I killed my iphone :(

DazMechanical · **on:** February 19, 2015, 11:28:26 AM

I accidentally put my iphone 5s through the wash cycle tonight...

It's totally dead! Surprisingly it still looks like new. I blew out as much water with compressed air as I could, but it won't switch on. I heard of putting it in a bowl of uncooked rice can draw out the moisture...
Has anybody had any luck doing this before or have any other tips?

lowtech · **Reply #1 on:** February 19, 2015, 11:34:10 AM

I have seen absorbent bags on sale made for that purpose. Sorry, hope you can get it back to life.
Rinse with demineralised water to flush out any electreolytes, dry toroughly. Maybe there is a phone repair shop near you? They come across that often. I have heard chances are good if the phone was off when submerged, but less good when it was on as the water can cause shortages.

DazMechanical · **Reply #2 on:** February 19, 2015, 11:42:50 AM

Yeah I'll be taking it to a repair shop if I can't get it working over the weekend. The phone would have been switched on when it went in the washer, but off when I took it out. Probably a bad sign

at least I can still use my old iphone 4

Etherealicer · **Reply #3 on:** February 19, 2015, 11:47:02 AM

Before you dry it, it is critical to remove the salt (and soap).
If something happens like this I recommend washing it with regular water (remove the soap), then lots of distilled water before drying (remove the salt). However, you would need to remove the battery first!

DazMechanical · **Reply #4 on:** February 19, 2015, 11:55:11 AM

I don't think I'm able to remove the battery, at least not without the proper tools.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2015, 12:22:56 PM

One of the problems with getting electronics wet is that often by the time they are dried, super tiny connections are corroded and it's far too late to do anything about it. That's one of the reasons I always try to get waterproof phones or cases. I encounter water a lot in my day to day travels- I live a stone's throw from the ocean and work on ships in a place where it rains a lot, so water is an almost constant threat to electronics. This video was what put me over the top in selecting the Galaxy S5. It's a bit long, but in a nutshell this guy throws it in a pool for a while, then runs it through a washing machine and it survived both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9J611BuXhw

There's a Lifeproof case for iPhone for sale on the forum right now.... might not be a bad idea to look into that.

Good luck. I wish I could be more help.

DazMechanical · **Reply #6 on:** February 19, 2015, 12:47:06 PM

I'll definitely be getting a heavy duty waterproof case now! I guess I didn't think I'd need it before, one of those hind site moments i suppose.

well, we live and learn.

Etherealicer · **Reply #7 on:** February 19, 2015, 03:54:44 PM

Battery removal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQqPm3LmwV4

As for corrosion. I'm by no means an expert, but think that most of those materials don't corrode that quickly, I always thought its the dirt (salt deposit) that cause the problem. Case in point I had a phone that was not working after getting wet and being dried, so I soaked it again with distilled water. After the second drying it was working flawlessly.

sawman · **Reply #8 on:** February 19, 2015, 04:16:37 PM

Kind of off topic but I ruined my AM/FM radio by accidentally submerging it into water the other day.

Good luck with getting yours restored, I hope it's not too costly.

Weasel · **Reply #9 on:** February 19, 2015, 06:58:11 PM

I did the same to my iPhone 3GS a few years ago
I put it in a bowl of uncooked rice for a few days, it did turn on after that but had no back
Light so was hard to see the display

anditsgone · **Reply #10 on:** March 02, 2015, 06:45:35 PM

I am afraid that it won't work again and if it does start again you'll probably encounter problems with camera not working, speaker not working,not charging, no signal, other problems.
Water damage is unpredictable, some times it is killed in the rain while sitting in the pocket, and others work flawlessly after a washing cycle.

Good luck with it.

Aloha · **Reply #11 on:** March 02, 2015, 07:39:56 PM

I may have mentioned this but I dropped my iphone 3 in a bucket of water it promptly shut down. I then took it and placed it on the dash of my truck under a towel so the sun wasnt directly on it and after an hour or so it was working again.

DazMechanical · **Reply #12 on:** March 03, 2015, 08:35:54 AM

It is dead! I took it into the phone repair shop, they took it apart and did some tests and they said they couldn't repair it. Oh well at least I have my backup! Just spewing I lost all my photos! I'm looking at getting a water proof case for my backup phone soon!

Lichtbote · **Reply #13 on:** March 03, 2015, 11:17:19 AM

After contact of any electronics with dirty or salt water ..... as soon as possible dump it into a bowl with destilled water do get out whatever might get into it (if manageable without the akku). Flush as good as you can.

Thereafter drop it in a bowl with Isopropyl, that will wash any water out. And later, when you pulled it out of the bowl, the Iso will vaporize faster than any water, and without any residues.

No guarantee it will help in any case, if a shortcut has happened this shurely will not repair any damage, also no damage from falling on the ground. But for the pure damage due to water it gives you a pretty good chance if done propperly.

Whoey · **Reply #14 on:** March 03, 2015, 12:32:38 PM

We used isopropyl and brushes to clean flux off circuit boards when making repairs. Yes it evaporates quickly, but cleans the boards up real nice.

Sadly in a device like a phone where everything is jammed together it's tough to get it all apart without damaging further. And I believe the iphones have a reputation for being even less repair friendly apart from maybe replacing a battery or screen...

