r/SteamDeck • u/purpledolphin2 • Jul 24 '26
Discussion Hope it's not ruined...
I'm a gamer mom who spilt her lukewarm coffee all over the top of my deck this morning š«£ literally just fumbled the mug perfectly onto the deck. Lesson learnt, don't leave deck on the kitchen table. Hoping the rice will absorb the moisture...
Update: found the right screw bit to open it, disconnected battery. Now have it open with fan blowing on it. Husband can take over later when he's home from work. I have to go get work done now that sitter is here, but will update later with good news hopefully.
Update 2: IT WORKS! It seems that I have fool's luck, my deck powered on and is working thus far! Husband took further apart and cleaned a little with iso alcohol. No visible rice dust or moisture. I guess I got it all out when I shook it out after the spill + with the fan on it all day. Hopefully it continues to work.
Two lessons: keep deck out of kitchen and don't use rice on electronics, lol. Your comments were helpful and hilarious. Thank you for the assistance and laughs.
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u/ELSANTOLIVES Jul 24 '26
I have many issues with this casserole.
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u/believeinyuna 512GB OLED Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
open it up, disconnect battery, let it dry out for 24 hours. the rice does absolutely nothing. get that battery disconnected as soon as possible!! this is what will really save it!!!!
TAKE SD CARD OUT BEFORE OPEN
edit: clean with 90% isopropyl with a soft bristle toothbrush
edit 2: donāt spray a lot of isopropyl, donāt make it soaked and dripping, as you can damage the screen apparently, and someone said q-tip over the toothbrush
edit 3: 70% isopropyl also works it just takes longer to dry. the benefits is itās a bit safer and less likely to cause aesthetic accidental damage
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u/purpledolphin2 Jul 24 '26
I have a star shaped screw driver that is slightly too big. Waiting for sitter to get here so I can dig through husband's drawers and see if he has a smaller one...
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u/NightAtTheMemeMuseum Jul 24 '26
I'm sorry but "I can dig through husband's drawers and see if he has a smaller one" is too damn funny š
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u/TheForeverUnbanned Jul 24 '26
āFound it!ā
Husband: š¢
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u/ScubaSteve3465 1TB OLED Jul 24 '26
And then it disappears forever into the void and the husband has to buy another one. š
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u/SavageKermie 512GB OLED Jul 24 '26
I didnāt know you could buy another? Is there a bolt on option?
Iām asking for a friend who is doing research for another friend who may have had a tiny āscrewdriverā disappear into the void of his drawers. Hahaha
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u/deep-thought42 Jul 24 '26
it didn't disappear into the void, he donated it to an alien civil rights leader š„¹š„ŗ
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u/and_i_mean_it 512GB - Q4 Jul 24 '26
Doesn't seem like there's a SD card slotted there, but don't forget to double check before opening the deck.
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u/PossiblyA_Bot Jul 24 '26
Just a heads up, don't get Isopropyl alcohol on the back of the screen. Do put it on the rest of the electronic parts though
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u/kjjustinXD 512GB Jul 24 '26
Do not just let it air dry even with a disconnected battery. The coffee is still on the board and will not go away by itself, a full clean and inspection is needed.
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u/Bradcopter Jul 24 '26
Yep. Spray that puppy down with 90% or higher isopropyl.
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u/Batrall Jul 24 '26
I'm almost certain it is just a figure of speech, but in the case it isn't: please use iso only in small doses inside the Steam Deck, it can damage the display.
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u/hasdga23 Jul 24 '26
Every fluid will. Best is to take it appart, then clean the parts separately. The mainboard etc. can be washed with Iso, the screen cannot, as well as the battery.
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u/link270 1TB OLED Limited Edition Jul 24 '26
And lightly scrub with a soft toothbrush.
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u/bargu Jul 24 '26
It does, you get a bunch of very fine rice dust everywhere that's gonna get glued down by the coffee and become a dirty mess.
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u/-Pelvis- Jul 24 '26
Steam Deck: 9/10
Steam Deck with coffee: 0/10
Steam Deck with coffee and rice: -1/10
Thank you for your suggestion.
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u/sirdizzypr Jul 24 '26
Finally a reasonable reply. One person one time used rice and thought it fixed it now rice is everyoneās solution. Although it does absolutely nothing (wait until they find out blowing in Nintendo carts also did nothing actually made it worse putting spittle on the pins).
