Water Damage - How to Resolve it

[vcoleiro1]

Ok, So I moved my wife's ipod touch 4th gen into some water on the kitchen bench over a week ago. And sure enough it didnt work when we tried to power it on. I know, I shouldn't have tried to turn it on.


Anyway, I looked up the forums and looked for what to do. It didn't look promising, looked like there was perhaps a 50% chance of getting it to ever work again at best. Anyway the main advice given was to :


1) Absolutely Don't turn it on (Ooop's)


2) Wipe it with a cloth but don't try and shake the water out or put in a hot spot


3) Put it in a jar of dry rice for a week or so


So after wiping it and putting it in a jar of rice for a week I tried it again, no go. nothing happening. Ok, what to do now, Im thinking its gone.


So for some reason I decide to give it a flick to see if any water will come out the bottom (where the headphone and 32 connector is) , sure enough , despite being in a jar of rice for a week, drops of water flick out of it. I continue doing this until eventually no water is coming out.


The next day (Today) , i think well since I've already not listened to rule 1 and now 2(not shaking it), i decide to put in the sun for a bit. It was hot day today. After 10 minutes you could have fried an egg on it, so a brought it in, then put it out again 2 more times.


Result, turned it on, bingo, its working.


Lesson learnt, definately try and get the water out of it by flicking it sharply so the water comes out the bottom openings - I don't think rice will dry excess water out. Then perhaps put it in rice, if it still won't work, then try it in the sun (Screen down) for a short time.


Anyone else have any water damage experience or tips?

 

[Link]

A car sitting in the sun, maybe on the dashboard for 15 minutes screen down away from sun. Rice is good, but heat and sun better, yeah and not turning on when wet is clutch, but not always a bricker as you've found out.


Get a waterproof case or water resistant, Otter Box makes some nice ones and they are very kind on their warranties.

 

[gruso]

I don't know why people say not to shake it out. I guess their intention is to prevent the water touching more components than it already is, but the way I look at it, a thin spread of water over a PCB is better than a puddle in one location. The thin spread evaporates much faster! If I get water in a gadget, I'm getting as much of that out as quickly as I can.

 

[EvilDragon]

I don't know why people say not to shake it out. I guess their intention is to prevent the water touching more components than it already is, but the way I look at it, a thin spread of water over a PCB is better than a puddle in one location. The thin spread evaporates much faster! If I get water in a gadget, I'm getting as much of that out as quickly as I can.

This could kill the system if the battery is still in, as the water could cause short circuits!


Therefore, it's better to have a puddle and let it dry for a few days before turning it on again.

 

[Mr_Loon]

At a party at my family home, I once knocked over a third full can of beer which was foolishly perched (by me) on top of an Atari ST which was running Trip a Tron at the time. Most of the beer made its way inside the ST. This lead to the house circuit breaker kicking in.


After I'd unplugged the ST and got the lights back on, I tipped out the excess beer and put the ST in the airing cupboard over night, booted it up the next day, presented with about 15 bombs across the screen (ST equivalent of BSOD).


Put the ST back in the airing cupboard for a week, booted it up again and all was fine, and although it did smell a bit on hot days it continued to work for years and as far as I know it still does.


Moral of the story : I was one lucky numpty!

 

[PokeParadox]

GBA (original - clear purple/bluey colour) I dropped it into the bath. I scooped it as quickly as I dropped it and I could see water in the bottom of the see through case... but it was still playing whatever game I was playing... in the bath. But anyway I turned it off put it to one side and took the batteries and left it to dry.


Then I botched up installing an afterburner frontlight on it a year later... So um... don't play your portable in the bath, I guess?

 

[Phelsumania]

i herd a rumor a few days ago that if you spill water on an electrical devise that if you put that devise in a bag of rice for 24 hours that whe rice will absorb any water and remove conensation under the screen too. Probably a load of tripe but one of my mates dropped his iphone down the toilet (TBH probably the best place for it) but he decided to rescue it. he recogned he did this and after 24 hours it was able to boot with condensation under the screen and camera. so he left it in the bag of rice for longer and after 48 hours the condensation hhad dissapeared.


however i find it hard to believe and it was probably more luck than this old wifes tale working.

 

[milkshake]

well its true rice will exorb any water but its not guarenteed tgo fix it, but i would always do the bag of rice trick before attempting to turn it on at least.

 

[skeezix]

The trick is .. water does _not_ hurt electrical components. _Shorts_ do.


True story, but some people have washed dirty electrical components or pcbs in the dishwasher, and they're fine.


