Are Keyboards Dishwasher Safe? 534
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 last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
Would I do this to my peripheral?? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Would I do this to my peripheral?? (Score:4, Informative)
my brother does it. as long as you rinse it properly to get rid of the soap,
and then give it some time to dry, it'll be fine.
some keyboards are based on several layers of transperent sheets for connecting the keys.
if that's the case, it's an advantage to seperate the layers slightly, to get more air through.
This doesn't only apply to keyboards, but to all electronics,
you can wash them if you remember to rinse them, and give them time to dry.
Also, never do it with a battery still attached, it's the electricity AND the stuff OTHER than water that kills the electronics.
Re:Would I do this to my peripheral?? (Score:5, Informative)
This is largely true. I'm a retired US Navy Electronic Technician and we used to have a dishwasher in the shop solely for washing electronic circuit boards taken from electronic test equipment. Most equipment is not harmed by exposure to water IF there's no electricity applied. That being said, take care and use common sense, especially if you're dealing with an entire piece of gear and not just a circuit board that's been removed from the equipment. In addition to batteries (and that includes small one's like computer CMOS batteries, which are sometimes soldered to the circuit board), be aware of speakers and other components which can be damaged by water. Some equipment may contain ferrous materials, which will rust or corrode. If you're comfortable with disassembling the equipment, it'll sometimes help both the cleaning and the drying. Even if you don't want to disassemble it completely, it might be advantageous to take the outer casing or shell off the gear after washing to aide in drying. (Be careful not to partially disassemble before washing if there are small or loosely installed parts that can be dislodged by the spraying water.) A heat lamp or bright sunshine will also speed drying, as will a fan. You can even place some boards in an oven at low temperatures. Again, use common sense! A strong heat lamp placed too close to the item or a hot oven can melt or deform some plastics. A couple of hours in the sun doesn't guarantee that all the water is evaporated from all the little nooks and crannies.
Re:Would I do this to my peripheral?? (Score:4, Informative)
My neighbor, who's a retired US Navy communications guy and possibly an ex-spook, convinced me not to either put it into an autoclave or throw the (rather nice) phone away.
So, a couple days later, he gives the phone back to me and it's working perfectly. Same battery, everything. He told me later that he'd simply disassembled the phone, hit it with his wife's blowdryer and a sun lamp and voila! He started telling me stories of electronics that had been rescued from much worse than just a dunking in a loo.
Even though there was nothing but water in the toilet when the phone fell in, I had a slight hesitation putting it to my ear for a week or so, but it worked just fine.
Bacteria, fungi, and viruses are everywhere. (Score:5, Interesting)
However, it is not sensible to worry about bacteria. There are bacteria everywhere, all the time. Whether there are 100,000 bacteria on every key or 1,000,000 makes little difference.
Slashdot editors seem to easily believe science fraud articles. Maybe they played with their Nintendo Game Boys in biology class, physics class, and, judging by the number of spelling and grammar errors, English class.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Fully agree. Additionally, the "more bacteria on your keyboard then on a toilet" is particularly inane. A toilet is a smooth surface that's regularly doused with bleach or other bacteria killing compounds. A keyboard is full of nooks and crannies that get packed with Doritos crumbs and little bits of Taco Bell meat and spray
Re:Bacteria, fungi, and viruses are everywhere. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:At last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
o.
Re:At last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:At last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:At last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:At last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:4, Interesting)
My $0.02 AU
Re:At last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:5, Informative)
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..
Re:At last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:4, Informative)
The fancier way, apparently, is to wash it in hot water, THEN in almost pure alcohol (to absorb the water), THEN shake it *really* hard, to get rid of (now less pure) alcohol droplets. When late one night our (very experienced) electronics guy got to the last part I (more of a software kind) had to try to look the other way, you know, with the sickening feeling that this beautiful half-gold-plated thing will crack right there and then -- but it did survive just fine.