Itās maddening. Youāre better off getting some of those moisture absorbing tablets they put in stuff. Itāll actually draw some of the moisture out. But your solution is the correct one. Getting the battery disconnected and getting it dried out properly.
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u/mikeeteevee Jul 24 '26
The rice myth is the worst - Why would we pack all electronics in China with silica gel, if you could just use small bags of rice for 1/50th of the cost if it actually worked? It's weird we're all on the internet and people still just miscommunicate things.
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u/Calimariae Jul 24 '26
edit 2: donāt spray a lot of isopropyl, donāt make it soaked and dripping, as you can damage the screen apparently, and someone said q-tip over the toothbrush
So much this. I fucked up the screen on a Macbook recently when the alcohol fumes got into the panel while cleaning.
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u/MrJerichoYT Jul 24 '26
Careful cleaning with isopropyl alchohol. You can damage the display as it sits under.. You wanna use a q-tip and make sure it's not soaking and dripping all over.
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u/Got2bglued Jul 24 '26
if thereās one thing this reddit has instilled in me itās take the damn sd card out!!
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u/buzz8588 Jul 24 '26
Step 1: Open it.
Step 2: Disconnect Battery
Step 3: Make sure to remove SD card before opening!!!
Fuuuuuuuuu
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u/believeinyuna 512GB OLED Jul 24 '26
youre right. i should have made it huge. like
TAKE THE SD CARD OUT!!! TAKE IT OUT RIGHT AWAY!!!! DO IT NOOOOOWW. NOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!!!
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u/CognitiveFogMachine Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
90% isopropyl can leave minor visible damage (marks) on the ABS plastic shell of the Steam deck. (Isopropyl dissolves/removes styrene from ABS iirc). But the damage would only be esthetic. And as long as you're careful not to spray too much (like you suggested), and wipe off any drips/spillover immediately, it should be fine.
If you don't want to take any chances, you can also use 70% isopropyl instead. It works almost as good as 90%, it just needs more time to dry.
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u/Mwovie Jul 24 '26
Ugh, I did the exact same thing a week ago while on vacation. I found a torx in the air bnb, took out the battery and let it sit open for 48hrs. Luckily it was fine after that! For a bonus I got to scoop the cat hair out of the fan and itās a lot quieter now.
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u/Kawawete LCD-4-LIFE Jul 24 '26
Not disconnecting the battery is killing it, the rice doesnt do shit.
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u/inertSpark 512GB Jul 24 '26
the rice doesnt do shit.
Except for wet rice dust gumming everything up!
In reality though, putting it in rice feels to some people like it worked, because they did something. But it was evaporation that dealt with the water, and the corrosion it caused by having wet electronics sitting in liquid will remain, and continue to get worse even once the device is dry.
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u/samanime Jul 24 '26
Rice doesn't help, but I will say I got a bag of desciccant packs. I once drowned my phone (enough to overcome its waterproofing). I tossed it in there and forgot about it for a while. I assumed it was dead and got a new phone.
A month or so I remembered it was in there. I pulled it out and fired it up and it actually worked. Once all the moisture is gone, electronics nowadays are surprising resilient, as long as nothing was shorted and all the moisture is removed.
(The package wasn't meant for that, it was just the bag the packs came in.)
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u/Extreme_Hat1089 Jul 24 '26
I got down voted into oblivion in some subs for saying that š¤£ they really think it's a magic thing...
OP you need to open it, rice isn't doing shit and you need to clean off the coffee with 99% IPA. If you let it dry like that, you'll have the residue still on the board/contact which can short the whole thing.
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u/inertSpark 512GB Jul 24 '26
Best course of action for wet electronics is to displace the liquid. Rinse it quickly away with 90% Isopropyl and a soft brush to get it into all the nooks and crevices and remove the residue. Then wait for it to dry.
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u/Mrfixite Jul 24 '26
Gotta be careful what you put ipa on though... š© Ask me how I know.
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u/inertSpark 512GB Jul 24 '26
Well sure, I'm not suggesting pouring an entire bottle liberally over it š
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u/sirdizzypr Jul 24 '26
If you wanna get crazy tell em to get those moisture absorbing tablets they use to ship items with. Itll work better than rice and not coat it in rice dust and have rice in their electronics. Itās a far better solution if you dont know how to open up electronics. Or just point a fan into the vents.
Rice is the dumbest thing ever.
