How to de-drown your wet cell phone

This is an instructable (my first) telling you how to de-drown your wet cell phone. I know almost everyone has lost a phone to moisture at one time or another. Be it dropped in a drink or toilet, left in a pants pocket and washed, etc. Here is your way around buying a new phone.

Step 1 Basically the only step

The first step is of course to PULL OUT THE BATTERY!! If you don't the accelerated corrosion will eat away not only at your battery, but it could damage your phone or even your SIM card making these instructions useless.

After you've done that:

Take your wet cell phone, and seal it in a bag containing two cups of long-grain, white rice.

In approx. 24-48 hours, your cell phone should have dried out completely.
However, you should check it periodically to see if it starts working earlier, but I still recommend you leave it the full time to insure that all of the moisture is removed.

Comments

[admin]

Hey, this is a great instructable and is very informative. Just one thing is missing... pictures! It really helps a lot when trying to follow directions so you should consider taking some photographs. Once you do that and leave me a message when you have so that we can publish your work. Thanks! Thanks for the cool instructable and we hope to publish this soon!

[Meggeler]

Well, I had already put the phone in rice, 2 days & still moisture - I'm worried about the soap she put in the washer. So I nuked the rice, wow it smelled good. After eating some I've put the phone back in it. We'll see, I got Momma a cheap phone she is happy with so maybe I'll have something to play with :)

[NE patsrock]

does the rice like soak up the wetness

[Rukbat]

The only problem with this - and only moreso with what Earthling is talking about - is that any residue in the water will be left in the phone. So unless you dropped the phone into triple-distilled (medical grade) water, drying the phone will only extend the time it takes the phone to die.

Instead, as you say, immediately remove the battery. Then drown the phone again - in rubbing alcohol. Alcohol is hygroscopic (it absorbs water), but it will also wash off any minerals, soap, salt, etc. Make sure the phone is thoroughly "wet" with the alcohol - inside. (Don't take the phone apart unless you've had some experience.) The alcohol will completely dry in about 10 minutes, once you remove the phone from the bath. (At that point, if you're on really good terms with your cellphone dealer, and the dealer knows how to disassemble phones, bring it in and see if they'll open it and "wash" it with alcohol swabs, to make sure it's totally clean inside.)

[Earthling!]

Nice, first time I've heard about the rice thing.

One thing if it was salt water or maybe laundry soap (I don't know if soap is conductive or not), is to rinse the device in fresh water first to prevent the conductive salt and such from sticking in it and causing mischief.

[rednecking]

well its been 48 hours in the rice bag and the only moisture I still see is in my screen but that only if you tilt it just right but other than that no wet spots detected !!!!! Sincerely Keith

[rednecking]

I hope it works because my cat knocked my phone off the table during the night and it landed in his water dish !! Sincerely Keith

[Derin]

You can also use those silica packs that come in things like shoes.Those are the things that say DO NOT EAT.

[stasterisk]

this is good. But the very first step when dealing with a drowned phone is to TAKE OUT THE BATTERY. If that is not done right away, corrosion will form at high speed even if the device is off. Taking out the battery first thing is probably more important than the rice thing. drying the rice out first by microwaving it will also help.

[j_wo]

You make an excellent point. I'm sorry I didn't add that. I think I meant to in the beginning but somehow I left it out. The microwave thing isn't a bad idea, but I was working under the assumtion that most people, (like me), are intelligent enough to keep their rice dry to begin with. Thanks for commenting. Cheers!