Who hasn’t accidentally left a phone, camera or MP3 player in a swimsuit pocket and gone swimming? It’s a harrowing experience, but there’s hope: Dunking the gadget in rice is a somewhat surprising yet very effective drying method.
We’ve all soaked a not-so-waterproof gadget or two, and we know that lots of them can come back to life after a few days of drying, albeit sometimes with some unfortunate damage. But dunking a wet gadget in a container of rice (provided the surrounding environment is humidity-free) can absorb excess moisture and reduce the possibility of damage, which can come in handy in these glorious summer months that are so fraught with danger for our beloved gadgetry. Not that we’re suggesting you take your iPhone along with you for a surf, but if you do, this might save your gadget’s life. [Lifehacker]
Elly Hart
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 12:57 PMThis technique worked for me when I dropped my mobile phone into the toilet (it was clean, thank god). I fished it out, took it apart, and put it into a rice cooker (airtight) with dry rice. The white sticker inside the phone had turned red (which indicates that it had been waterlogged), so the warranty had been voided but I didn’t care – the phone was good as new after 24 hours!
Emma
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 2:10 PMI’ve had success with this too – just need to take the battery out as well so it doesn’t short out components while it dries.
Eugene
Friday, August 7, 2009 at 3:03 PMAnother way is to use salt, however that’s usually for drying out food and not equipment (haven’t really had any wet electronics).
A mixture of salt, rice and those bags-that-you’re-not-meant-to-eat-that-come-in-various-asian-snackfoods-that-sometimes-come-in-tins can also help, since i’ve used those bag-things to dry out a varying amount of random items.
HugeRambo
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 10:07 PMI accidentally washed my phone after leaving it in my pocket.
After removing the battery and sucking water out with a vacuum cleaner, I covered the phone in rice in a bowl, and put it in the oven on the lowest setting for about 4 hours (until water infornt of the lcd had gone).
The phone worked again and functions fully, although 4 weeks on I need to get a new phone as there is still a short circuit inside the phone somewhere, and it is draining the battery in 3 hours or so.
But at least it works for the first 3 hours after charging, and I was able to retrieve the stored contacts.