Repairs
Liquid and water damage repair in Leeds
A spill is the one repair where the first few minutes matter more than anything we do later, so if it has just happened, read the steps below and act on them now, then ring us. What kills a machine after a spill is not the water, it is the corrosion the water leaves behind, and corrosion spreads while it sits. We get it off power, open it, and clean the board before that damage sets in, then tell you honestly what we can see and what the odds are. This is the one job nobody can guarantee, and we will not pretend otherwise. If we cannot save it, you pay nothing.
- No fix, no fee
- We come to you
- The diagnosis is always free
- A real person who does the work, not a call centre
Do this right now
Just spilled on it? Do this right now
- Switch it off immediately and unplug the charger. Hold the power button in to force it off if you have to. Every second it stays powered with liquid inside risks shorting the board.
- Do not keep pressing the power button to see whether it survived. Powering it up with liquid across the board is exactly how a recoverable machine becomes a dead one.
- Stand it upside down, open like a tent, so the liquid runs back out rather than deeper in, and take the charger and any battery pack off it.
- Rice does nothing. It cannot pull liquid out of a sealed board and it will not stop corrosion. The clock that matters is how soon the board is opened and cleaned.
- Ring us. The sooner it is opened and the corrosion cleaned off, the better the chances, and the honest odds fall with every day it sits.
Does this sound like yours?
The faults we see most
- A drink went into the keyboard and it has not been right since, or it has stopped altogether
- It worked for a while after the spill and then died a day or two later
- Some of the keys have stopped, are sticky, or repeat themselves on their own
- The trackpad has gone erratic or stopped responding since the spill
- It will not turn on at all after liquid got into it
- It powers on but the screen is odd, or it behaves strangely and randomly
- There is a smell, or you can see staining or a residue around the keys or ports
- It was caught in rain, a bag leaked over it, or it went somewhere damp
- You put it in rice and it seemed fine, and now it is playing up
Not on the list? Call anyway and describe it. The diagnosis is free either way.
What we do
Name the fault, then the fix, then the price
- Get it off power straight away and tell us what went in, how much, and how long ago, because a splash of water and a full mug of sugary coffee are very different problems and time is the thing that decides the outcome
- We come to you across Leeds, at home or at work, and on a spill sooner is genuinely better, so if you can get it to us that works too. What does not help is waiting to see whether it dries out on its own
- We open it, take the power off the board properly, and get a proper look at how far the liquid travelled and what it has started to corrode. A spill is rarely only where you can see it
- We clean the board before the corrosion sets in, lifting the residue that a sugary or salty drink leaves behind, because that residue keeps eating the board long after the liquid itself has gone
- Then we tell you the truth about what we find. Some spills clean up and come back to life. Some have already killed a component that has to be replaced. Some have corroded the board past saving, and you will hear that plainly rather than after a long bill
- Where the machine itself cannot be saved, the files usually still can. The drive is very often the survivor of a spill, and we can recover your photos and documents even when the laptop never works again
- We will not power a wet machine up to test it, because that is how the real damage is done. It comes up only once it has been cleaned and dried properly and it is safe to try
- You get a fixed quote before any repair work begins, and because this is the one job nobody can promise, we will be straight with you about the odds before you spend anything. If we cannot save it, you pay nothing
How long it takes
An honest answer, not a booking slot
This is the one job we will not put a clock on, and anyone who quotes you a turnaround on a spill before they have opened it is guessing. The board has to be cleaned properly and dried properly before it goes anywhere near power, and rushing that is how a machine that could have been saved is lost. The look and the first clean are the priority and we do those quickly, because the sooner the corrosion is off, the better the chances. What comes after depends entirely on what the liquid reached, and whether a component has to be replaced or a part ordered in for your exact model, which can take a few days. If the machine turns out to be a write-off and it becomes a data recovery job, that runs to its own timescale. You will know where you stand at the point we quote.
What it costs
The diagnosis is free, then you get a fixed quote
We do not publish a price list, because a price list for this work would be a fiction: the same fault costs different money on different machines. What we can do is tell you what moves the number, then give you one fixed quote before any work starts. If we cannot fix it, there is nothing to pay.
What drives the price
- What actually went in, since clean water is far kinder than a sugary, salty or fizzy drink that leaves corrosive residue behind
- How long it sat powered or unopened before it was seen, because corrosion spreads with time and nobody can undo that
- How far the liquid travelled across the board and how much has to be cleaned
- Whether a cleaned board is enough, or a corroded component has to be replaced, which is a part as well as time
- How the machine is built, since some are glued shut and take far longer to open safely without wrecking the case
- Whether it comes to recovering your files off a machine that cannot be saved, which is a different job with a different answer
Where we work
We come to you across Leeds
Home or work, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm. There is no walk-in shop, so we come to the machine, or you can arrange to drop it to us. Start at computer repair in Leeds, or pick your area.
Questions
The things people ask
I have just spilled a drink on my laptop. What should I do this second?
Switch it off and unplug the charger straight away, holding the power button in to force it off if you need to. Do not keep pressing power to check whether it survived, because that is exactly how a machine that could have been saved is killed. Stand it upside down like a tent so the liquid runs back out rather than deeper in, and take any battery pack off it. Then ring us. The sooner the board is opened and cleaned, the better your chances.
It seemed fine after the spill and now, a day later, it has died. What happened?
That is one of the most common patterns there is, and it is corrosion at work. The liquid dried but left a residue behind, and that residue keeps eating away at the board and bridging connections that should never touch. So a machine that shrugged off the spill on the day can fail a day or a week later. It does not mean it is beyond saving, but it does mean the board wants opening and cleaning properly rather than being left to get worse.
Does putting it in rice work?
No, and we would rather you did not waste the time on it. Rice cannot pull liquid out of a sealed circuit board, and even if it dried the surface it would do nothing about the corrosion, which is the part that actually kills the machine. Worse, sitting in rice for two days is two days the residue spends eating the board. The only thing that helps is getting it off power and getting it opened and cleaned. Skip the rice and ring us.
Can you guarantee you will fix it?
No, and anyone who tells you otherwise is not being straight with you. A spill is the one repair nobody can promise, because how much damage the liquid has done is written into the board before we ever see it, and it depends on what went in and how long it sat. What we can promise is that we will get the corrosion off quickly, tell you honestly what we find, and not spend your money chasing a machine that cannot be saved. If we cannot fix it, there is nothing to pay.
If the laptop is a write-off, are my files gone too?
Usually not, and this is the good news that people do not expect. The drive is very often the part that survives a spill, even when the machine around it does not. So even where the laptop itself cannot be saved, we can normally recover your photos, documents and files off it. The exception is a machine where the storage is soldered to the board and the board is the thing the liquid destroyed, and we will tell you honestly if that is where you are.
Is your work guaranteed after the repair?
Yes. We stand behind the repairs we carry out. If the same fault we fixed returns within a reasonable period as a result of our work, get in touch and we will put it right. That does not cover new or unrelated faults, accidental damage, liquid damage, or problems caused by other work carried out after ours, and nothing in it affects your statutory rights.
Worth reading first
A plain-English guide before you spend anything
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Tell us what is wrong.
Call and describe the fault. We will diagnose it for free, give you a fixed quote before any work, and if we cannot fix it there is nothing to pay. A real person who does the work, not a call centre.