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u/LifelnTechnicolor Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
I said something similar back in 2024, in response to someone's suggestion of putting it in a bag of rice.
Rice does not work and will never work. Any "successful repair" using rice to pull out moisture/dry out water is purely coincidental and could very well have happened without rice.Ā Watch this Louis Rossmann video to learn why
There was another Louis Rossmann video where he quipped "When you use the restroom and you take a shit, you don't dry your ass; you clean it" but I can't find it right now
Edit: found it, and corrected the quote above - Staples scams customers: never let TekDry near your laptop or cellphone!
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u/Joker8pie Jul 24 '26
You're right. More often than not, doing this just pulls rice starch INTO the console and makes it much worse.
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u/Jaekob4 Jul 26 '26
Glad to see this confirmed, I never bought into it and also never googled it bc it just never comes up but just logicallyā¦ if the water is inside the phone/switch/steamdeck/whatever, and the rice is on the outsideā¦? Is the water supposed to just start gravitating towards the rice?
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u/Dear_Lab_2270 Jul 24 '26
That's not true, the rice will soak up the sauce he's about to bake it in.
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u/dustinpdx 1TB OLED Limited Edition Jul 24 '26
If rice worked (by absorbing moisture quickly) all the rice in your cupboard would be stale.
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u/DrKrFfXx Jul 24 '26
Rice is a myth.
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u/Cold-Tangerine-2893 Jul 24 '26
Thatās not true Iāve definitely eaten rice before like thousands of timesā¦
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u/DrKrFfXx Jul 24 '26
Have you eaten Deck?
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u/Cold-Tangerine-2893 Jul 24 '26
Nah, not my thing personally. But I do play with my deck pretty much every day.
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u/The_Magenta_Dragon 512GB OLED Jul 24 '26
i have, it kinda hurt
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u/unsuspectingllama_ Jul 24 '26
Yeah well I've eaten rice thousands of times in one meal. So, yeah I'm kind of a big deal.
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u/Wooden-Hippo-7358 Jul 24 '26
Correct in fact Rice has a fine starch that will mix with the water and create a paste that will potentially (if not immediately) damage your device.
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u/kjjustinXD 512GB Jul 24 '26
Do not put it in rice, it will do nothing. Rice is food and not some magic repair tool. It will not stop corrosion, it will not remove corrosion and it will not soak up any meaningful amount of liquid.Take it apart and disconnect the battery, then a complete disassembly and a full clean is next. Can't do it? Get it to a repair shop like, right now.
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u/Wooden-Hippo-7358 Jul 24 '26
Even worst rice has starch and that starch will mix with the water and create a paste that will potentially damage your device.
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u/sparkling-rainbow 1TB OLED Jul 24 '26
One of the reasons I don't like the glued in battery. Coffee isn't just water, I'd try to clean it. If you're not confident in opening and cleaning it, I'd ask for help. Don't want to fry your device.
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u/thehero29 LCD-4-LIFE Jul 24 '26
As someone who has repaired a LOT of laptops that had coffee spilled on it, the only way to be sure it is clean and dry is to basically bathe the motherboard in Isopropyl Alcohol. If you take cream and sugar in your coffee, that shit will stick to the board and no matter how much you wipe, it's still there. And heating and cooling cycles will cause the remains to melt, move, and eventually it will bridge 2 points it shouldn't, and then your deck is well and truly fucked. And even if you clean the board, you have so many other components in the system that would also be doused in coffee. Basically, be very careful and thorough in cleaning.
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u/bio4m Jul 24 '26
I thought this was a joke post
The rice wont help, you need to disassemble it and clean it up. The damage is caused by the battery feeding the electronics shorted out by the liquid you spilled. Until the battery is disconnected the damage keeps increasing
Not to mention coffee isnt water. There will be residue left inside the device, worse if your coffee had milk and sugar
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u/Deviathan Jul 24 '26
Coffee is yikes. Was there cream or sugar in it? Even if you can get the moisture out, you are likely to need to clean the internals with a toothbrush and isopropyl at best.
Also leaving electronics on top of rice won't do much to help, you just need to let it totally dry out without turning it on.
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u/purpledolphin2 Jul 24 '26
Had milk and collagen powder in the coffee unfortunately. Thank you for the advice, my husband is the technical one so I'll ask him if he will clean it for me.
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u/W0lf1ngt0n Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
While the spill is fresh, you might be able to just spray the whole thing with 70% iso alcohol.
