The Verdict of the Holiday Keyboard Bath...

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
As I threw my keyboard in the trash this afternoon, I thought I should pull it out and give it one more try. I'm typing on it right now. And, the fifteen minutes of testing I have subjected it to have been flawless. Hilarious! I'll let you know if it goes on the fritz again...but I think Jason jinxed me by suggesting this was God's way of providing a new bluetooth keyboard.

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I've had a few people tell me that they were waiting on the results of my keyboard bath before they made the plunge for themselves. So, here you go...

The keyboard looks FANTASTIC! More white even than I expected.

The keys feel nice and tactile — not brand new, but much more responsive than they did before I washed it.

I let it dry for a full seven days.

There's only one problem...

MY KEYBOARD NO LONGER WORKS!

That's not entirely fair or correct. The washed keyboard works. It works like an eight year old kid running on zero sleep, without their medications, and hopped up on sugar and red bull...which is to say, not so well.  The command key now does any number of things without any discernible pattern. Some keys don't work at all, others work sporadically, and others work perfectly.

Lots of others have tried this successfully, so don't let my failure discourage you. You never live until you try, but in the future I'll stick to my geeky alcohol swabs and bottled air. And I'll be heading to my box of old computer junk to dig out an old keyboard!

Comments

[David K.]

I was really curious how it turned out, thanks for the update.

[Jason Kovacs]

That is sad brother. Though I guess now you'll have upgrade to the new BT Apple Keyboard. God's providence!

[Kevin Cawley]

Jason--

I have thought about that, and it may come to that because I have so little space on my desk at the office. I have an ergonomic keyboard that I would choose over anything else, but it just won't fit on my desk.

This could well be God's providence...Thanks for helping the argument with Katie!

[Ryan Griffith]

Kevin,

Thanks for the update. I gave mine a bath too. Fortunately, though, I don't have a dishwasher. Instead, I removed all the keys and put them in a gallon zip-loc bag with some warm water and a washcloth. I let them soak for a few hours and shook the bag for a while and, presto, they came out as good as new. I used a damp cloth and the q-tip trick to clean the board itself and put it all back together (I took a picture of the board beforehand to know how to put the keys back). Really, it wasn't that labor intensive. I'm glad for your sake that the keyboard resurrected, but I think I'd avoid the washer next time.