Paul B.
electronics - water - alcohol OK but for plastic (Score:4, Informative)
The only issue you may have is, in general you'll have *non-electronics* parts around your board, e. g. an LCD display whose nifty plastic surface may well crack when in contact with alcohol: this is the main issue to take care of.
Alcool is technically said to "reveal constraints" in ordinary plastics, so beware about this...
Re:At last! A story *made* for slashdot! (Score:5, Informative)
I've washed keyboards before in the shower by hand (usually in response to spilling beer on them). this is preferable in my opinion. But some keyboard designs do not tolerate washing very well. For example my fairly pricey Sun keyboard was damaged with water because the watered corroded all the contacts (there were wide black streaks, making many of the keys unreliable). it took a good two hours with a pencil eraser to rub the corrosion off the contacts. although the stress or rubbing the corrosion off cracked one of the traces on the very fragile design, forcing me to buy a $15 conductive pen to repair it.
if you are going to washer it i would also recommend rinsing it with distilled water before letting it dry, a jug of that stuff is like a dollar. and possibly accelerate the drying process with a hair dryer on cold. not hot, unless you want to melt your keys, hair dryers usually get too hot too quickly.
Anecdotal evidence (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I did it once. I dumped most of cup of coffee into my Microsoft Natural Keyboard a few years back. I took the whole keyboard apart...the keys come out in groups, and there's a dimpled plastic thing underneath the keys. Since I had it apart, it didn't take a particularly long time to dry...I waited a few hours, I think. Washing it didn't hurt anything, but the keyboard was never quite the same. Some of the keys were harder to press down for some reason, lik
So cheap (Score:2)
Re:So cheap (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So cheap (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So cheap (Score:4, Funny)
It's funny... I had that same voice in my head... but my fingers wouldn't let me type the command to shut this box down...
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Or for that matter the Optimus [artlebedev.com] Maximus [slashdot.org].
(Seriously... are they making it yet?)
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Bad Idea (Score:2, Funny)
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Putting it in whole to a dishwasher just seems to scream bad idea. Who knows what hasn't been properly coated and will end up corroding in some way. Even putting in just the
The evils of soap (Score:5, Informative)
So the modified checklist is:
1. Keyboard you can afford to lose.
2. No soap
3. Shake empty of water, then air dry.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
The key step (pun intended) is the air drying. As long as the water no longer bridges contacts, you're fine.
Re:The evils of soap (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:The evils of soap (Score:5, Informative)
Keyboards are dishwasher safe in the same way that flash drives or these printed circuit board are dishwasher safe.
If they can physically survive being immersed in water (I.E. they don't contain stuff that will dissolve) then the water won't destroy them.
The problem occurs when the keyboard is powered. The water will short every connection in the board and that will cause a very large problem. Someone will probably mention that you could use distilled water to clean it because distilled water won't conduct electricity. However, one website tried running a computer while it was immersed in distilled water. It worked for about 5 minutes and then the water started to dissociate and it shorted the machine out.
Bottom line, if you want to wash your keyboard then just make sure it's dry before you try to use it.
I dropped a water balloon on my Apple ][ (Score:3, Interesting)
But you know what? It lived. Dried it out as best as I could with a hair dryer and left it overnight, and it worked fine.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Not at all true. In order to operate it without problems while it was immersed in water you would have to do all that. Once the water is gone, it doesn't matter any more. And the circuitry is simple enough it's unlikely to be damaged by operation while it's wet -- it just won't function properly.
I've washed my current keyboard three times now, twice in the dishwasher and once in an ultrasonic alcohol bath. The only ill effects are that the sticker on the back is fading and the plastic on one of the sc
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Re:The evils of soap (Score:5, Funny)
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I hear ya. Ever since I've started washing my hands, I've noticed there's an invisible force field that repels all liquids, cat hair, and crumbs from the keyboard. It's an amazing phenomenon that only Douglas Adams could describe in great detail.
Re:The evils of soap (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The evils of soap (Score:4, Interesting)
Funny you should mention this - my girlfriend put her iPod Nano through a washing machine cycle just this morning, including the bud-style headphones.