But i read in other comments that you could not find a fitting screwdriver so... Be careful with the toothbrush! š If you have a brush with thinner hairs rather use that. If not, just be careful with the toothbrush and let the iso alcohol work for you. Let it soak in rather longer than too short so anything sticky has enough time to dissolve.
After you're done, give it another good rinse with Alkohol (via spray bottle). Then put it somewhere warm and let it dry for at least 24h. Better 48h. After that reassemble and hope for the best.
Electronics in general can very well withstand even a bath in water without any trouble as long as there is no electricity going while its wet. The idea is to flush out anything that dries up as a residue or deposit with a liquid that doesn't leave anything behind when dried. Like distilled water or pure alcohol. That way, when the liquid you used for cleaning evaporates, there is nothing left of anything on your PCB.
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u/Corsaer Jul 24 '26
I hope it keeps working for OP and they just get a nice hot roasted coffee smell every time the Deck is putting in work.
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u/NetSage 512GB Jul 24 '26
Rice doesn't help. It might even make things worse as the dust will gum.up stuff after the water it attaches to dries.
Either just air dry it or get silica gel.
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u/hellraiser29 Jul 24 '26
You have to open it up, disconnect the battery and use 99% iso alc to clean the thing a few times to get the sugars and coffee out. Rice is more useful cooked with chicken souvlaki or tandoori chicken.
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u/FinnishArmy 64GB - Q3 Jul 24 '26
Rice does nothing by the way, itās a huge myth. People think it works because youāre just letting the water dry.
Itās not like the rice can magically absorb water from the inside of the device.
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u/Bobbys-Last-Birthday Jul 24 '26
Ok so listen here is what you need to do. Firstly DO NOT try to turn it on under any circumstances. If there are any circuits that have coffee on them then turning on the device can cause irreversible damage.
Iāve fixed several things like this before and youāre going to have to trust me a bit. After reading this do your own research before you just take my word for it.
The reason most liquids cause electronics to fail is due to shorting circuits. This happens because of the microscopic metals present in said liquids. For example, water itself isnāt actually conductive, itās only due to the natural impurities in water that makes it so. If you had pure water you could actually run a pc completely submerged.
Now as for how to fix your deck. Go to the store, and buy the highest level isopropyl alcohol they sell. The higher the better as it will be more pure. Take the motherboard and any other chips that have coffee on them out of the deck and submerge them completely in some tuberware filled with the isopropyl. Let it sit for a few minutes then take it out and gently clean it with some q-tip on certain areas if needed. After that, let it dry overnight and any leftover isopropyl should evaporate entirely. After that, put everything back together and turn it on.
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u/laggingprocess 1TB OLED Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
well distilled water (what you refer to as pure water) is still electrically conductive. if you submerge a PC in it then turn it would short out instantly.
you are thinking of a Mineral Oil submersion PC
this information is also google-able
Source: Ive been building PC's since 2006 and have build a few liquid cooled and a mineral oil cooled PC.
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u/stevedore2024 Jul 24 '26
STOP WITH THE RICE.
It's a crappy dessicant, and it has fine dust that will get into mechanical spaces and attract pests as it goes rancid.
If you want to dry something out, put it on the suction side of a large box fan for a couple hours.
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u/Embarrassed-Copy3930 Jul 24 '26
do not use rice! this is an COMPLETE internet myth.
You did something good, you disconnected the battery, but this is not enough.
Take your steam deck to an good professional..
Your SD needs to be opened and washed professionally to wash the coffee off the board.
They normally wash the board with an ultrasonic cleaner, with distill water and some 99% alcohol.
Left over dry coffee can conduct and short something on the board.
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u/X7373Z Jul 24 '26
DO NOT PUT ELECTRONICS IN RICE.
It doesn't dry it faster than literally leaving it out in the open AND it can introduce starch into the cracks and corners where water is, dry somewhat and provide a lovely growing ground for mold.
Just remove the battery, open up every bit you can, and put it in a warm room (not sunlight) with a fan blowing on it.
I fixed my phone after getting it dunked this way and also learned about the 'rice being terrible' thing as well at that time.
Good luck!
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u/SeahorseRevolution Jul 24 '26
Yeah I tried the rice thing back in like 2012. It did nothing and my phone was ruined. Spilled on my phone the other day and took as much apart as I could immediately and dried it out with a towel and fan. Phone is fine.
