Bosch blue cordless drill added to washing up in sink

[dom]

By me. Last night. Left 10.8V little drill/driver on draining board, and put some washing in the machine next to it.

Washing finished, and return to find drill half-immersed in water - having slipped off draining board in spin-cycle.

Pull drill out of water, significant water pours back out of drill through vents.

Only consequence was the battery was nearly flat. Fresh battery, drill works fine. Old battery (which missed the water) recharges fine.

I'm rather impressed that the drill has taken so well to swimming.

[Brian Gaff]

Lets hope rust does not set in during a period of non use.

Brian

[Part Timer]

Strip it down and WD40. Was the water clean?

[newshound]

I'm quite surprised the water was conductive enough to flatten the battery.

Standard advice for electronics exposed to dirty water is to rinse thoroughly with clean water, then dry gently with hairdryer or perhaps in airing cupboard or on top of radiator.

Another good drying techique is to rinse in meths (ideally industrial rather than "purple") before drying in a warm place. IPA will also work, but both meths and IPA may dissolve lubricant to some extent.

For a drill I think I would use WD40 or better still a "dewatering fluid" spray, this just has light hydrocarbon fractions (WD40 has some thicker oil dissolved in light hydrocarbon) without taking the trouble to strip. For that matter, a liberal rinse with white spirit should displace most of the water provided there is nothing too absorbant present.

[fred]

In article , [e-mail] writes

Salt is a major component of w/u liquid (a thickener) so it might be worth washing sensitive bits out with clean water before displacing that with WD40 (one of it's few legitimate uses ;-). I'd expect the mechanics to survive quite well due to all the grease but switches, winding, brushes?

[Man at B&Q]

put some washing in the machine next to it.

g slipped off draining board in spin-cycle.

If it was washing up water you need to rinse it out thoroughly.

MBQ

[dom]

Yes, I was quite surprised by the flat battery. But the tool had certainly been lively before its dip, and virtually dead afterwards. The battery itself avoided the trial-by-ordeal, and only the motor and switch were immersed.

I used a combination of radiator drying and repeatedly running the drill to expel the water quickly. The swimming experience was clean, cold soapy water.

[pcb1962]

some washing in the machine next to it.

slipped off draining board in spin-cycle.

For some serious cordless drill abuse watch this:

I could afford a Festool I would be polishing it after each use.

[dom]

I think, until recently, only Festool was doing brushless motors in cordless tools. A few of the high-end dewalt cordless do now too, and I think it's a trend that will eventually creep throughout the cordless tool market.