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Can be useful at times.
How to save a wet cell-phone?
After having a few terrible monsoons in India, (and floods and tsunamis and all sorts of crazy things…) the question “How to save your wet cell phone?” is close to everyone’s heart!
Wet cell-phone!
Here we have given you a detailed guide that will tell you exactly what you can do to save your wet cell phone, and save 700 bucks in repairing cost, IFF you act fast enough! So, lets begin….
Okay, so basically, there are two ways in which water, or some liquid can destroy your phone!
First Way: If the phone is powered with the battery when it is wet, the water can “short-circuit” the phone! So, to solve this problem, you got to remove the battery, cut the power, and get rid of all the water. How to do this? Well, the best way to do this is explained on the next page.
Second Way: If, the liquid is not just pure water. If it is sea water or saline water or any water that contains salts and minerals. If the liquid is a cup of coffee or tea. Basically, if the liquid contains any salts, sugars or minerals that will stay behind after the liquid has dried. In this case, the salts/sugars/minerals etc. that stay behind will “corrode” and “short-circuit” the circuits even after the liquid has been removed. How to solve this problem is explained later!
Now, depending on what kind of liquid or water your phone has got wet in, you need to decide which method is for you. Let us start with the basic method (for water that does not contain salt or sugar or minerals) first....
The basic method (For clean water)
Step 1: Get it out of the water as soon as possible (Obviously! Duh!)
The fact is that cell phones are designed to handle small amounts of water. So, if the cell phone is just slightly wet, nothing much will happen to it. The problem comes when the cell phone falls into a pool of water completely and the water gets into the cell phones circuit board. Then the cell phone gets “short-circuited” and it goes off! So, the point is, if you can avoid the cell phone from getting too wet, avoid it!
Step 2: Dismantle your phone
Remove the battery AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! Do not even waste time thinking about it! Just do it! It is very likely that your phones circuits have survived. But, if they are still powered by the battery, they will short-circuit when the moisture reaches them! So you have to cut the power. You must remove the battery.
Remove the SIM card and the front panel and back panel and any other part of the phone that can be removed! Basically, as we said earlier, dismantle every piece of the phone that can be dismantled!
Step 3: Dry everything that you can manually..
Use a tissue or a soft cloth to wipe every part of the phone you can wipe and remove all the water of the surface of all the pieces of the phone.
Step 4: Be patient and let the phone dry! (The hard part)
Now it is VERY important that you DO NOT try to put in the battery and switch on the phone! Let all the parts be dismantled and let the phone dry. This is a hard thing to do. You will have a constant temptation to put the battery back in “just to see” if the phone is okay. But, DO NOT do this! Leave the phone in pieces and let all the pieces dry.
Once of the best ways to dry your phone is to put your phone on the “heat vents” on the back of your computer of your TV! Just incase you are confused about what “heat vents” are, here is an image of heat vents behind the TV…
Heat vents of TV to dry your phone!
Turns out, the amount of heat coming from the “heat vents” is just the perfect amount required to fix your phone! So place all the pieces of the phone carefully over the heat vents such that the wet insides of the phone are exposed to the heat.
Please Note: Heat other parts of the phone on the “heat vents”, but do not heat the phone’s battery! If you heat the battery, it is likely that the battery will leak and get spoilt.
How long should you leave it on the heat vents? For at least 2-3 days!
Step 5: Test your phone
After 3 days of patient waiting and letting your phone dry, now you could try to put in the battery and all other parts and test your phone. If it works, hurray! If it does not, switch it off quickly and let it dry for some more time. Give it a day or so…if you have the patients!
However: This way of saving your phone may not work if the phone got wet in a liquid containing salts, sugar or minerals etc. So, incase you dipped your phone in sea water, boring water, a cup of coffee or tea etc. you need to use the “alcohol” method…
The "alcohol" method!
If you think the liquid in which your phone has fallen is saline, or containing salts or sugars or minerals (like sea water, coffee etc.), using only the previous method will not do. You will need to do a little bit extra to save your phone!
How do you get rid of the salts, sugars and minerals?
After you dismantle the pieces of your wet phone and remove the battery, try to put the pieces as fast as possible in a bowl of “alcohol”! I know this seems a little scary. I know you are afraid of taking an already wet and damaged phone and putting it into alcohol, but trust us, it’s a good idea!
Why alcohol?
Well, all the water/liquid in the phone (along with the salts, sugars and minerals) will dissolve in the alcohol. The alcohol is supposed to be “hygroscopic”. It means that the alcohol attracts water.
So now, once the phone is soaked in the alcohol, you should try to drain out as much alcohol as possible just by moving the phone around. Having done this, only little alcohol will remain on the insides of the phone. And this alcohol should dry up quite quickly, since alcohol evaporates at room temperature.
Note: If you feel that there is a lot of sugar clogged in the phone (from tea/coffee or some other drink..) you should get your self a bottle of "distilled" water. Let your phone soak in it. The sugars will likely dissolve in the "distilled" water and drip out of the phone.
Where do you get a bottle of distilled water from?
Ask an electrician. Distilled water is generally used for your home inverter batteries, so a local electrician will probably know where to get it in your area.
Fianlly: You could once again dry your phone in the “heat vents” of the computer or TV and wait for at least 2-3 days before you put in the battery and power up the phone.
In most cases, if you act fast enough, these methods will save your phone. But, if it does not, try taking it to your dealer. Sometimes they have a “quick fix”. As a last resort, go to the phone repair guys!