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u/puzzlingphoenix Jul 24 '26
I thought this was a troll post about how they accidentally baked it in the oven
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u/MeatSafeMurderer Modded my Deck - ask me how Jul 24 '26
Rice doesn't absorb water unless it's submerged in it because the grains are encased in a hard shell. Even if it did it would do nothing about the nice corrosive coffee. You need to open your Steam Deck to clean it properly.
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u/DistinctAsparagus421 Jul 24 '26
Rice will make it worse!! My brother in law worked at a phone repair shop for years. Iād come watch him sometimes. The rice will leave a patina of crud all over the inside of the deck
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u/llkj11 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
If it was on when the coffee got in there and it hit the motherboard it's a done deal unfortunately.
Even if it was off and it dries, the residue will short it out.
You'd be better off removing the battery and soaking the motherboard in distilled water or 99% isopropyl alcohol then redrying over the course of a few weeks and even still it might be done.
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u/NiNdo4589 Jul 24 '26
Once the moisture is gone its gonna just stay sticky, you need to open it up.
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u/selinemanson 512GB OLED Jul 24 '26
I'm wondering what thought process you had that lead you to the decision to fill a pyrex dish full of rice and then shove your entire Deck into it screen-side down?
Jfc...
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u/LBizzel87 Jul 24 '26
Legend has it that if you put anything in rice, lots of mini Asian men will descend onto it and fix it while you sleep!
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u/SuperiorSpidy "Not available in your country" Jul 24 '26
Best way is to remove the battery and put it in packs of silica gel inside a ziplock bag
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u/killerfeline 1TB OLED Jul 24 '26
I went through this recently when my cat knocked a drink over. I ended up having to ship it out to Valve for repair after opening it and cleaning as best as possible still left the buttons in an odd state.
The repair cost me $185 and I have new joysticks!
Hopefully yours is able to be repaired as well.
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u/CaioftheNight Jul 24 '26
I'm not here to provide a solution, I'm here to give my respects to the gamer mom that is dealing through the real life troubles and is trying to save what she can š«” I hope the fates favour you and your SteamDeck is saved š«
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u/lookachoo Jul 24 '26
Never put your electronics in rice.
The fine dust particles from the rice will just get inside and gunk things up.
Itās best to try and open the device if you can and sit it in front of a fan.
And as other people already said, disconnect the internal battery/unplug the device or both.
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u/LiveRhubarb43 512GB OLED Jul 24 '26
Don't put your electronics in rice. It actually does more damage than good. you could end up with rice grains or dust inside and that can cause more problems.
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u/xxnicknackxx Jul 24 '26
Rice has a lot of starchy dust which can cause issues. Better to use silica gel packs.
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u/stiligFox 1TB OLED Limited Edition Jul 24 '26
Once the system is fully discharged (give it a few hours, and try to turn it on with the battery disconnected to fully drain the capacitors as much as you can), 90% IPA/rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs of distilled (distilled only!) water will go a long way to get it all cleaned up.
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u/FatsBoombottom Jul 24 '26
Please stop putting electronics in rice. The dust and starches can get in and cause more damage.
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u/FalcoPhantasm 512GB - Q3 Jul 24 '26
Disconnect the battery. The longer you wait, the less likely survival is. Furthermore, if you have an SD card inside, please remove it. When you open up your Steam Deck, you'll break the SD card clean in half.
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u/dogfoodjones Jul 24 '26
Donāt forget to put the rice you used in rice when youāre done or itāll go bad
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u/TheAffinityBridge Jul 24 '26
It's just as effective to have it on the rice, under the rice or on a different planet to the rice. Putting wet electronics in rice does nothing, rice can't magically draw liquids towards itself, it's a silly modern old wives tale that has taken root after people have done it and found that their item worked afterwards, but this would have happened without the rice anyway.
What actually needs to be done is to disconnect a device from power after the spill ASAP, including any batteries, and remove and clean the internal components with alcohol to prevent corrosion.
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u/diaperedace Jul 24 '26
FYI rice is a wives tale, it doesn't do anything for moisture. Disconnecting the battery was the right move, make sure you clean it all out with alcohol before attempting to turn it on again.
