Cell phone damage advice

[kipperiggy]

Alright so tonight my sister dropped her cell phone into a cup of tea. The front screen still worked, but the main screen did not. She took the phone apart and is letting it dry overnight.

I compared it with my old phone (the same kind of phone she dropped in the tea) and behind the battery pack I have a white sticker. On her phone it is now red. I believe this is the water damage sticker but I'm not sure?

This phone has been dropped in vodka before and has withstood various damage for about four years. I've had friends drop similar phones into the lake and still have them work fine.

So, is there anything that my sister can do beside let it dry overnight? Is letting it dry out even going to help? So basically, has she wrecked her phone or is there a way to fix it?

[Ice]

My son's phone when through the wash and I noticed it before putting it in the dryer. The guy at my local store told me to take it apart and hang the parts and position a fan on low to blow on them for two days before putting it back together. He stressed that it would take two days for it to completely dry out. He also cautioned us not to use warm or hot air, just a regular fan. We followed his instructions and the phone worked like new afterwards. The phone lasted another year before he lost it.

[ken0042]

Most electronic devices will survive getting wet as long as power never hits the water. If it was dropped in tea I wonder if it might be an idea to gently rinse it so there's no residue.

[RougeUnderoos]

I dropped my phone in a bowl of vanilla extract once. I dried it out for a few hours and wiped off the sticky stuff and it was good as new.

The gist of it is no, I don't have any advice other than to let it dry, but I can say that a phone that has been dropped in vanilla extract smells really good, and that may be helpful to someone out there who has a foul smelling phone.

[HOOT]

Turning it on was a bad idea and won't help

If you ever get a phone wet put the phone in tupperware with lid on and rice in it....the rice will absorb the water. Leave it in there for 48 hours.

[Coach]

i fell through ice with mine and i did the same thing. It worked for a few days then stopped. The woman that sold me the phone kind of conned telus into repairing it for free by removing the part that had the water damage paper. My suggestion is to let it sit for at least 3-4 days. and maybe get a new battery. Phone companies dont usually cover water damage. They should really make phones more waterproof like watches. I dropped mine after a week of having it...pretty choked

[REDVAN]

I dropped my phone in water one time last year, the dot never turned pink/red, but it never worked properly after that... the water definitely short circuited some stuff in there.

Let it dry for a while.

[kipperiggy]

Yeah I just found the rice thing by googling, so it's sitting in a bag of rice right now.

So it needs longer than just overnight by the looks of it?

[evman150]

I was texting and urinating at the same time a few months ago and dropped it in the toilet. Whoops.

Took it apart, left it on my window sill overnight, works fine now.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by kipperiggy

Yeah I just found the rice thing by googling, so it's sitting in a bag of rice right now.

So it needs longer than just overnight by the looks of it?

I would say 48 hours just to be on the safe side it could get you months of usage out of it.

[kipperiggy]

Originally Posted by HOOT

I would say 48 hours just to be on the safe side it could get you months of usage out of it.

Oops I read your first post too fast and missed that part!

[BlackArcher101]

Rinse with distilled water first, THEN let dry. Letting any residues or minerals dry on it will only make things worse. Tap water will only had mineral residue as well, so don't use that.

If you want to accelerate the drying, place the parts into the oven at the lowest temperature.

[kipperiggy]

Since she tried to turn it back on, is there any chance that it's not already fried? Sorry if these questions seem a little dumb but neither of us is very knowledgeable about electronic stuff.

[BlackArcher101]

Yep, there's still a chance is will turn on again. Right now there could be conductive minerals shorting out the fine circuitry and a rinse with distilled water might get rid of em. It's worth a shot.

[jar_e]

Rice also works..have a few friends who tried it and worked...

http://www.wikihow.com/Save-a-Wet-Cell-Phone

[kipperiggy]

Well late in the afternoon today she powered her phone up and sent me a text message, so the phone has survived its second swim in liquid! Thanks for all your suggestions! Hopefully this thread can save a few more cell phones too.