The trick is the _power_ .. if the battery is in and connected (or shorted in), or power is on, or big capacitors fully cahrged etc.. then you get problems when water causes the power to jump around where it shouldn't. But water itself is okay.


So if somethign gets wet, sure, stick it in rice, but that may or may not help.. how do ytou get the water _out of the inside_; usually you'd have to open it up so it can air dry ot something, the rice won't likely help much (ie: it'll absorb the water thats already _out_ which doesn't help much.)


Phones and such tend to be 'always on' (otherwisew they couldn't answer the phone or whatever, right?), so tend to blow up pretty easily in this case; you turned yours on too


So the question really is.. did anything get damaged when the water hit (ie: before you turned it on probably.. if water seeped in, and it was in 'semi off, not really off'), you're probably out of luck


But maybe you get lucky and nothign critical got shorted..


jeff

 

[diligentcircle]

Hah... I have a USB flash drive that's been accidentally sent to the washer about 5 times. Most of them were cold cycles, but one of them was hot or warm and melted some of the plastic, as far as I can tell. Still works, though! Yay!

 

[ikreos]

If you have an air compressor try blowing air into it at around 30psi for some time. I used to use one all the time on my wristwatch. The buttons wore away and water would get into it after washing my hands. A quick blast of air cleared it up in a few seconds. Surprisingly it still retained it's time after being wet. Just make sure power is disconnected before spreading the water any further.

 

[mulchardude]

I dropped my cell in the toilet once. :wacko:


I grabbed it immediately, but it was already shorting - vibrating and flashing like it'd received a message from hell ("See you sooooon! Heh heh heh.").


However, I yanked the battery, and let it dry for a few days. When I turned it back on, it worked fine. The only thing I noticed was a shortened battery life (it would need charging more frequently).


Now, this was a very simple phone, a $10 model from the store. No smartphone.


However, I think it's hit or miss whether or not real damage will be done. Could be the circuits don't burn even if they do short. Could be they weaken, but don't outright break. Or they could totally be screwed.


I've heard rumors I've never cared to verify that the army (American in this case, don't know about any others) will clean electronics by first dunking them in warm soapy water, then in cold clean water, then leaving them to dry for days, or some period of time. Without any power connected, obviously.


So it's probably worth a shot to let it dry for some days and then try it. Just don't hold your hopes too high.


Edit: For some reason I read a bunch of reply advice, but didn't read the original post. I guess you had a similar experience, only with a more expensive/complex device!


So yeah. It's totally hit or miss, even when it's been on and shorting. You're just pushing your luck each time you short it.


Oh, and about the rice, yeah, rice does soak water, but if water's trapped inside, won't do any good. And shaking it would only matter if it were still shorting (battery/cord in, and on or touching water (forcing it on)).

 

[gruso]

I don't know why people say not to shake it out. I guess their intention is to prevent the water touching more components than it already is, but the way I look at it, a thin spread of water over a PCB is better than a puddle in one location. The thin spread evaporates much faster! If I get water in a gadget, I'm getting as much of that out as quickly as I can.

This could kill the system if the battery is still in, as the water could cause short circuits!


Therefore, it's better to have a puddle and let it dry for a few days before turning it on again.

I guess in the case of an ipod (where you can't remove the battery) this is true. If the battery is removable though, I'm definitely shaking!

 

[RobFord]

Best thing I have found for moisture in tech, certainly for smaller objects.


Find a sealable box big enough to fit your gadget, then get a couple of packets of silica gel, the stuff that comes with almost every piece of tech you buy, little packet that warn you not too eat it.


This will remove moisture from the air, you might have to leave your gadget in the box for a couple of days, but should sort it out.


I have done this with every watch that had condensation under the glass, never had to do it with tech as I have not had any problems so far, touch wood.

 

[vcoleiro1]

I think I could have left the ipod touch in rice (or silica gels) for the rest of the year and the water would have still been in it, due to it being pretty much enclosed (accept to let water in - lol). As I mentioned, after 1 week there was still plenty of water in it, really there was no option but to shake it out (water unfortunately will corrode electronics).


I find it really amusing that apple had spent money researching and implementing Liquid Contact Indicators within there ios products which allow's them to refuse a warranty fix on any device that has a triggered LCI. Wouldn't it have been better to have invested that money to water proof the dam thing a bit better !.


My drying effort wasn't a total success, after a thorough test everything is working accept bluetooth. Looks like that may have gone to heaven. It just wont allow you to switch it on ( the on/off switch never appears - just the spinning disk) . Compared to others though I got off lucky.