Dropped my phone down the toilet

[TW]Sponge · 25 Apr 2011 at 11:17

Gutted! Dropped my HTC Desire down the loo last night, and I have no insurance (call me an idiot if you wish).

Can't get the bloody thing to work now, slight precipitation at the bottom of the screen aswell.

Anybody fixed anything like this before? Or what will Vodafone do if I ring them?

Cheers.

Nightglow · 25 Apr 2011 at 11:23

You got house insurance?

Might be covered on the contents.

Robbo · 25 Apr 2011 at 11:24

Take it to bits (as best you can) and put in the airing cupboard for a few days.

If you've already tried to turn it on etc though, you've probably made it worse

[TW]Sponge · 25 Apr 2011 at 11:56

Robbo said:
Take it to bits (as best you can) and put in the airing cupboard for a few days.

If you've already tried to turn it on etc though, you've probably made it worse

Yeh it's just reaction to immediately try and turn it on though!

Will try your suggestion

Behemoth · 25 Apr 2011 at 12:05

Dropped my Nokia E71 in a pint of beer last night, it's absolutely dead this morning, even after taking it apart, putting it in the airing cupboard and leaving it go all night.

Semple · 25 Apr 2011 at 12:10

My girlfriend dropped her iPhone into water so I read quite a few topics for best drying out phones. Most of them suggested putting it into a bag of rice as that allowed it to absorb the water.

Deep · 25 Apr 2011 at 12:12

I have to ask, clean toilet?

TheVoice · 25 Apr 2011 at 12:15

Behemoth said:
Dropped my Nokia E71 in a pint of beer last night, it's absolutely dead this morning, even after taking it apart, putting it in the airing cupboard and leaving it go all night.

Overnight isn't really long enough.

CaptainRAVE · 25 Apr 2011 at 12:20

Deep said:
I have to ask, clean toilet?

My thoughts too.

Dry it out well, might work OK after this.

[TW]Sponge · 25 Apr 2011 at 14:16

Deep said:
I have to ask, clean toilet?

Yeh luckily it was before any evacuation occurred.

Deep · 25 Apr 2011 at 14:21

At least this story has a silver lining

I really hope you get it fixed though!

sarge78 · 25 Apr 2011 at 17:47

Chucking it in a bag of rice for a few days is the best method.

Behemoth said:
Dropped my Nokia E71 in a pint of beer last night

I did the same with my Defy a few weeks back... on purpose mind you

Klytus · 25 Apr 2011 at 17:58

Did the same to my SE X1 ages ago. Dismantled it, rinsed the pcbs with deionised water (to clean it and as it does not conduct electricity as well as toilet water!) shook it dry, left the bits on the radiator until it was all bone dry then put it all back together and hey presto!! Worked perfectly! I reckon Its all about getting the battery out ASAP as soon as you wet it tho.

Behemoth · 25 Apr 2011 at 19:06

TheVoice said:
Overnight isn't really long enough.

I know, it didn't help that I tried to turn it back on again once I took it out my pint.

muon · 25 Apr 2011 at 19:09

If you drop in anything sugary or something that will leave residue, you need to wash first.

Preferably soak in 99% isopropyl alcohol for a while. Then leave to dry with the added benefit that IPA evaporates very quickly.

ins0mn1ac · 25 Apr 2011 at 21:00

Remove battery. Put phone into a large bag of rice, lots of rice, leave it for a week or so. It'll be fine

rsatd · 26 Apr 2011 at 06:54

sarge78 said:
I did the same with my Defy a few weeks back... on purpose mind you

So did defy live up to the claims? I got one, but not really interested in testing it out

[TW]Sponge · 26 Apr 2011 at 15:12

Took phone apart and I need some sort of small star shaped screwdriver to get in it. Where the hell do I get this from?

estebanrey · 26 Apr 2011 at 15:19

sponge999 said:
Yeh it's just reaction to immediately try and turn it on though!

Will try your suggestion

That may not have been the best move as if you turn it on before it's fully dried out you are likely to cause a short circuit and screw it forever. Hope you get it working again though dude.

Mr Paul · 26 Apr 2011 at 15:30

Give it a thougher wash in UHP water, then dry for a week or two.