Evaporation rate of water droplets

[Rogue 9]

In what turned out to be an extremely silly move on my part, I blew out my computer case with Dad's old air compressor yesterday as part of trying to solve an overheating issue with my GPU, and it turned out there was a small amount of water in the line. It sprayed a fine mist all over the inside of the case; I only noticed because I saw droplets on the flat surfaces of the GPU's fan. I don't know how much got in there in total, but I've put the graphics card in a bowl of rice (if that's a mistake it's not a huge deal, since it's getting replaced very soon anyway) and have had the computer case hanging open with a box fan going full blast into it for approximately 32 hours at this point. How long should I wait before I can be reasonably certain that all the moisture is gone? I absolutely do not want to risk powering up the computer while there's water on the circuit boards. I know that calculating evaporation rate is extremely complex, but I just need a ballpark figure which I'll add a day or two to.

[bilateralrope]

It also depends on your local climate.

Find something you think will dry out slower than the computer case but it much easier to check for moisture. Get it at least as wet as the computer. When the other thing is dry, the computer should also be dry. I'm thinking a cardboard box, sprinkle some water around the inside.

[TheFeniX]

If it's not dry in 32 hours with a fan blowing on it, it's not going to dry. Dry air blowing should have evaporated everything before that. And with an A/C, humidity levels should be well below the local climate provided you aren't leaving your windows open. The problem would be any water having somewhere to pool and not have wind create a wick effect, like inside a power-supply, or the bottom of the case. You could just grab a blowdryer and leave it pointing into the case. The heat and pressure combined will make short work of any residual water. Many PC parts are designed to get into the 70C-80C range, so you aren't likely to damage your PC.

But dust can be flammable, so don't leave it unattended.

Also, air-compressors get moisture in them almost as a matter of course. Because of this, and the PSI being capable of blowing capacitors and other delicates off your boards, avoid using one again. Spend the money on some compressed air or just blow really hard. A vacuum or a Dust Buster on steroids (not the cheap ones) can also accomplish the same thing.... in an opposite manner.

[TheFeniX]

Edit: I should add. Don't go jamming a vacuum nozzle into your pc. You can hit things and break them trying to get errant dust, but mostly: even plastic devices can carry a static charge, especially when they have a motor attached to them. I generally only use them to suck up dust I've sprayed out and press them to the outside of the case on my PSU and other fans. Only put it inside to get dust off the bottom of the case. Basically, don't get near anything but your case as it's already design to ground out any static.

[Sea Skimmer]

Your water would have been gone inwell under 24 hours as long as nothing pooled in any of your expansion slots. I'd go physically inspect those, if you don't see water your fine, and with a fine mist I doubt it could pool. A fine mist should evaporate within single digit hours at ~68 degrees. If you are really concerned forget about blowing air on it, get some heat on it, put it in a sunny window for example. Air movement after all doesn't cause evaporation, heat absorption does.
Concerning future cleaning, what other people siad. A big compressors always end up with some water in them, and you have to be real careful with the pressure. Those little air compressors that are meant for plugging into car cigarette lighters ect... are a safer bet.


Also I would add vacuum cleaners can sometimes have strong enough suction to cause damage to capacitors, and they generate a lot of static electricity. That doesn't preclude using them but make sure you keep touching the nozzle to something grounded (even if nozzle is plastic) as you go so no risk of building up a charge exists.

I just use the spray air myself. The trick with those is have more then one can, and don't use one can too heavily at once. Because they get absurdly cold otherwise, and that causes them to loose pressure rapidly. So if you deplete one can quickly you're getting less bang for your buck then depleting several slowly, giving them a chance to warm back up and recover pressure.

[Rogue 9]

Just fired it up and nothing's fried so far. Thanks, everyone. Won't be doing that again.