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02 February 2007

Wet cellphone Is there any hope? [More:] I dropped in a bilge full of coolant and water. I took the battery out and left it to dry on my counter. Has anyone had a good outcome from a similar situation?
Like antifreeze? If it was pure, distilled water you might not have any problems. However, if the water is contaminated, as it evaporates it might leave gunk all over the interior circuits.
posted by muddgirl 02 February | 12:52
yup, anti-freeze. bleh.
posted by small_ruminant 02 February | 12:55
The only hope, maybe is to get some isopropyl alcohol, soak the phone in it for 48 hours, then switch to distilled water and soak for another 48 hours then let the phone sit for a few days in a warmish environment.

My kid splooged cereal and milk all over a laptop, and I had a 50% success rate with cleaning the parts but the keypad ended up still to gunked up and maybe shorted out.

But the above is possible, with luck.

Of course you won't have a phone for a week and maybe not after that if it does not work so do whatever you need to do.
posted by danf 02 February | 13:23
hmm. perhaps it's just time for a new one. I think I need one of those waterproof cases. The funny thing is that I take it kayaking with me every morning and haven't had a problems because I'm careful with it- put it in a plastic ziplock full of air, etc. When I'm someplace dry(ish) I don't think about it at all, and therein was its downfall.
posted by small_ruminant 02 February | 13:31
I've dropped a phone in a puddle and was able to dry it out with no problems -- but I agree that the antifreeze would probably leave a residue. I think danf's idea would work, but I don't think you'd have to wait that long. a good dunk and agitation in the alcohol, followed by a quick bath in the water and a thorough drying, should do it. You could even dip it in alcohol again after the bath and just let it evaporate off.
posted by me3dia 02 February | 15:52
maybe I'll try it. It might be too late though- the dunking was last night and it's been on my counter ever since. And I won't be able to get back to it until late tonight. Still- can't hurt, I suppose. Thanks for the suggestions danf and me3dia!
posted by small_ruminant 02 February | 16:08
Wait, where do you live that you can go kayaking every morning?
posted by court siem 02 February | 17:08
This might be of interest. Or maybe it won't. (I love that blog)
posted by TheDonF 02 February | 17:26
I dropped my phone in a toilet and once it dried out (took about 2 days), it worked fine. Have hope!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 02 February | 17:39
I had a crappy mobile a few years ago that had some kind of rubberised cover. It went through a complete wash cycle and still worked afterwards. I took the cover off it, let it all dry out and, somehow, it worked.
posted by TheDonF 02 February | 17:44
Yay! There's hope!

court, I live in Berkeley and paddle around the Marina area of the Bay. Nothing adventurous.
posted by small_ruminant 02 February | 18:45
A friend of mine fell was pushed into a pool with his brand-new phone in his pocket and, although the battery was dead, the phone worked perfectly after being left to dry out for a few days (he took the phone back and got a new battery under warranty).

I spent yesterday afternoon washing (yes, washing) the innards of an almost-new Dell notebook. The owner, a friend, was working at it when one of her kids came up behind her and tripped over while carrying a drink of Fanta. Most of the glass of Fanta went over the keyboard and was, apparently, running out the vents in the bottom of the case. I dismantled the whole thing, washed all the circuit boards and everything I could imagine doing safely in demineralised water and hung them out to dry for a few hours (is that why circuit boards always have holes in them? ;-). Imagine my surprise when, on booting the machine up with the mother board, HDD and screen all plugged together on the table and it booted up perfectly. Alas, it appears this was a fluke, because it will no longer boot - sometimes it just switches itself off straight away, sometimes it hangs on the BIOS screen, sometimes it boots past that and then the screen goes blank. Either way, it's fucked. I think the CPU may be fried, as it gets incredibly hot within seconds of booting.

Hmm, that's not really what you asked, was it?
posted by dg 04 February | 17:31
My idea of heaven || OK, no more scary cats or puppies, this is a proper Bunny! OMG! post

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