Nick's Tips . NET – Advice for Entrepreneurs

How to save your cellphone when it gets soaked!

Posted by Nick on December 20, 2009 at 00:16 am

This is not directly related to home businesses, but it is a good tip for everyone who has a cellphone.

Most of us will have a cellphone get dropped in water, or have something spilled over it, or drop it in snow accidentally if you live somewhere where it snows.

So now your cellphone is soaked in water! What do you do about it?

First, why does the cellphone doesn’t work after it is soaked? The reason is because if you try to use it right away, the cellphone, powered by the battery, creates a short circuit. No need to get into details about what it is, but the bottom line is that electrical power and moisture together don’t create the best combination.

So, rule number one, don’t turn on the cellphone.

Step two, take out the battery.

Step three, you will have to get the moisture out somehow. For this, here is a cool technique. Put your cellphone in a bunch of rice (raw, not cooked). You can put the rice in a cloth bag, or paper bag, or a ziplock bag. Anything will work.

Now, leave the phone there for about 48 hours. It takes patience.

Do NOT get tempted to turn on the phone and see if it is fixed. Keep it there for 48 hours. It may take three days if the phone was in the water for longer than 20-30 seconds or so.

Then get the phone out, and place it on a device that generates natural heat. Not too hot though. Something like a TV that is on would be fine. Something warm, not hot. Leave it there for about a day, or where it gets about 10-15 hours of constant heat that will help to dry out any remaining moisture.

By this point the phone should be set to work. Put the battery back on, turn it on and give it a try. If the phone didn’t stay in the water for very long, the chances are good that it should work the same it did before it fell into water.