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Did your cellphone get wet? Throw it in the oven.
meetmyattorney.com — Did you jump into a pool by accident? Maybe putting your cell phone in the oven at 125 degrees for five hours may make your wet cellphone work again.
colecoman- 396 diggs
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- Daisuke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Damn.. It would have helped to know this before I went swimming with my cellphone last summer :-P
- sometemple, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Last weekend I was camping and someone accidentally lit a pocket full of bottle rockets on fire. They jumped into the lake to put it out and when they got back up they realized their cell phone was in the other pocket. He turned it on and the thing worked fine. We joked that it would have made the perfect commercial for Motorolla had someone had a camera.
- jarcoal, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6you don't need to bake your phone, just let it dry out, it will almost always work again.
- Daisuke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3jarcoal: the issue I had was that I didn't realize at the time it might not be the greatest thing to turn it back on right after. ;) of course the fact that it quickly turned itself back off and got really hot and started smoking told me I did something wrong.
- Bobski, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Letting it dry out slowly is the worst possible thing you could do. There are way too many tight spaces in modern electronic gadgets for water to hide and linger in for weeks. The longer you keep water in close proximity to electronics, the greater the chance for corrosion.
Get that moisture out of there quick! The oven at 125 degrees is a very old and very useful trick. - jarcoal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i have seen several phones submerged in water, soda, etc. and all just dried out and worked fine.
- devinbust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My cell phone fell out of my pocket into my pool. My brother and I came up with a great solution. First, make sure you don't try to turn the phone back on, if you do it will short circuit and you can kiss it goodbye. Next put it in a zip-lock bag and fill the bag with 95% isopropyl alcohol and shake it. Although this sounds counterproductive it is by far the best thing you can do. It binds to the water and corrosive agents and takes them out. The alcohol evaporates much quicker than water. Also, it does not conduct electricity so even if you turn it on theoretically it won't short circuit (I wouldn't try it though). Next put it in front of a fan or a hair dryer on LOW heat for about 5 hours, (I rigged up a hair dryer so I could leave the room). I let it sit over night and voila, good as new!
- colecoman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I wanted to try this but my oven only goes down to 175 degrees. My mom drooped her cell phone in a lake and wont work now and she dose not want to pay 150 dollars for a new phone.
- Bobski, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's too late now. It won"t revive already dead electronics.
- toomuchgreentea, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2You should also try putting a rock next to the cellphone and under your pillow for a week. It has as good a chance as throwing it in the oven.
Stupid stupid idea. - toomuchgreentea, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1You do know toxic fume could be emitted when the cellphone is inside the oven?
- simcjt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2this is kinda old was on digg last year as you can see from the date written
- mojo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Wouldn't a hair dryer work as well?
- Daisuke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3yeah, but would you want to hold a hair dryer up to your cell phone for 5 hours?
- Lorian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12125°F = ~51.7°C
- saska, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I didn't need an oven to fix my BlackBerry after it fell into the dishwater while I was talking on the headset... just take the damn thing apart, run the hair dryer on it until you stop seeing water drops seep out of the cracks, and leave it disassembled for a couple of days. It works perfectly now.
Have done exactly the same with a GameBoy Advance.- chancesarent, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12if you've dropped two electrical devices into your dishwasher at different instances, maybe it's time to start eating off paper plates with disposable plasticware.
- saska, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4The GBA belongs to the five year old boy and met with a pool, but thanks for playing.
- PowerCow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1if it gets wet
take out battery immediatly
if away from a place where you can work on it best to keep it submerged(if it got submerged.. if it just got wet don t submerge it,
soak in distilled water , some peoples tap is very hard and almost as bad as ocean water.
allow to dry
i wouldnt really try the oven trick.. maybe a hair dryer - julielacombe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Bah, people all have their homebrewed recipees when it comes to fixing broken gadgets.. This story reminds me of something I heard about people putting their hard drive in the oven to make them work again, and at the extreme opposite, In the freezer!
http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html
How desperate can you be? :)- lankybutmacho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I work at a state university's help desk, and our repair department does actually put hard drives in their freezer when attempting data recovery. I'm told it works about 1 out of 15 times. And believe me, people can be pretty desperate when they think that a year of work on their dissertation that they haven't backed up is completely gone.
- smarthall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Give up if you dropped it in salt water.... It's already rusted to bits inside
- cazabam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have a rather different 'homebrew' method: I pay a small premium for insurance. When the wife dropped her phone in a glass of water (don't ask me how, I don't know) I gave them a call and the next morning a courier brought a new phone and took the old one away. Magic.
- hertzsae, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Did they also retrieve all the numbers that had been added since the last backup of the old phone?
- daza, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'm sure most of it could of been recovered from the SIM card..
- cazabam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The numbers were stored in the phone, not the sim card. However, I also have a PDA and my address book on my mac and I keep them all in synch. I didn't lose any information either time my phone got destroyed.
