I've done it several times, once in acid. Always pull the battery immediately, then rinse in warm clean water especially if the wet stuff is anything other than clean water. I then pull apart and rinse some more, then blow as much of the wet out as I can with a compressor. Finally I leave the bits to dry out on a hot radiator.
Fished it straight out, it was under water for literally 5 seconds. Took the battery & SIM card out, tried to dry it out with kitchen roll, but it ain't not working.
Is it possible to dry a phone out? Any chance of it surviving?
If not - can I buy a cheap pay as you go at Tesco & use my SIM card in it? Tried my SIM in SWMBO's Nokia, but it came up 'phone restricted' & asked for a number.
"The Medway Handyman" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
Low.
The phone's probably network-locked. If it's locked to a different network to your SIM, then a tenner down the market should see it unlocked and happy.
You might get some life out of it by sticking it in a warm place buried in rice but even then, it's life will be limited as it corrodes away.
Get a PAYG on the same network and yes, you should be able to. Alternatively, find an unlocked phone. play.com is a good source, nokia direct unexpectedly ok pricing at times or try carphonewarehouse - they are often unlocked (but check with sales droid or even better, take in your old sim and get them to demo it). That has the added advantage of being a highstreet store.
Meant to say, the other option might be to unlock another phone. Easier on some than others. Some can be done yourself, nearly all will be unlockable for a tenner in the local market...
Leave the back off, whack it on the airing cupboard for week, if you have any of those sachets of silica bead dessicant, surround it with them ... and cross fingers ...
I've dropped at least 2 Nokias ( 9210i and E70) and an SE K750i down the loo, and they've always survived. The bloomin great brick 9210i took 2 trips down the pan, and still works 5+ years later.
two steps to maximise chances of survival:-
1) remove battery immediately
2) dry out thoroughly in a warm & dry environment for at least 24 hours before re-inserting battery.
The memory card on the K750i didn't recover for a few months after immersion but works fine now.
On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:39:03 +0000, The Medway Handyman boggled us with:
I have had success with Nokias that have been down the bog or in the sink. The important thing seems to be *not* to switch them on until they are thorougly dry.
Act (who knows), scene (who's counting) - entering left of stage the great drama queen of uk d-iy!
You've just learnt another lesson oh unwise one! *eg* But will you remember it?
About time you washed your hands - but you couldn't have "dried it out with kitchen towel" unless you dismantled the thing to almost component level. Work it out.
Yes and possibly - if you stick the thing in a nice warm airing cupboard for a few days - or with the hot-air you spout, blowing on it for five minutes.
If you have some distilled/deionised water (as used for steam irons or battery top-up) flush out the phone with liberal quantities before drying. Although it may seem perverse to add even more liquid, pure water is a good insulator and can remove contaminents that might otherwise cause the phone to fail through corrosion or electrical leakage.
So long as you got the battery out quick and the water wasn't to salty, there is a good chance it will recover when thoroughly dry. My other half often drowns her phones and cameras, and I even fished my camera out of a river and had to dry it and blow the silt out first. Most times I've got away with it. After it's been in the airing cupboard for a few days try it again.
If you have some distilled/deionised water (as used for steam irons or battery top-up) flush out the phone with liberal quantities before drying. Although it may seem perverse to add even more liquid, pure water is a good insulator and can remove contaminents that might otherwise cause the phone to fail through corrosion or electrical leakage.
I restored my boy's Nokia after several hours at the bottom of a street drain.
It took a lot of baling out to get to the layer of mud and accumulated Sh1t, and a lot of "scooping" to get to the phone. Surprising how deep and dirty those drains are!
Anyway, when fished out of the mud, the phone appeared dead. I got a suitable small Tork screwdriver from Maplin or Halfords and stripped it down completely. Rinsed everything VERY thoroughly under the tap, on the basis that it couldn't make it worse. Left it for several hours in a just-warm oven, then reassembled. Worked fine!
We don't have the luxury of an "airing cupboard" any more as we changed to a combi boiler 10 years ago, but that would probably work if left for a few days.
I'd say you have nothing to lose - give it a try. BUT you need to take the phone fully to pieces.
Not sure I'd risk that. IPA is not a powerful solvent but there just might be things in the phone - like all the part and serial numbers/id numbers, and labels - that it could remove.
Distilled water can be saved when defrosting the fridge (if you are careful not to include bits of food). Boil it and keep it in sealed bottles.
Phones/ cameras /toasters/ trannies/ etc can usually be dried out, and a squirt of distilled water can indeed be good for blasting out crud - and, indeed, salts from leaky batteries. But do dismantle as much as you can manage before drying, and do get as much as poss off with tissue to minimise residual deposits. Just don't re-energise before you are sure all is dry. (Anyone with lab experience will know how useful vacuum desiccators can be for this. At a pinch some d-i-y ers could make their own: rushing water can create a useful partial vacuum, and basic lab models, oddly enough were 'evacuated' via a gadget that ran off the tap. I have use such to speed up filtering home brew...)
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