Water damage - next steps?
Hi all,
My MK4s used to live next to a few water pipes in my home. Unfortunately one of them sprung a leak this morning and sprayed everything with water for awhile. Fortunately(?) my printer had an error of some sort and notified my phone via discord relatively quickly before the water damage to my home was too severe.
Unfortunately the error notification was pretty ambiguous in discord: “[**MK4**]: An error occurred in the printer.”
When I got to the printer and saw water everywhere my first reaction was to unplug everything. The screen had some sort of red error page on it but I didn’t actually read it so I’m not sure what it detected that was causing the error.
Anyway, my questions are:
- other than letting it dry out for a couple days, what should I do to try to mitigate potential damage?
- Is the lost error code relevant to my first question, and if so, is there a way to retrieve it?
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
RE: Water damage - next steps?
Hello!
I'm definitively not an expert in this subject, but my understanding is that electronics is actually quite capable of withstanding (clean) water, as long as everything's unplugged. Some people even take very dirty computers and literally wash them with soap and water, and let them dry out with a fan for several weeks.
If you don't get any other better suggestions: What I would do is try to open up the 3D printer as much as you can, especially the electronics. Dab everything dry with a paper towel (unless already dry). Buy a cheap fan that can blow air at the electronics to make sure every single nook and cranny is water free. I'd probably let the fan blow (and move around the components every now and then) for like a week. And then just assemble everything and hope for the best.
If you're lucky, the water caused some sort of harmless short circuit and the printer stopped what it was doing to prevent further damage. And when everything's dry, it should just spring back to life again as usual. Hopefully!
As above, point a fan at it for at least three times as long as you might expect to be necessary.
The actual error is unlikely to be significant as there are no water detection codes in the firmware; most likely a temperature fault was triggered.
I suggest running through a standard maintenance and lubrication session and self-tests before attempting to resume printing.
https://help.prusa3d.com/article/regular-printer-maintenance-mk4_419000
And of course the filament will need drying.
Cheerio,
RE: Water damage - next steps?
Thanks both
RE: Water damage - next steps?
In addition to the above tips, keep the power totally unplugged until you know everything is dry. Electrolysis can significantly speed up corrosion if there is voltage present, even when the power switch is not turned ON.
MK4S/MMU3
RE: Water damage - next steps?
I would also check if I saw any obvious damage to the boards. I would not try opening the PSU, just point fan on the available openings.