Quote from: DazMechanical on March 03, 2015, 08:35:54 AM

Just spewing I lost all my photos!

This is why I hate the idea of phones with only internal memory. I have google+ cloud backup set for my photos on my phone, so whenever it's connected to my wifi it backs up (but does not publish) my photos so I have an external backup in case of a disaster.

derekmac · **Reply #15 on:** March 03, 2015, 12:51:48 PM

Quote from: DazMechanical on March 03, 2015, 08:35:54 AM

It is dead! I took it into the phone repair shop, they took it apart and did some tests and they said they couldn't repair it. Oh well at least I have my backup! Just spewing I lost all my photos! I'm looking at getting a water proof case for my backup phone soon!

Sorry to hear that!! Install Dropbox and set it to automatically backup you photos. I use that, Photobucket and Google Drive to backup my stuff. Is that overkill? Maybe, but I won't lose any pics that way. All of those are also free.

DazMechanical · **Reply #16 on:** March 05, 2015, 11:57:55 AM

Those are some good ideas dmac! I'm gonna look at using some online storage when I get some spare time.

BASguy · **Reply #17 on:** March 22, 2015, 04:46:06 PM

Quote from: DazMechanical on March 05, 2015, 11:57:55 AM

Those are some good ideas dmac! I'm gonna look at using some online storage when I get some spare time.

Most folks use the iCloud backup with the free 5GB and transfer to another long term storage media when that fills up ( or pay for more iCloud storage). Apple makes it pretty easy to swap devices without losing data.... I'm surprised to hear you have any issues.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

DazMechanical · **Reply #18 on:** March 23, 2015, 12:59:45 PM

Quote from: BASguy on March 22, 2015, 04:46:06 PM

Quote from: DazMechanical on March 05, 2015, 11:57:55 AM
Those are some good ideas dmac! I'm gonna look at using some online storage when I get some spare time.
Most folks use the iCloud backup with the free 5GB and transfer to another long term storage media when that fills up ( or pay for more iCloud storage). Apple makes it pretty easy to swap devices without losing data.... I'm surprised to hear you have any issues.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yeah I did use iCloud but it filled up the free 5GB with useless crap and never bought any extra storage when that ran out, I never thought of transferring that data to another storage utility.

BASguy · **Reply #19 on:** March 23, 2015, 06:20:39 PM

Quote from: DazMechanical on March 23, 2015, 12:59:45 PM

Quote from: BASguy on March 22, 2015, 04:46:06 PM

Quote from: DazMechanical on March 05, 2015, 11:57:55 AM
Those are some good ideas dmac! I'm gonna look at using some online storage when I get some spare time.
Most folks use the iCloud backup with the free 5GB and transfer to another long term storage media when that fills up ( or pay for more iCloud storage). Apple makes it pretty easy to swap devices without losing data.... I'm surprised to hear you have any issues.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yeah I did use iCloud but it filled up the free 5GB with useless crap and never bought any extra storage when that ran out, I never thought of transferring that data to another storage utility.

Yeah, it does fill up pretty quick. That's kind of bummer.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

kosmo · **Reply #20 on:** March 23, 2015, 11:14:24 PM

I'm kind of late to contribute to this subject, but I also accidentally put my phone (LG900) through the washing machine a few months ago. It appeared dead, but then after reading up on it, I removed the battery and opened up the phone, by removing the back panel. After a few days, I put it in a jar of dry rice. After many more days, I took it out and was able to recharge it with another battery. There was still moister in the screen, but it worked. Slowly (perhaps a couple of weeks) and the moister slowly disappeared. I am still using it today with a new battery. I've experienced a few problems with certain keys not working, or takes more than one click to get a key to work sometimes.

sawman · **Reply #21 on:** March 23, 2015, 11:21:08 PM

Killed your photos? I thought the iPhone backed everything up automatically. Perhaps that's true with the 5/6?

mrynnr · **Reply #22 on:** March 23, 2015, 11:31:48 PM

Also best not to turn on your phone before you've let it all dry.

DazMechanical · **Reply #23 on:** March 23, 2015, 11:42:43 PM

Quote from: sawman on March 23, 2015, 11:21:08 PM

Killed your photos? I thought the iPhone backed everything up automatically. Perhaps that's true with the 5/6?

Yeah it does automatically back up photos but once the storage is full it stops backing up until you buy more GB, which I never got around to doing, never thought I'd need it...

Higgins617 · **Reply #24 on:** March 23, 2015, 11:49:42 PM

Best I ever saw was when me and my friend we fishing on the end of a dock. Pulls out his phone to answer a text and splash it goes. On the way down it looked like there was mini explosions going on! Sparks everywhere, flashes, quite the show.

Set001 · **Reply #25 on:** March 24, 2015, 12:03:48 AM

I know this is an older post but I just saw it. If you still have the damaged phone, try the rice trick. I have seen electronics that have been submerged for weeks dry out with enough time in an air tight container with dry rice. If you do try this leave the phone off and in the ice for at least a week or more. The longer the better. That trick may not get your phone back to 100% but you might get enough life in it to save your photos. Good Luck!

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I killed my iphone :(

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