Can be useful at times.
How to save a wet cell-phone?
After having a few terrible monsoons in India, (and floods and tsunamis and all sorts of crazy things…) the question “How to save your wet cell phone?” is close to everyone’s heart!
Wet cell-phone!
Here we have given you a detailed guide that will tell you exactly what you can do to save your wet cell phone, and save 700 bucks in repairing cost, IFF you act fast enough! So, lets begin….
Okay, so basically, there are two ways in which water, or some liquid can destroy your phone!
First Way: If the phone is powered with the battery when it is wet, the water can “short-circuit” the phone! So, to solve this problem, you got to remove the battery, cut the power, and get rid of all the water. How to do this? Well, the best way to do this is explained on the next page.
Second Way: If, the liquid is not just pure water. If it is sea water or saline water or any water that contains salts and minerals. If the liquid is a cup of coffee or tea. Basically, if the liquid contains any salts, sugars or minerals that will stay behind after the liquid has dried. In this case, the salts/sugars/minerals etc. that stay behind will “corrode” and “short-circuit” the circuits even after the liquid has been removed. How to solve this problem is explained later!
Now, depending on what kind of liquid or water your phone has got wet in, you need to decide which method is for you. Let us start with the basic method (for water that does not contain salt or sugar or minerals) first....
The basic method (For clean water)
Step 1: Get it out of the water as soon as possible (Obviously! Duh!)
The fact is that cell phones are designed to handle small amounts of water. So, if the cell phone is just slightly wet, nothing much will happen to it. The problem comes when the cell phone falls into a pool of water completely and the water gets into the cell phones circuit board. Then the cell phone gets “short-circuited” and it goes off! So, the point is, if you can avoid the cell phone from getting too wet, avoid it!
Step 2: Dismantle your phone
Remove the battery AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! Do not even waste time thinking about it! Just do it! It is very likely that your phones circuits have survived. But, if they are still powered by the battery, they will short-circuit when the moisture reaches them! So you have to cut the power. You must remove the battery.
Remove the SIM card and the front panel and back panel and any other part of the phone that can be removed! Basically, as we said earlier, dismantle every piece of the phone that can be dismantled!
Step 3: Dry everything that you can manually..
Use a tissue or a soft cloth to wipe every part of the phone you can wipe and remove all the water of the surface of all the pieces of the phone.
Step 4: Be patient and let the phone dry! (The hard part)
Now it is VERY important that you DO NOT try to put in the battery and switch on the phone! Let all the parts be dismantled and let the phone dry. This is a hard thing to do. You will have a constant temptation to put the battery back in “just to see” if the phone is okay. But, DO NOT do this! Leave the phone in pieces and let all the pieces dry.
Once of the best ways to dry your phone is to put your phone on the “heat vents” on the back of your computer of your TV! Just incase you are confused about what “heat vents” are, here is an image of heat vents behind the TV…
Heat vents of TV to dry your phone!
Turns out, the amount of heat coming from the “heat vents” is just the perfect amount required to fix your phone! So place all the pieces of the phone carefully over the heat vents such that the wet insides of the phone are exposed to the heat.
Please Note: Heat other parts of the phone on the “heat vents”, but do not heat the phone’s battery! If you heat the battery, it is likely that the battery will leak and get spoilt.
How long should you leave it on the heat vents? For at least 2-3 days!
Step 5: Test your phone
After 3 days of patient waiting and letting your phone dry, now you could try to put in the battery and all other parts and test your phone. If it works, hurray! If it does not, switch it off quickly and let it dry for some more time. Give it a day or so…if you have the patients!
However: This way of saving your phone may not work if the phone got wet in a liquid containing salts, sugar or minerals etc. So, incase you dipped your phone in sea water, boring water, a cup of coffee or tea etc. you need to use the “alcohol” method…
The "alcohol" method!
If you think the liquid in which your phone has fallen is saline, or containing salts or sugars or minerals (like sea water, coffee etc.), using only the previous method will not do. You will need to do a little bit extra to save your phone!
How do you get rid of the salts, sugars and minerals?
After you dismantle the pieces of your wet phone and remove the battery, try to put the pieces as fast as possible in a bowl of “alcohol”! I know this seems a little scary. I know you are afraid of taking an already wet and damaged phone and putting it into alcohol, but trust us, it’s a good idea!
Why alcohol?
Well, all the water/liquid in the phone (along with the salts, sugars and minerals) will dissolve in the alcohol. The alcohol is supposed to be “hygroscopic”. It means that the alcohol attracts water.
So now, once the phone is soaked in the alcohol, you should try to drain out as much alcohol as possible just by moving the phone around. Having done this, only little alcohol will remain on the insides of the phone. And this alcohol should dry up quite quickly, since alcohol evaporates at room temperature.
Note: If you feel that there is a lot of sugar clogged in the phone (from tea/coffee or some other drink..) you should get your self a bottle of "distilled" water. Let your phone soak in it. The sugars will likely dissolve in the "distilled" water and drip out of the phone.
Where do you get a bottle of distilled water from?
Ask an electrician. Distilled water is generally used for your home inverter batteries, so a local electrician will probably know where to get it in your area.
Fianlly: You could once again dry your phone in the “heat vents” of the computer or TV and wait for at least 2-3 days before you put in the battery and power up the phone.
In most cases, if you act fast enough, these methods will save your phone. But, if it does not, try taking it to your dealer. Sometimes they have a “quick fix”. As a last resort, go to the phone repair guys!