Still seems to work.
I'm not sure if that says more about the strength of the Nano or the weakness of the washing machine. ;)
Water = Fine for Electronics (Score:2)
We only stopped because using no-clean flux and skipping the wash is cheaper.
Using de-i water might be better, but I've gotten electronics completely drenched before without a problem (car stereo soaked in a rain, digital camera underwater for several hours). In
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I washed a few keyboards, most notably my IBM Model M.
Some did not quite work well afterwards and the plastic layers with copper encrusted in it must be cleaned carefully and dried. Rust forms on that layer fast (and so water was the more dangerous element in my case). If it is dried quickly enough there's no reason why it should not work.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Yes. (Score:4, Informative)
I've done this before. You can air dry it for only 24 hours in most climates, and a lot less if you're willing to take it apart after. If you use it before it's fully dry the worst that seems to happen is keys behave weirdly -- if that happens, it's not done drying yet.
At my current job I have access to an ultrasonic alcohol bath cleaner; that was quick and simple, and dried out even faster.
Compressed air nozzles also work well, though that's more for dust and debris and doesn't do much about the grimy stuff.
Slight complication (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Slight complication (Score:5, Funny)
Bt caefl, thogh - the keys may fall ot, so it's easy to lose them.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Give it a try tonight and let us know how it worked out.
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Easier Solution... (Score:2, Insightful)
Wash you damn hands!
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This would have no effect at all, nasty keyboards are caused by the food that falls on the keyboard.
Re:Easier Solution... (Score:4, Funny)
Mostly pointless (Score:2)
I can see something like this with a IBM Model M or a Unicomp customizer or a happy hacking keyboard, but most p
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Re: (Score:2)
If you went out and bought a keyboard you like, then by all means wash it and stuff. In my experience most people use whatever came with
What about the environment? (Score:2)
No, but.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
A Week??? (Score:3, Funny)
A week? That's probably more fossil fuels consumed than a new keyboard would be.
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oh the irony (Score:2)
If it's a cheap membrane keyboard just send to the recycling center.
Re:oh the irony (Score:5, Funny)
Did it many MANY times. (Score:2, Interesting)
Shake well, or run a shop-vac over them after cleaning, and put them in a warm place with decent air circulation for the weekend. On Monday plug in, turn computer on
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Re:Did it many MANY times. (Score:4, Funny)
Better disinfectant : ethanol or propanol (Score:2)
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most things are cleaner than a toilet seat (Score:5, Insightful)
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!
Re:most things are cleaner than a toilet seat (Score:5, Funny)
Re:most things are cleaner than a toilet seat (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The fallacy here is that having bacteria does not necessarily make something "dirty" (unhealthy). There's probably more bacteria in my stomach right now that my toilet seat. Does that mean I wouldn't want to get food in my stomach? There's good bacteria, chaotic neutral bacteria, and chaotic evil bacteria.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Heck if you told them they had (good) bacteria in their intestines, a lot of people would try to drink Dettol (or similar) and make the world a better place.
Re:most things are cleaner than a toilet seat (Score:4, Funny)
Even worse than dishwashing (Score:2)
I tried this before... (Score:2)
*Doh* I just read the article... _Regular_ keyboards...
Common Technique (Score:2)
I once had to wash my computer's motherboard, too, after my male cat sprayed it (the case was off, so the motherb
For how long? (Score:2)
No really, what happens? What happens if you do this two or three times? Inquiring minds want to know.
At my university (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Turns out F6 does have a use after all. (Score:4, Interesting)
Turns out it moves between focusable frames in Windows, and in Firefox, can be used to focus on the task bar - and hit again to focus on the page! Useful, yet unloved.
Someone needs to start a F6 fanclub. That key will get a complex.
Model M (Score:2)
I thought it was a joke when I first heard it, but I had a keyboard that was in bad enough shape to risk. I now use that keyboard at work. The second one I use at home, and it is due for another dishwasher cycle soon.
