

[tech24]

tech24, welcome to the forums. As it has dried and seems good I would continue to monitor it. My advice is if you feel the power supply is bad, replace it. Never attempt to open it yourself.
I would also do a very detailed inspection of all parts including the MB for any signs of burnt parts.

I will def continue to monitor it and so far I had it on for 15 min before I decided to turn it off and get on the forums and saw no skips or anything wrong performance wise. I don't know if maybe when i start running games and video editing if it will kick up the power supply when it's pulling watts and maybe something bad happen. Motherboard shows no visible burn spots

But as I said the motherboard was clear out of the way of spill but if power supply sparks could it damage the mobo?

 

[Gary]

What brand of Beer was it? Just make sure it is thoroughly dry and wait and see . If iy worked to boot your machine then you are probably OK.

Bud light Platinum. Does that matter( honestly wondering lol)? Well it is as dry as I could see. I would open up power supply but I know that is a big no no from what I read cause of discharge.

I just hate to see a beer wasted. Just monitor your PC for awhile and do what Dude said. Check everything out. Make sure there are no blown Caps in The PS or leaking ones. If there was any real serious damage your PC would not boot. In the future drink Beer at the bar not on top of your PC. The beer thing was just a jest.

 

[Dude]

sounds like you got lucky. When drinking beer, never do it from a can, use something like my avatar

 

[tech24]

What brand of Beer was it? Just make sure it is thoroughly dry and wait and see . If iy worked to boot your machine then you are probably OK.

Bud light Platinum. Does that matter( honestly wondering lol)? Well it is as dry as I could see. I would open up power supply but I know that is a big no no from what I read cause of discharge.

I just hate to see a beer wasted. Just monitor your PC for awhile and do what Dude said. Check everything out. Make sure there are no blown Caps in The PS or leaking ones. If there was any real serious damage your PC would not boot. In the future drink Beer at the bar not on top of your PC. The beer thing was just a jest.

Oh I drank it on a the computer tech but computer is not under desk it's to the side so it tipped over lol( kicking myself for it) but how do i check for leaks or blown caps? I'm also not smelling anything burning so thankfully there is that.

@Dude Yeah it seems for now I have gotten lucky. Just hoping there is no electrical kind of fire that can happen from this now.

 

[Kari]

What brand of Beer was it? Just make sure it is thoroughly dry and wait and see . If iy worked to boot your machine then you are probably OK.

Bud light Platinum. Does that matter( honestly wondering lol)? Well it is as dry as I could see. I would open up power supply but I know that is a big no no from what I read cause of discharge.

I misunderstood the thread title, I thought it was beer you spilled. Now I can see it was just Bud Light, not real beer. Calling Bud Light beer is like calling the pond in my backyard an ocean.

Anyway, I agree with other geeks here. Keep an eye on that PSU, do not try to open it. I believe you will have no issues with it.

Kari

 

[tech24]

What brand of Beer was it? Just make sure it is thoroughly dry and wait and see . If iy worked to boot your machine then you are probably OK.

Bud light Platinum. Does that matter( honestly wondering lol)? Well it is as dry as I could see. I would open up power supply but I know that is a big no no from what I read cause of discharge.

I misunderstood the thread title, I thought it was beer you spilled. Now I can see it was just Bud Light, not real beer. Calling Bud Light beer is like calling the pond in my backyard an ocean.

Anyway, I agree with other geeks here. Keep an eye on that PSU, do not try to open it. I believe you will have no issues with it.

Kari

LOL at the bud light joke (normally Heineken but I like the platinums taste lol). I'll keep an eye on it as far as hearing for noise and smell just do not know of any other way to keep monitoring it.

 

[Kari]

Joke? Where?

A true story: Some time ago I sent some Bud Light to a laboratory in an unmarked container, to really find out what it contains.

Week and a half later I got an answer: "Your horse has diabetes."

 

[tech24]

Joke? Where?

A true story: Some time ago I sent some Bud Light to a laboratory in an unmarked container, to really find out what it contains.

Week and a half later I got an answer: "Your horse has diabetes."

lolol very nice. Well ty you guys for the help. Hopefully it's fine now.

 

[Kari]

Most important is not to take any unnecessary risks. A PSU must be handled "respectfully".

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Joke? Where?

A true story: Some time ago I sent some Bud Light to a laboratory in an unmarked container, to really find out what it contains.

Week and a half later I got an answer: "Your horse has diabetes."

:roflmao::roflmao:

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...Well next day I took it to work and opened it up and used compressed air can gently on power supply from inside blowing some dust out and cleaned it a bit with some cloth...

I'm glad you were able to get in and out of the PSU without mishap. Opening a PSU can be extremely dangerous due the potential for a possibly fatal discharge from the caps inside (while not common, people have actually died that way). If a PSU is suspect, it is much safer to just replace it. Your life is worth far more than any money you might save.

A PSU failure can take out computer components. Residual beer (or whatever someone may want to call it) may cause failure later rather than sooner. PSUs aren't cheap but, then, neither are the rest of your computer components.

 

[Dude]

...Well next day I took it to work and opened it up and used compressed air can gently on power supply from inside blowing some dust out and cleaned it a bit with some cloth...

I'm glad you were able to get in and out of the PSU without mishap. Opening a PSU can be extremely dangerous due the potential for a possibly fatal discharge from the caps inside (while not common, people have actually died that way). If a PSU is suspect, it is much safer to just replace it. Your life is worth far more than any money you might save.

A PSU failure can take out computer components. Residual beer (or whatever someone may want to call it) may cause failure later rather than sooner. PSUs aren't cheap but, then, neither are the rest of your computer components.

Very well stated Lady Fitzgerald. I mentioned it but failed to mention the extent of the danger. While there were responses to this we did so in a joking manner, no one really explained the danger of PSU's. Edit..Kari did too, just noticed after looking again.

 

[tech24]

Thanks guys again for replying. Even though is was working fine my gf expressed her concern with me getting a new PSU so that I don't end up damaging anything else just in case. Went out and replaced the 500 watt with a 600 watt (TR2). Going smooth. Thanks all. I have too much respect for the PSU to even mess with it anymore.

 

[Gary]

At least you have a better PSU and a backup now!

 

[Dude]

Thanks guys again for replying. Even though is was working fine my gf expressed her concern with me getting a new PSU so that I don't end up damaging anything else just in case. Went out and replaced the 500 watt with a 600 watt (TR2). Going smooth. Thanks all. I have too much respect for the PSU to even mess with it anymore.

At least you have a better PSU and a backup now!

I'm thinking I might spill a beer now

 

[paulpicks21]

Lol, this thread has made me laugh, not because of the bad luck of the OP, we all spill beer occasionally I am drinking one right now and it's well away from my PC. But some of the comments made me laugh, like what brand of beer was it

Good advice from Dude on not messing with a PSU, the capacitors in these things can be deadly.

And glad you got a new PSU, a wise move I think.


Paul.