I just chucked my keyboard in the dishwasher.

[digitalwanderer]

I gave up, the damned thing had some serious sticky weirdness going down with it that caused it to type "op" when I hit "p" and "l;" everytime I hit ";", with some general strangeness with all the keys in that area.

It's my nice slimline one too. I took it apart trying to clean it, but to no avail. Too many cups of sugary coffee & cokes knocked over by the kids & puppies on it, I decided that it's time to either fix it or pitch it so I sent it's fate to the dishwasher.

Anyone ever stuck one in whole and had it survive?

 

[Crusher]

I have not tried it, but apparently some people have had success.

 

[wireframe]

Anyone ever stuck one in whole and had it survive?

The heat may damage it. It most probably will not work when you take it out, but that doesn't mean it's broken. Most likely there will be water trapped between the two conductive filaments and this will not evaporate so you'll have to take it apart and dry it. There's a "cup" in there for each key that might need attention so you'll have lots of fun.

BTW, the simplest way to completely clean your keyabord is to take it apart whilst dry. Carefully deparate the top part with the keys and put that in the dish basin and scrub away with water. You can then use a hairdryer to dry it and then place it back on the base where most of the gadgetry is. Some keyboards have chips soldered to the top, but if you're careful it should not be a problem.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Nope, it's a Logitech Ultra X and isn't put together like your standard keyboard.

Trust me, I tried that route.

 

[Killer-Kris]

I've actually run about 3 different keyboards through the dishwasher in my life time. It seems to work like a charm, and I haven't had one ruined yet. And only one of them ever had trouble with not working right away due to water be trapped in it. But I fixed it by taking it completely apart and just leaving it to air dry over night, put it back together and it's been happy since.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Do they come out lemon fresh?

 

[Guden Oden]

I'd seriously suggest turning off the heater element that dries the dishes after the washing cycle has finished, as it might well cause the plastic to warp, or even melt/catch fire.

Also, dishwasher detergent doesn't as much wash, as etches the grease and such away; it's a very powerful base and might also do "funny" things to electronic components. Besides, how clean do you think the insides of a dishwasher is that's been used for years and years, REALLY? You want tiny bits of food and stuff sprayed all over your keyboard? Blech!

 

[AlphaWolf]

how clean do you think the insides of a dishwasher is that's been used for years and years, REALLY? You want tiny bits of food and stuff sprayed all over your keyboard? Blech!

I'd have no problem eating off of the inside of my dishwasher. It's quite possibly the cleanest thing in my house.

 

[the maddman]

I've always heard when you do this, you run it through in the top rack, and without soap. Just a good steaming and rinse mainly.

Of course, why aren't the electronics in keyboards under silicone so they work immersed? Every "Spillproof" keyboard I've ever seen has been lying, besides those floppy silicone ones.

Oh well, I'll go back to my Model M with the eraser head and be happy.

 

[suryad]

I am guessing either your keyboard does not work anymore.....because you would be here otherwise telling us if your keyboard survived or not?!

 

[t0y]

I had pepsi spilt in a keyboard. Worked fine for a few minutes (dripping a bit) while I was trying to finish off monkey island (2 or 3, can't remember). After a while some keys started to fail on me and some beeping action was taking place.

Took it apart, removed all the stickiness with TP and reconnected it. Some keys were broken so I tried to find out where the interconnects for those were with my PC turned on but gave up miserably after hard-locking it once or twice. The thing is, the keyboard stopped working altogether, and when I tried a new one I find out I had burnt the PS/2 port and there's was no auto-detect for USB keyboards .

Result: unusable motherboard (FIC va503+ IIRC)

Didn't have a dishwasher by then, though. But I still think coke wouldn't make it break....

 

[Tim Murray]

Stop being stupid.

It's $50, and it will last until the END. OF. TIME. Plus it's dead sexy. Cleaning it is the easiest thing in history--pop the keys out, spray some compressed air outside so you don't get dust/crap/whatever everywhere, and put the keys back on. Takes about 20 minutes.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Keyboard seems to be fine, I've been shaking every hour or so and am letting it dry overnight. I'll shake it in the morning and see if any water comes out, if it does it gets some more dry time.

Fortunately I've learned to keep at least one spare keyboard around at all times, and I found a couple pretty easy so I can give it time to dry.

A regular keyboard feels real dorky after using an ultraflat for so long.

 

[Skrying]

Stop being stupid.

It's $50, and it will last until the END. OF. TIME. Plus it's dead sexy. Cleaning it is the easiest thing in history--pop the keys out, spray some compressed air outside so you don't get dust/crap/whatever everywhere, and put the keys back on. Takes about 20 minutes.

Haha, that comes with an AT adapater! I could have used one of those about a month ago. Would have been so much better than searching forever to find some old keyboard to work on a computer.

 

[Tim Murray]

Haha, that comes with an AT adapater! I could have used one of those about a month ago. Would have been so much better than searching forever to find some old keyboard to work on a computer.

It is not a keyboard--it is a weapon!

One day, Diggy, you will understand. These are also way, way, way more comfortable to type on.

 

[digitalwanderer]

I didn't mean to dis your suggestion Baron, I'm just on another "zero IT" budget phase right now and a $50 keyboard is out of the question.

I'll ask my wife for one for Xmas.

 

[Crusher]

Haha, that comes with an AT adapater! I could have used one of those about a month ago. Would have been so much better than searching forever to find some old keyboard to work on a computer.

I've got a couple of AT adapters lying around, and my initial question was going to be why you had trouble finding one when they're practically useless these days, but then I realized the important question is why were you even bothering touching an AT era computer?

 

[Tim Murray]

I didn't mean to dis your suggestion Baron, I'm just on another "zero IT" budget phase right now and a $50 keyboard is out of the question.

I'll ask my wife for one for Xmas.

They're loud. But if you have a room for it... so worth it.

 

[JCLW]

Dishwasher no. Bathtub yes.

So does it still work?

 

[Rodéric]

I believe there are waterproof keyboards out there, some even soft, I would recommend you buy one of such to avoid any further problems.

As for cleaning your current keyboard, the only reliable way, IMO, is to open it and clean it up yourself, with a sponge and water, also compressed air is usefull to clean whatever's trapped under the keys...
(Obviously you have to disconnect it from the computer before cleaning it)