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u/thatsmymoney Jul 24 '26
The rice thing has to stop. Maybe this doesnāt apply to OP but it applies in general. Uncooked rice is a natural desiccant. Itās something you may have around the house. It was a good tip in an emergency to use it for electronics that got a little liquid on them. But Iāve spoken to multiple people now who have said they went to the store to buy rice for their wet phone/computer/whatever. They went to the store. Then they walked past products made AS a desiccant, found like a cup of rice, poured it on a plate, and plopped their whatever onto the top of it thinking it would undo being at the bottom of a lake over the winter. Stop it. Even if rice were 5 times better at absorbing moisture than any other material, this shit aināt doing it.
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u/balderdash9 Jul 24 '26
My deck is either in my hands or in the case. Nightmare scenario for OP
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u/Sev_Henry 512GB Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Pro-tip: never forget to zip that thing up. Or do what I did and tell yourself "eh, I won't forget it's unzipped in the morning"
Smh...
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u/TheFilthyMick Jul 24 '26
I really wish the whole rice myth would go away. It's as likely to make rice glue inside than it is to remove any moisture. You're better off dumping a device in a jug of isopropyl than put it in rice.
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u/drakenmang 256GB - Q3 Jul 24 '26
Rice will fuck it up, contact your local repair store and ask for ultrasonic water cleaning, if this were to be saltwater you would have a dead deck.
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u/dubhead_dena Jul 24 '26
Little Chinese hands, come and fix it! There's enough rice for everyone! Fingers crossed btw
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u/Puzzleheaded-Set-928 Jul 24 '26
Yeah. Sadly I think it's destroyed. But if you take the steam deck out of it quickly, maybe the rice won't taste all plasticky. ;)
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u/Tiroprosam Jul 24 '26
I'm sure it's too late for this to be helpful but to anyone reading this, do not use rice. It's not effective, use silica desiccant packs. They're cheap, but a bunch and of you get something wet dry it off as much you can and then put it into a Ziploc with all of the silica gel packs. Do NOT use rice. People also had good things to say about turning it off and removing the battery. Do that too.
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u/tryingtowritegoodly Jul 24 '26
Black or cream & sugar?
Not trying to be a smartass, the answer will affect your course of action.
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u/NintendoBeard Jul 24 '26
I got mine wet, and heard a bunch of scary crackling. It was mostly okay but the joysticks were fucked. Repair shop wanted a ton of money and no guarantee it would even work again.
I was able to repair it for 50 bucks. Perhaps I was lucky that it was only the joysticks that shorted out.
On Amazon I got the iFixit kit for $20 and the GuliKit Hall Effect Joystick Modules for $30. (For OLED steamdeck only!) Apparently I'm not allowed to post Amazon links here.
Worked out great.
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u/WorstPapaGamer Jul 24 '26
I spilled a latte (espresso and milk no sugar) on my steam deck too and I was able to clean it up and it works.
Basically I disassembled it and used 90+% alcohol to clean up and coffee residue then let it dry open for 24 hours. It worked fine after that. The daughter board (where the track pads) was the one that got wet the most.
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u/purpledolphin2 Jul 24 '26
Did you completely take out the internal components and clean them? Or just the external shell?
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u/WorstPapaGamer Jul 24 '26
Took off the external shell (I had to disconnect a few things.) The back triggers and the right joystick and the daughter board. Because I wanted to make sure I got all of it out. It really wasnāt too bad. Iāll try to find the video I used
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u/jtmonkey Jul 24 '26
I'm going to say it once for everyone in the back. Take it apart and clean it with alcohol. The alcohol will evaporate the water and if it's not shorted might save your device. If you're not willing to take it apart take it to an ifixit or whatever your neighborhood gadget guy is and pay him the $100 to do it.
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u/purpledolphin2 Jul 24 '26
Neighborhood gadget guy is husband, he will take a look when he gets home later. Hopefully it's salvagable and not shorted!
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u/knbob21304 Jul 24 '26
I still don't understand why people used to pass around the trick of putting electronic devices in rice
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u/Makere-b Jul 24 '26
I once spilled coffee on my laptop, it worked fine for years after, but some of the keys were a bit crunchy (had to hit couple times until the spring would work properly).
So I'd disassemble to the device to the buttons, and give the buttons an extra good rinse and clean.
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u/Theupvotetitan 1TB OLED Jul 24 '26
get a massive bag of silca gel the rice will just make it starchy
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u/bakanisan "Not available in your country" Jul 24 '26
The rice is doing more harm than good actually.
