I have heard this rumor for years and always thought it was super crazy. I found a blog on the net about it and decided to give it a shot. My keyboard was filthy dirty anyway and it was a cheap-o.
Here is the instructions I used from
Scott Moschella's site
Last Monday, I spilled beer on my keyboard and received the Dishwasher advice from two very tech-savvy people.
Today, I can report that not only will the keyboard come out clean, but it will probably work once it dries completely. Every key on the keyboard works and feels just right - the Caps Lock light even works! This ‘hack’ is not for the weakhearted, and I would probably avoid putting a $100+ keyboard in the dishwasher. But if you don’t have any other options, it’s a pretty good bet.
Exactly what I did:
- disconnected my USB keyboard from my computer
- dumped out the spilled beverage
- placed keyboard in dishwasher (normal cycle)
- added soap to the reservoir (I used Electrasol)
- closed the dishwasher and turned it on
- I was advised to AVOID USING the heated dry cycle - 20 minutes too late
- removed keyboard from dishwasher once the cycle was complete
- popped ALL the keys off to allow the keyboard to completely dry (either draw, write down where the keys go, or take a picture so you can put ‘em all back in the right place)
- leaned my keyboard vertically against a wall and allowed it to dry for 5 days
- replaced all the keys, plugged the keyboard back in and tested every key to make sure it worked
I had to live without a keyboard for FIVE days and it wasn’t easy. Typing consisted of double-clicking the Roman character set in OS X’s Character Palette - letter by letter. Not easy, especially since there is no Enter Key or Space. So, I got creative with right-click menus and Copy/Paste.
Right now, I can hear geek-owned dishwashers across the land powering up.
I couldn't wait 5 days to get back on the computer so I borrowed a board from my brothers pc, but the whole process worked like a charm. I am not sure how it would work with fancy keyboards, but you can always use the long method. I found this link in google that gives some tedious directions that I am too lazy for, but you can read them.
How to clean your keyboard, for patient people only!
Has anyone else tried the dishwasher method?
