spilled beer on my keyboard, what do I do?

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MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015

The March 2015 update of Apple's 13" MacBook Pro Retina Display, model A1502, features fifth-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and introduces the Force Touch trackpad.

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rich @rich84896

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Posted: Oct 5, 2015

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spilled beer on my keyboard, what do I do?

I spilled beer over the top half of the keyboard yesterday afternoon. I have Apple Care, and like a fool I believed it to cover the water damage if need be.

I was quick and swift in cleaning it, took paper towels and dried immediately after holding it upside down initially while wiping. then i even tried to push my lips against the keys and suck any beer out but it seemd dry. I did not have rice handy at my friends house and just dried and it and made sure it worked. today it works as well, however the keys were really sticky and almost stuck on certain keys.

I called Apple Care and found out I was not covered and in a McGuyver-esque fashion I came up with the brialliant idea to steam the keyboard quickly with my iron just using the steam, and hoped it woud moisten any sticky dried beer. then I poured rice over the keyboard and patted down. i did this several times over past three hours. most of the keys are no longer stuck however some still are.

My question is really, do you think I need to open my MacBook Pro, or have it looked at to make sure there is no damage internally, OR is it almost definite that between the beer and steam that there will be damage/corrosion internally.

Answer this question I have this problem too

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Dan @danj Rep: 478.9k Self employed contract worker 35 329 970 · Answer 1 · 2015-10-05T19:17:54-07:00

At this point you'll either need to find someone to open your system up (the sooner the better) or you'll need to try to clean things up your self.

For now don't turn the system on and don't plug in the AC adapter as you don't want the battery to charge or let the system power up. Until your system is cleaned up you could make things worse!

As to the keys if you are a gambling man you might be able to clean up the keys by carefully popping off the KeyCaps and then using cotton swabs (Q-Tips) with distilled water (don't use tap!) slightly dampen the swab as you don't war the wetness to drip down. Carefully wipe down the insides of the keyboard. Using a spray cleaner you can give the keycaps a wash away from the system. But that doesn't address the spillage that got inside.

As to Rice and steam:

I wouldn't use either (sorry) both don't really do anything when you have a dripping system. Rice is only useful when you are traveling to the tropics where the humidity can get into your equipment. Steam won't clean the junk out all it does is soften it up, once the moisture is gone the junk just get sticky again.