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Are Keyboards Dishwasher Safe?
i_like_spam writes "Computer keyboards are a breeding ground for bacteria. Studies have shown that keyboards often contain more bacteria than toilet seats. Common cleaning methods, such as pressurized-air canisters and damp rags, help remove some of the dirt, but they also leave behind plenty of grime. National Public Radio describes a recent experiment by a reporter who used a dishwasher to clean her keyboard. Following the advice on Plastic Bugs, she placed her keyboard in the top rack, didn't use the heated dry cycle, and air dried the keyboard for a week afterwards. Her keyboard is now squeaky clean and functions perfectly. Has anyone else tried this or any other alternate keyboards cleaning methods? For those not willing to air dry for a week, dishwasher-safe keyboards are now available. Would you ever do this to your peripheral? "
At my university (Sherbrooke) we work late, drink coffee and eat things like chips or our diner in front of the computer. Keyboards get dirty quickly because the security guards cannot enforce the law.
What IT does to clean the keyboard is much the same but probably less damaging. The have a big plastic box they fill full of water. They just immerse the keyboards for a few hours, lt them dry for 72 hres.
Everything is clean and they don't brake often with this method.
I work in electronics manufacturing.
Every printed circuit board we make gets washed in a sink with tap water then dried with compressed air. In over 20 years, it's never been a problem.
It could be more of an issue in places with harder water, but in that case ordinary distilled water would be a poor choice too. You really want deionized water as the ordinary distilled stuff is ridiculously reactive.
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
I use to shower keyboards all the time, since the late 80s, when they'd been peed on or drooled on by special needs children. Give them an isopropyl alcohol rinse, let'em dry, and you're good to go. Also works with Apple ][ motherboards, joysticks, and the occasional 5-1/4" floppy that had jello shoved inside it (don't ask...). A few rules apply; no mechanical systems (there's a special cleaning solution for those), no power systems, no monitors (unless you LIKE grisly death), no headphones, no speakers, et cetera. Just solid state components and key switches only please. Q-tips, Vaseline, canned air, and isopropyl alcohol are all still tools of the trade. It's amazing what you can do with them even on modern hardware.
I can personally attest to the validity of dishwashing keyboards - I have seen it done (successfully) first hand.
About 10 years ago, my friend's mom complained that her computer was acting strangely. It would keep typing the same letters over and over again after a single initial keypress. My dad did some investigation and noticed that this happened on every program, not just the DOS prompt where she noticed it.
He pressed her on the subject of her keyboard, asking if anyone had spilled anything on it - to which she fervently replied "No". Being the problem solver he is, my dad had brought along his own keyboard to use in testing and lo and behold, everything worked just fine.
It was about that time (faced with evidence that it was a peripheral problem) that she admitted that there may have been some iced tea spilt on the keyboard a few days prior - but that she didn't think it was any big deal.
Since my dad had a spare keyboard anyway, he gave it to them in exchange for the tacky one. Once home, he did the very experiment described in the article. He ran the keyboard through the dishwasher (bottom rack) on low heat so as not to melt the keys. Then he propped the keyboard up in front of a floor vent to let the dry, air-conditioned air work on it overnight.
The next day, he plugged in the keyboard to discover that it was fixed! Back then keyboards had less gadgetry (no numeric side-pad or soft "media" buttons up top), but hey - a win's a win.
water doesn't hurt electronics contrary to popular belief.. its powering them up when wet that does. and its not even shorting that does the damage when you do.. it electrolysis that kills them by damaging the circuit.
when we assemble printed circuit boards the last step is to wash them in warm water to strip the flux used in the soldering process.
also when i get a gadget thats been dropped in the toilet (pagers are notorious for this) we tell the customer to pull the battery, put it in a bucket of fresh water.. and bring it over to the shop.
i have a 99% success rate reviving drowned electronics this way.
$0.02 from a electronics tech in the field..