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u/No_Example_7214 Jul 24 '26
You have to bury it in rice, not just lay it down flat on his face into rice.
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u/shervi1997 Jul 24 '26
Please donāt use rice, rice dust is worst. Get silicon stuff from Amazon or get from hardware store dehumidifier packs
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u/bradenlikestoreddit Jul 24 '26
That rice isn't going to do anything. Take it apart so it can actually air out. But also, it may be completely fine
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u/Murky-Salt-5690 Jul 24 '26
well hopefully the rice disnt do tok much damage. i know people still think this but puttince rice on a wet console can mess it up too. really you just want to towel dry it and then keep it in a dry environment with lots of circulating air ike in front of a fan.
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u/DoNot_Be_Afraid Jul 24 '26
I know it's kinda late mine completely dropped in the bath tub lol. I completely shut it down opened it up and immediately removed the battery and let dry(all while nakey). After drying for around 24 hours I put it back together. The only thing that was ruined was the screen. Replaced the screen by ordering through fix it and good as new
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u/ReK_ Jul 24 '26
I once dumped an entire bottle of beer into the top fan vent of my PC and was able to recover it.
Others have said similar things, but if something similar happens again, or for others:
There are two things that will kill a device in a spill like this:
- The liquid causes a short which dumps power through something that wasn't supposed to receive it, burning it out.
- The liquid, or something in it, corrodes things.
If you immediately pull all power, including all batteries, you might save yourself from the first. This is what the common advice about rice then addresses: it dries it out so nothing shorts when you reconnect power.
Just drying it may not be enough to prevent the second. This is where it depends what the liquid was, including what was in it. If it was just fresh water you can just dry it. If it was salt water or anything other than water you need to thoroughly clean everything as quickly as possible. This means disassembling every component that liquid might have gotten under/inbetween. To do the cleaning use isopropyl alcohol (90+% is best) and a soft nylon brush (a toothbrush works). You need to get every nook and cranny, inside every connector, etc, or it may corrode things and die either now or days/weeks/months down the line. You can use paper towel to help but be careful of it tearing and leaving fibres behind (the blue shop towels are best for this reason). You shouldn't need to dry it with the paper towel.
Some important notes about using isopropyl alcohol: it's used because it evapourates quickly and doesn't leave any residue. It can short things, wait for it to fully evapourate. It can also eat away at certain things: never use it on screens, it will react with the display surface and/or eat away any special coatings. Use something like windex on screens instead.
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u/Elegant_Situation285 Jul 25 '26
i don't know why people still think rice is more absorbent than fresh cycled air.
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u/H0NEY2O77 512GB Jul 25 '26
Rice makes it worse iirc. The starch and dust causes damage to the components and with the moisture inside, leaves a paste like residue inside electronics. And that can cause corrosion.
Itās also not that effective at removing moisture and open air is actually much better for drying electronics. And while you leave the water sitting inside the device thinking the rice is going something, it would be more effective to pat dry the components of visible dampness and leave open to air dry.
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u/Humble-Aprico Jul 25 '26
no dude your rice is fine but there's a steam deck sitting in it for some reason
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u/hazardc Jul 26 '26
I'm really genuinely happy for you that it works, and i also genuinely hope you have no issues going forward.
....That said... this picture made me laugh for a solid minute for some reason.. Not at the plight... just at the approach. Like ... really? Just slap that baby down on some long grained rice? loool.
Seriously though I'm glad you're not having to struggle or anything to try to get it fixed or have to buy a new one.
I'd probably open it up, that said -- I've actually seen steam decks take seome SERIOUS water punishment to the front so long as they werent' shooting water into the holes air moves through ... the thing just took a ton of liquid and never failed.
I would guess that the front side of steam deck probably is sealed just as well as any new phone that you can pretty much just shower with these days or take a dive in a pond with. I have no evidence of this, never took one apart, just a guess.
The vents, however...
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u/dllyncher Jul 29 '26
Please don't put your electronics in rice. I work in a repair shop and can't tell you how many times customers bring us devices that got wet and were put in a bag of rice only to find heavy corrosion inside after a very short time period. Rice doesn't actually soak up moisture. Rice has microscopic dust particles and the moisture is pulling that dust in, speeding up corrosion. The best thing to do is open up the device if you can and put it in front of a fan and somewhere warm. Don't put it in the oven when at low temps. This applies to all electronics.
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u/Waitform3 Jul 24 '26