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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? "
Wash you damn hands!
The third most important thing I have learned in life: Squeeze anything hard enough and it eventually makes a noise.
seeing as my keyboard is a bit attached to my laptop, most people in my situation probably would not.
"Studies have shown that keyboards often contain more bacteria than toilet seats."
Don't you get tired of hearing how things are cleaner than a toilet seat? As proven on Mythbusters, almost everything is dirtier than a toilet seat, the floor, the counter, your mouth, your hands, all contain more bacteria than a toilet seat. So people, stop with the toilet seat analogies, they are meaningless!
I keep holding onto my keyboard because if I buy a new one, some kid in Asia is going to be roasting this one over an open pit coal fire to get the gold out of the capacitors.
"Would you ever do this to your peripheral?"
Nope. But then I don't share the [seemingly] common pathological fear of bacteria that's been created in the last decade or so.
Better question: Why are you wasting 200 proof Ethanol on a $30 keyboard?
The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
I definitively agree : open it and wash only the plastic part ie keys and outside case. I have done that from time to time - and the results are awesome. And , BTW, you DO need soap to clean it (contrary to what a later post claims) ; but if you are washing only the plastic and keeping the electronics dry, then it is perfectly fine.
I love bacteria! Bacteria is what makes the difference between me and my spouse (well, that and the boobs). Being an utterly absent-minded ubergeek, I have a lax sense of how long food can survive in the fridge... if it doesn't have martian cheese, I declare it edible. The result of a decade of this dietary abuse is that I hardly ever get indigestion or cramps, while she will get nauseated just at the thought of day-old pizza.
The human body is a complex, self-regulating organism. If you life your whole life in a super-sanitized bubble, soaked in distilled water and shielded from the sun's "harmful" rays, the very instant you step outside into the real world you'll drop dead. I'm not saying we should go about our daily chores covered in filth, but I certainly don't live my life in fear of microscopic critters. We humans have been around for thousands of years, well guess what: even the Neanderthal managed to survive, and while they didn't have the pollution problems of industrialization, they certainly didn't have hyper-filtered water and Purell lotion. We may be smarter and more productive than our far ancestors, but we've become big pussies.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
I've worked in public lab settings. After one winter where I had a number of colds, I started using a hand sanitizer regularly -- every time I came off of one of the keyboards. It made a huge difference. I think that any point of contact for multiple people, which is basically not clean ever is a health risk.
If it's you home keyboard, I think this is less of an issue, just given the lower number of people using the device.