Cell phone met the kitchen sink. Need advice! (1 Viewer)

[David Ely]

Tonight has definitely not been going well.
First, I get home only to find that I've lost the security card for work. I retraced my steps and came up empty handed. Now I have to pay $50 to get a new one :frowning:
And then my cell phone fell in to the kitchen sink .... which was full of water. The phone was on at the time, but it seemed to turn off the moment it hit the water. I dried it off, and let it sit for 2 hours with the battery out. It still won't turn on.
Is the phone toast? Do you think there might still be water inside shorting things out?
Any advice on what to do with the phone is greatly appreciated.

 

[Aaron Copeland]

Hmm...after two hours I would think there is a pretty good chance water is still inside the phone. I'd let it sit overnight and try again in the morning.

 

[Ryan Witt]

I'm not telling you to do this with your phone!

@ work, we had a guy spill grapefruit juice all over his laptop. Anyway, a couple of weeks later, it was opened & soaked in rubbing alcohol. Then, the alcohol was drained & the computer was left to dry. When complete, the system ran!

As far as I know, it still runs today.

 

[Jason Quillen]

My Roommate came home after Thanksgiving Break and told me his Cell Phone had met with a similar fate - his went through the washing machine.
Amazingly, it still worked. It could ring, but the buttons would stick and all visual displays were gone. So, he went to verizon and got a new one
(What was funny was that he borrowed everyones cell phones and racked his brain to try and figure out all the phone numbers that he had stored in his old phone. Then when he got to Verizon they transferred the phone book and all his settings, etc onto the new phone with no problem. The look on his face was priceless).
JQ

 

[ThomasC]

My friend dropped his Palm Pilot in the toilet once. I think he put it in the direction of a fan overnight and the next day started working again.

 

[David Ely]

*UPDATE*
Everything worked out today. I didn't get charged for the new security card at work, and the phone works.
But get this, the phone has now been completely reset to factory defaults. So I have a different logo screen when turning it on, and more menu options

 

[JoshF]

David: See? The stress got you nowhere.

Zen.

Find the zen.

Mmm.

 

[Matt Stryker]

You might also try taking the battery off and cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser. My wife dropped her old phone in her drink cup 2 times in a month. I did get it to work again, but it never held a charge very well and never got good reception.

For her current phone, I got the service maintenance plan. I normally dismiss it as a scam on most electronics, but for cell phones it is worth it. They pretty much will replace 2 phones a year, no questions asked from what I've heard.