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Does it really get clean without soap?
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We have nothing to fear but fear itself (Score:3, Insightful)
Nope. But then I don't share the [seemingly] common pathological fear of bacteria that's been created in the last decade or so.
Re:We have nothing to fear but fear itself (Score:5, Funny)
After I use someone else's keyboard, I wash my hands. Maybe I should write an Ask Slashdot topic:
"I recently discovered it was possible to wash my hands. After looking up various hygiene-related articles (link to Wikipedia) I found out that hand-washing has been associated with greatly-lessened likelihoods of getting sick. And disease outbreaks have been shown to be limited among populations of folks who wash their hands. Finally, after I heard that Al Gore washes his hands (link to Al Gore), I started doing it myself. Has anyone else tried this? Where do you wash them? Do you live near a fast-moving river where you can wash them? I wash mine in the toilet, but I'm starting to think that's not helping as much as the online articles suggest. There are other fixtures in my bathroom, but I don't know what they do. Has anyone ever tried using these other fixtures?"
not anymore (Score:2)
Thanks to slashdot, not anymore!
Subject (Score:2)
Bonus points for getting the keys back where they belong.
coffee stains! (Score:2)
welcome the bacteria overlords (Score:2)
Toilet seats and bacteria. (Score:2)
Furthermore, the amount of bacteria doesn't really have anything to do with how healthy the surface is. Most dairy products have insane amounts of bacteria, but it's all bacteria that isn't harmful to humans. The bacteria y
i'm tttyigg tthis noooow (Score:2)
wel i'mm givvig ttthis grettt idea aa ttry tooo se oww welll ittt wokss... sinc ii cantt ussse itt untttil aaftr it driess i hav t us aan oldd keyybarddd for nnow.
Tea + keyboard = broken (Score:2)
I once spilt a small amount of tea onto my keyboard and it never worked again.
It was one of those cordless ones though. Still, I wouldn't trust a dishwasher with any keyboard unless it was marked dishwasher-safe.
Cleaning the Apple Extended Keyboard (Score:2)
Every few years, I pull the keycaps, and the plastic top and bottom, and soak them for a few hours in hot water with a hefty dollop of Spic and Span. Brownian Motion is your friend.
As for the keyboard pc, it's mainly a case of using the vacuum cleaner to suck all the loose crud from all the nooks and crannies. The keyswitches are pretty well sealed. They have yet to show any type of failure.
After the plastic bits in the bucket have been rinsed off and dried, the key c
Wash in de-ionized water (Score:3, Informative)
Printed circuit boards are normally washed in something like a dishwasher after soldering. A few components can't tolerate that, mainly some speakers, and they have to go on after the washing step.
But you have to use water with low dissolved solids, since, when the water evaporates, it's going to leave solids behind. Leaving streaks of iron behind is definitely a Bad Thing. So use distilled or de-ionized water.
How to clean a keyboard without a dishwasher (Score:5, Informative)
Think first! (Score:3, Interesting)
Ideally, what you want to do is take the front part of the keyboard off, remove the keyboard controller PCB (Usually just three screws and you can pull it and the cord off,) remove the plastic sheet and the metal plate, and then just scrub the thing down with whatever you're comfortable with. Dry it off traditionally with a hairdryer or similar device (being plastic, it doesn't take more than fifteen minutes,) and screw the sheets and the controller back into the keyboard.
Voilá. Clean keyboard in twenty minutes tops.
Re: (Score:2)
I did this with a Microsoft Natural Multimedia keyboard, which has a bunch of funky shaped keys. I closed them up in a silverware basket. It worked great, and they all came out spotless. However, like most projects, it took about 5X the amount of time that I originally expected. 104 keys ends up being a lot more than it seems. I'm not sure that I'd bother going through that effort again; I'll probably just try poking around with some Q-tips next time.
One thing I
Re:Shower (Score:5, Informative)