Thursday, February 21, 2008

Thursday Thirteen #51


Thirteen Tips for Drying Out a Wet Cell Phone
Stolen from wikihow.com. I'll let you know how it goes.
Yes, if you absolutely must know, there was a toilet involved.
And, perhaps, some alcohol.
  1. Get it out of the water as soon as possible. Check.

  2. Remove the battery. Done, but probably not quickly enough.
  3. Dry your phone. Obviously you need to remove as much of the water as soon as possible, so you can save it from getting into the phone. Use a towel or paper towel to remove as much of the water as possible. As best I could.

  4. Allow the phone to dry. Working on that now.

    Some Drying Methods:
  5. Rice Method - To dry your phone more quickly than room temperature air can manage, immerse it in a can of dry, uncooked rice. The rice will absorb excess moisture, drying your phone from the inside out. (I'm doing this.)

  6. Alcohol Method - Take the battery out. Quicky dip the phone in pure alcohol (on a first aid kit) and make sure it gets to wet the phone entirely inside. The alcohol will dilute the water that might be inside it. Fish your phone out of the alcohol container. Place it under heat (sun, hair dryer...). Alcohol will evaporate easier and faster than water!

  7. An alternate drying technique is to seal the phone (battery, SIM card, SD card all removed) in a plastic bag with a few of the silica packs that come packed with shoes, coats, electronics. Leave the phone in the bag for a day or 2, and the silica packs will absorb the moisture. That's where the battery and SIM card are.

  8. If you have a stove with a halogen light or a light used to warm food, take out the battery and sim card and let the phone sit under it for 10-15 minutes. Not too close though, it could get too hot and fry.

  9. Remove battery and all cards. Open your phone if it is a flip phone or leave it if its a normal bar phone. #Find a couple old socks and put your phone in the sock with it open and tie the end of the sock to keep the phone in. Put another sock around that sock to provide extra padding and protection to the phone. Set your clothes dryer on the lowest heat setting...the no heat setting is best and safest! Heat will melt the phone! Throw in another small garment or two in the dryer along with you cell phone/tied sock package. Run for two to three 1 hour cycles. Let the phone cool for 4-5 hours laying out. Re-attach battery.

  10. Place the phone on the dashboard by the defrost holes and tape it. After a few days of driving with the heater On, it should get dry.

  11. Another method for drying the phone is to set it on top of the vent of a cable box, monitor or TV for at least 24 hours (up to 3 days). The low heat emitted is enough to gently dry out the phone.

  12. Wait. This is the hardest part - Drying should take approximately three days which means leaving your phone alone, with battery and SIM card out, while it dries slowly. Ack!

  13. Test your phone. Hope for the best.

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5 comments:

  1. 1. Gather dirty clothes from floor in son's room while he is asleep.

    2. Throw them in the washer and wash.

    3. Start moving clothes from washer to dryer.

    4. Notice that something feels suspiciously heavy.

    5. Discover very clean cell phone.

    6. Use many expletives.

    7. Feel very stupid. Start praying.

    8. Take battery out of cell phone.

    9. Place open cell phone (flip phone) and battery in front of fan.

    10. Leave cell phone and battery in front of fan, changing position periodically. Continue to pray.

    11. After two weeks put battery back in cell phone. Pray.

    12. Pray. Turn cell phone on. Pray. Be very tentitively hopeful. Make test calls. REJOICE!!! REJOICE!!! REJOICE!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That gives me hope, because my biggest concern is that I couldn't figure out how to get the battery out, and didn't want all my friends to know what a dumbass I am, so I left it in til I got home, probably a couple of hours later.

    The phone felt kind of hot at that point, which can't be good.

    The upside is that I'm pretty sure (need to check my records) that we opted for the insurance on it, so if it's unsavable, I think we can replace it.

    And I think (hope) all the important info is on the SIM card, not in the phone itself.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did this happen last night?
    If so, in that crowd, you didn't need to worry that we would think you were a dumbass!! Hello, it would be a miracle for us to figure out how to do it also...especially after all of those drinks. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, it was last night. I think you'd already finished up and gone back to the table, or you would have heard the "splash" (and the "oh, fuck me!").

    And, of course, being worried about looking like a big dork just makes me dorkier, right?

    I am comforted by the fact that nephew's phone was probably wet for quite a while and it survived.

    I do feel pretty naked and isolated without it right now; I sure hope it's all good by the end of the weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, ours went through a whole wash cycle. We literally let it dry out for two weeks. Somewhere we had heard that number, so that is what we did and it worked. I don't know if it would have been fine earlier or not, but it sat on the dresser with a fan blowing ten inches from it the whole time. I was obsessed with moving both the phone and the battery to new positions every day or two (more at first) to help make sure it dried out at all angles. Probably a lot of overkill, but it worked. :)

    ReplyDelete

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