Don't stick your keyboard in the dishwasher

HACKS AT NPR.com have gone to a lot of effort to show how it is not a good idea to stick your dirty keyboard in a dishwasher.

We know a lot of people out there must have thought about cleaning the fag ash and other nerk of the keyboard. However, we have not met someone who thought it was a good idea to submerge it in boiling water.

The article said that computer-keyboard-in-the-dishwasher advice is all over the Internet and they thought they would give it a go.

The idea was inspired by Scott Moschella who wrote about his experiences in blog called Plastic Bugs. He only did it because the keyboard would have to be chucked out after a beer disagreement. It worked in that case.

However, Microsoft has a bloke whose job seems to be dedicated to telling people not to stick their keyboards in the dishwasher.

Sean Butterworth warned that it will cause short-circuiting in the wiring.

Vole has apparently simulated everything a geek could do to a keyboard including inserting cracker crumbs, salt and pepper, and hair. |Volish testers even soak them in a special "artificial sweat." Butterworth said that in Vole's tests, keyboards stuck in the dishwasher lost functionality.

Only a Florida company called Seal Shield makes keyboards that are "dishwasher safe."

So now you know.

More here. µ