<p>I accidentally washed my son’s cell phone. I took out the battery and it doesn’t appear wet but presume it is on the inside. I did a google search and saw advice to put in in the oven on a low temp. for 5 hours, but that sounds a little iffy. Also saw a ad for a company that says it can fix wet cell phones <a href=“http://www.fastcpr.com/[/url]”>http://www.fastcpr.com/</a> for $45. Anyone have experience with this? maybe next time son wil do his own laundry…</p>
<p>um washed and dried?
My daughters cell phone - just got dunked - pulled out immediately but it was dead( we didn’t know about not powering it up)</p>
<p>Some people have recommended using a hair dryer on low- immediately after it gets wet- ( they dropped theirs in the loo) with good results- but I would be skeptical of the oven- looks like fastcpr has some good reviews- $45 is pretty cheap considering to find another replacement if you don’t have ins- will be hundreds depending on the phone</p>
<p>No help here. After a lengthy dunking I had to buy a new one. My new one is nicer than the old one and cost $80.</p>
<p>S does his own laundry and put his cell phone through in pants pocket. It did dry after a day or so, but didn’t work quite right. We replaced.</p>
<p>I soaked my PDA and it at first appeared worthless, but it dried out little by little until it actually got back to full functioning within about a day. So I would give it time, just letting it sit out. YMMV.</p>
<p>If you do have to replace, often you can get a fairly low priced or even free one if you’re willing to extend your contract. We didn’t carry the insurance; S paid for a new one because he wanted fancier than the free one. But he settled for the $50 one instead of the $300 one he really wanted.</p>
<p>I don’t see the point in sending it off for a $45 “fix” when you can get a new one for less than that (at least with my carrier). Of course, if it’s one of the cool costly ones and you can’t blame it on the DS…</p>
<p>A friend dropped her cell phone in my toilet once. She immediately removed the battery, wiped it off, wiped the phone off, allowed them both to dry for a couple or three days and it worked fine. If your son can be without the phone for a few days, I suggest just giving it some time. Good luck!</p>
<p>My D dropped her cell in the toilet. She took the battery out and put it in a bag with those crystals that come with cameras. After several day the phone worked. It is worth a try.</p>
<p>My daughter lost her phone outside for about a week and it rained several times. When we found it was thouroughly wet and not working. After about a week it was dry and worked again. That was about a year ago and it is fine.</p>
<p>Wow, my D dropped hers in the toilet too, didn’t know it was such a common occurance,lol. She needed a new one however.</p>
<p>i dropped mine in a pool before. i disassembled it and hung it in low sun (morning and evening) to dry. the phone was resurrected, by one line of text went missing.</p>
<p>A friend of my mother’s has a son who dropped his phone into a bucket of water. They tried the oven thing, and it worked.</p>
<p>If you have to buy a new one, sometimes stores like, um, well, WalMart & Target have phones for the prepaid plans which you can buy cheaply.</p>
<p>My freshman D’s cell phone would not work a couple weeks after she started college. Verizon said it could not be fixed. They said it had gotten wet though she says she does not know how. ??? anyway, they say the only option was to get a new one and it was $270 to get the same kind that she had. Now we also bought insurance for it. She also accidentally dropped her IPod walking down the street in the city, broke it. She has also lost her watch. Um, these are just the things I know about, so far. Been an expensive fall. </p>
<p>The good news is…my D is loving college, lol.
Susan</p>
<p>Yes yes yes!! Just let it dry out for 3 or 4 days and it may work just fine! </p>
<p>Apparently “dropping cellphone in toilet” is the most common cause of cellphone insurance claims!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>battery does not like water. There is a pink/red/ dot on the inside of the battery. If the dot is solidly pink- battery is been subjected to water and all warrenty are void. </p></li>
<li><p>The contacts of the microchips are very very close together. Once wet, minute crystals grow across the contacts and cause failure, eventually. When that occurs (failure) is proportional to your need. </p></li>
<li><p>You can get a replacement phone, used for $5. If your phone works now, you can transfer the stored #'s to the new phone.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Ebay…</p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions, and wait until you hear what happened.</p>
<p>I dried it out on the windowsill that faces south and hit it with the hair dryer a couple of times. Stuck in the battery from my identical phone and…it worked! Then I put his battery in my phone, put it in the charger and held my breath. The battery charged! I really don’t see anything wrong with the phone at all. amazing!</p>
<p>we are equal opportunity tossing the phone in the washing machine family. In a few days the phone does dry out and it does work again. If you have insurance on your phone, it is covered (as D opted to send her phone back for a replacement cost $35 and you get a like for like). Me, I still using the same phone (has a few scratches, as it also went through the dryer on low) and it works fine</p>
<p>kathiep, glad it worked for you! This is very useful info to share with others (in this fashion). After you wash and dry your cellphone, and it doesn’t work, it is a very natural reaction to go buy a new one and toss the old one in the trash. It never would have occured to me to even try to turn the old phone on several days later had I not been advised to do so by some online friends. :)</p>
<p>"Once wet, minute crystals grow across the contacts and cause failure, eventually. "</p>
<p>Not normally true. It is true that if your water is very hard, when it dries out it will leave salt crystals behind (that’s what makes the water hard, mostly calcium salts). Most of the crystals do not conduct, though.</p>
<p>It should probably be no surprise that these phones are designed to be fairly insensitive to water. Otherwise too many sweaty users that happen to rip the phone out in a rain storm would be filing warranty claims. </p>
<p>So, the secret for most electronics is to make sure the battery is removed and all power is off. Then carefully dry the device at low (room)temperature (NO hair dryers on low! Could be too hot. NO warm ovens. Same reason), maybe in front of a fan, for a few days. Then power up. Frequently you will find problems with the keys, as they tend to collect water at the keypad contact points (btw, the “keys” are often amazingly simple switches. When you push a key, you are just pushing down a conductive rubber bubble that bridges two contacts on a circuit board to close a switch. That’s where the water can collect and foul the keys up.) But the key problems will often clear with more use.</p>
<p>If the thing is toast, ebay can be a good source IF the phone is properly unlocked for your carrier. Buyer beware.</p>
<p>Spend less on cell phones and you won’t feel badly about replacing them. Seems like so many people spend hundreds on phones. Does everyone really use all of those features? Are you really taking pictures? Do you really need the color screen? </p>
<p>Cheap phone users unite! :)</p>