[SOLVED] Can you waterproof a dust shield?

[MetalMatty]

I have a Phanteks P400 case. It has a huge top vent, with a dust shield on it. Last week, my dogs knocked a glass of water into it and fried the motherboard.

Obviously, the best solution is to not leave water near it, but is it possible to use a boots/car interior/clothes waterproofing spray on the dust shield? Or does it not adhere/work right and/or kill air flow?

Just want that extra bit of protection. I don't have any fans blowing out on the top, so it's literally just a radiant heat vent.

My main fans are 3 on the front, one exhaust, then I'll have two on my Hyper T2 cooler obviously blowing through from front to back.

 

[tennis2]

Unlikely you'll ever make that "waterPROOF" since it's a magnetic sheet that sits in an indentation at the top of the case. To prevent water from going through the filter, you need to turn it into a solid sheet (aka no holes).
FlexSeal to the removable filter I suppose. Of course, you can forget ever using it as a fan filter again...

 

[RARRAF]

well I understand your problem but waterproofing a dust shield would stop air flow which is needed for cooling.

 

[MetalMatty]

I guess I meant more water repellant than waterproof. Just so that if a small amount of water spilled on it, not ALL of it got through. Most of those water resistant sprayers just cause it to bead up.

Maybe I'll see if I can buy another filter and try it on an extra over a paper towel and use an air compressor to see how much it effects air flow.

I guess in well over a decade of owning various computers, having one spill isn't a terrible track record.

 

[chuffedas]

How about making a sort of raised lid that is bigger than the pc?

Or putting it under a table?
or building a shelf to put it on?

Or building a shelf above it?

 

[HEXiT]

mate the only real solution to this is dont have liquids near your pc...
putting in safety features will give you a fals sense of security resulting in you being even more careless and likely end up in a similar situation.
so yeah just limit your system to accidents by not having the liquids there in the first place...

also hang 1 of the dogs as a warning to the others 😀

 

[SkyNetRising]

is it possible to use a boots/car interior/clothes waterproofing spray on the dust shield? Or does it not adhere/work right and/or kill air flow?

FlexTape top of your pc case (under dust shield).
That's the first thing I did after getting pc enclosure with open top to avoid liquid spills getting into pc.

Of course it blocks air-flow through top of the case, but it's still better than liquid spills.

 

[Karadjgne]

Murphy's Law states that what can happen inevitably will happen. It's a fact of life. If liquids can get into a pc, they will eventually get into the pc, it's a matter of time, not prevention.

Next time that glass of water gets dumped, it'll flow around the case (if you sealed the top), down the side, flow underneath, get sucked up by the psu fan which massively shorts out and fries your motherboard. And everything else. Or flows down the front, gets sucked in by the intake fans and sprayed throughout the case, which fries the motherboard. And everything else.

Only way to prevent this is remove the liquids from the equation. If there's no glass of water, it can't get spilled, can't get into the pc, can't blow up the motherboard.

Flex tape, duct tape, flex seal, all that is just a band-aid protection.