- jool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Seriously? World & Business? What has a wet cellphone to do with anything?
- b_timmins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Offbeat News should be OK, though I'd have said Tech would be better.
- jsetoh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Dude, its off beat news..
- b_timmins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I washed mine in a machine, remembered half way through the soapy wash cycle, took it out, opened it up took out battery and rinsed/soaked phone and battery in tap water for about 10 minutes then let it dry naturally.
The battery recovered after a few hours (I had a second phone to try it), the phone started to show signs of life the next day (some beeps and black pixels), and was more or less fully recovered the following day.
It still has a bit of shading on the LCD but works fine.- suebee47, on 10/28/2007, -0/+0My cell phone was washed in machine all the way through rinse cycle. I took apart, cleaned with alcohol, let dry 3 days and it works fine now.
- munderwood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I collected two eggs from my hens, put them in my top pocket, then dropped my phone in the same pocket and jumped in my car. After driving for 30 minutes, I reached for the phone...
On a "cure or kill" basis an hour later, I held the phone under a running tap for a few minutes, then put it in a warm oven overnight.
Works fine now, even though you can still see egg-yolk deep in the usb socket ;-)- machine117, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That is one of the strangest stories I have ever read. Why on earth did you put eggs in your pocket?
- misaxi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sounds so crazy, but it really the last method to bring your damn wet cell back ;p
But it is reasonable to change a new one. - jsetoh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0you should see the one on this site regarding placing the hard disk into the freezer. its funny what kinda fixes people can think up
- vdog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What's even more funny is that they often work.
- EdiciusTsaf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Damn, you couldn't have posted that one day earlier?
Anyway, I used my hair-dryer to dry it and then left it for some hours.
Works fine now! - wmbattsjr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Few days in a zip-top bag of plain white rice. Takes some patience, but it works all the same.
- xrandom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0My friend dropper hers into a bag she put in the freezer for about 5 hours.... Thing was FROZEN. Worked after an hour siting in a really warm car.
- unfinity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Those familiar with the concept of condensation will understand that your friend got really lucky.
- Tomato, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OVEN?! Here's the way to do it:
1. Turn it off
2. Remove the battery
3. Wash it/submerge it in distilled water*
4. Let it dry for several hours
5. Replace the battery
* Distilled water works because it has no minerals... it's these minerals in regular water that corrode the metal/electronics and causes shorts/etc that cause your device to stop working! - nuXan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I fell in a river because my girlfriend stopped to quickly right in front of me on a trail (we were riding bikes.)
I immediately went for my Treo 650 and threw it up on land (4 foot fall.) Later I noticed the screen looked like an aquarium. Someone said to put it in the oven at a low temperature for a long time. Well I did and the top and bottom of the screen is toasted. But the phone works. I used the insurance on this but that sunk 50$. - solarwinds, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Just because you're an engineer at Nokia means you know what you're doing. (e.g. baking cell phones to make it work again) Heck, even the president of the United States doesn't know what he's doing half the time, and he's the bloody president
- xycyclonusxy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I put my cell phone throught the washer and dryer. When I found it in my pants, it was quite hot. It began to work after two days. However, from that point on it behaved like a tempremental brat. I expected no less from giving the phone the "Tide" ride.
- xavier2112, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My younger sibligs forgot to take thier phone out of thier pants pocket before putting them in the washing machine. The phone went through the dryer too which i think helped it to work again (with a new battery)
- easycheez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I threw my little sister in the pool and she drug me in after her while I was fully loaded. Phone, wallet , keys. Your ford keyless entry is waterproof, but my motorola razr was soaked. Took batt out and let it dry for a day,.. put the battery back in and fired right up. My sis dropped her slvr in the pool and recovered in the same fashion. It is vitaly important that you do not try to turn it on til it is completely dry. Else you will short-circuit the board in your phone. Props to motorola.
- linnaeus, on 10/30/2007, -0/+0i dont recommend this method of drying your phone....you might compromise some sensitive parts of your phone..it might melt..you wont know...just have a little bit of patience in drying it, just use wind or fan...thats enough..if you want more info or explanation
http://waterdamagecellphone.blogspot.com/ or
http://mobcellphone.blogspot.com/ - Ed81, on 02/01/2008, -0/+0If you're not a do-it yourself-er, there's a company that will dry your phone for $12. You send it to them and they send it back... www.wet-phone.com
- expertblogger, on 03/16/2008, -0/+1just take the damn thing apart, run the hair dryer on it until you stop seeing water drops seep out of the cracks, and leave it disassembled for a couple of days. It works perfectly now. Your ford keyless entry is waterproof, but my motorola razr was soaked. Took batt out and let it dry for a day,.. put the battery back in and fired right up. My sis dropped her slvr in the pool and recovered in the same fashion. It is vitaly important that you do not try to turn it on til it is completely dry. http://reedspique.info http://reelssavin.info http://saidsbabas.info http://sardskaput.info http://shadypints.info
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