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Sat in hot tub with Iphone in Pocket for about 30 minutes

JohnnyInk

JohnnyInk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 3, 2009
15
1
U.S.
I sat in the hot tub with my phone (on standby) in my pocket. I am currently here in Panama City Beach so obviously I was drunk. I also ran a blow dryer to it and tried to plug it in (idiotic but I did it), nothing happened but about 10 minutes after I tried to plug it in I saw the ring of death (xbox style red ring) to the left of the ear speaker, still dead. I couldn't do anything but wipe it down and put it outside in my drunken stupor. Soon as my eyes opened this morning I hit the powerbook and searched for solutions (as water damage is not covered, duh). Anyhow, I found out about the silica gel trick and instantly ran to the nearest shoe store and asked them to help me round up some packets. Got enough to completely wrap around the phone.

My question is, does the length of time that i was submerged in hot water and the idiotic move of plugging it in take away my chance of the silica gel working or should I just simply wait it out.

I'm sorry for the lengthy explanation, but I wanted to give all the details in hopes for a more accurate answer.. thanks in advance :(
 
someone suggested putting their phone in a bowl of rice (something about it withdrawing the mositure)

but er, i'd think 30 minutes in a hot tub would have killed it :eek:
 
You're probably best served by taking your drinking money and putting it into a jar. When the jar's full, buy a new iPhone.

The silica thing may or may not work, but as the phone's essentially a goner, there's certainly no further harm in trying. Keep in mind, dehumidifying semi-sealed electronics can take weeks.

Other tricks have included (with varying degrees of success):
  • Putting it in a jar of rice
  • Putting it in a food dehydrator on the lowest heat overnight
  • Placing it on the shoe rack of a clothes dryer on the lowest heat setting for several hours.
 
I said 30 minutes because I assume thats the longest I was out there. It could've only been 15 minutes for all I know, but I doubt that the drownage* exceeded beyond 30 minutes, I've heard of people washing theirs in a 45 minute cycle.. and using the gel trick and it working. Never hurts to ask though..

I may try the dryer trick when I return back home..
 
I really think that you don't have enough silica gel to do the trick.....try going out and buying a bunch of white rice and placing the iPhone in the bag for a good amount of time...maybe a week...it may come back to life...
 
Xtgirl said:
I really think that you don't have enough silica gel to do the trick.....try going out and buying a bunch of white rice and placing the iPhone in the bag for a good amount of time...maybe a week...it may come back to life...
Click to expand...

So you believe rice over silica gel, because my plan was to hit up hobby lobby and purchase a larger amount of silica gel.
 
i just jumped in a pool with mine.

I put it in rice for a day or so and let it sit open the rest of the time, bought a 3gs, and broke out the screw drive and cracked the old one open, I let it sit open overnight and it appears to be functional although the screen has water markings under the glass. I may try to remove the glass and clean it... or I may just sell it.
 
youtube has a videos how to take it apart. take apart and let it try. thats probably your only change
 
rice! mine went through a car wash on the bumper of my car and it works just great and that was like 6 months ago it took about a day to turn back on i have a broken camera but besides that its all good
 
DO NOT USE A BLOWDRYER

it will melt some plastic/solder stuff and might break it even more.

the best tip is to let it dry for a 2 days and not switch it on so no short circuits exist.

I am sure its dead though
 
Sorry....no....

I meant that I just didn't think you had enough dessicant to really help...and I had no idea you can actually purchase a bunch of it..

If you can, go with the dessicant and if you can't find it go with the rice.

I bought a really good food dehydrator. I should start offering it up for people as an experiment to see if it will help bring iPhones back to life....
 
I have it in an air sealed zippy full of silica gels... to the point that you can't see the phone. I'll probably take the advice of letting it sit with those for a couple of weeks. I still have my business purpose GS, but it has none of my personal numbers. That's about the most inconvenience as of yet, however I feel like I dropped my delicate newborn in 7 foot water.. (drops head in shame) :(

Thank you all for your advice and comments.. I don't think there's an app for that. :eek:
 
I dropped my old 3g into my dog's water bowl, freak accident.

I grabbed it out right away and started spinning may arm around as fast as I could while holding it in my hand.

then I actually tried to suck out as much water as a could with my mouth,
through any hole I could see on the iphone.

then I used the hairdryer on cool setting, this turns off the heat
in the hairdryer and blew it on the phone for a few minutes.
then I let it sit for awhile and the phone worked perfectly after that.
 
JohnnyInk said:
I have it in an air sealed zippy full of silica gels... to the point that you can't see the phone. I'll probably take the advice of letting it sit with those for a couple of weeks. I still have my business purpose GS, but it has none of my personal numbers. That's about the most inconvenience as of yet, however I feel like I dropped my delicate newborn in 7 foot water.. (drops head in shame) :(

Thank you all for your advice and comments.. I don't think there's an app for that. :eek:
Click to expand...


Honestly you had it ON in the water, it was in there for at least 15 minutes, and you already blow dried it, and turned it back on. The likelihood that the silica will work is small. I am sure that by now most of the moisture evaporated. Rice and Silica work when used right after it comes in contact with water.

Sorry, but I am fairly sure that right now your just waiting until you get a new one.
 
You can buy bigger bags of it for drying the air. can't remember the brand name. it comes with a plastic holder that will let the liquid drip off of it when it get saturated. it's used to dehumidify small area's and it is pretty cheap to buy.
 
whotony said:
I dropped my old 3g into my dog's water bowl, freak accident.

I grabbed it out right away and started spinning may arm around as fast as I could while holding it in my hand.

then I actually tried to suck out as much water as a could with my mouth,
through any hole I could see on the iphone.

then I used the hairdryer on cool setting, this turns off the heat
in the hairdryer and blew it on the phone for a few minutes.
then I let it sit for awhile and the phone worked perfectly after that.
Click to expand...

"then I actually tried to suck out as much water as a could with my mouth,
through any hole I could see on the iphone."

That is very, very funny. Kind of iPhone CPR???
 
JohnnyInk said:
So you believe rice over silica gel, because my plan was to hit up hobby lobby and purchase a larger amount of silica gel.
Click to expand...

Rather than going to Hobby Lobby, you may want to check out www.silicagelpackets.com, they have great prices and a lot of information about how to use Silica Gel for just this purpose! My husband's phone got washed a month ago and I immediately put it in a ziplock bag with a packet of Silica Gel that I had gotten from them for another purpose (we live in Florida so humidity is a real problem). 48 hours later, his phone powered on and worked as well as it had before being washed.
 
Put the phone inside a large ziplock bag surrounded by silica gel. You'll need a large enough amount to completely surround the phone. The silica gel is hygroscopic so it will absorb the moisture from the phone. Reason for putting it inside the ziplock is you want it absorb the moisture from the phone and not the room air. About 48 hours will dry it out I would say.

http://www.silicagelpackets.com/
 
Ok as you all can tell by the date, its been a while since my accident.. needless to say, my very first iphone is dead. I did acquire a new one free of charge thanks to the "genius bar". No I did not walk in to scam them, I sent my gf up there with the cash to purchase a new one, she called me over to the store to explain and see if they could fix it, however the genius honestly did not even ask me what happened.. went like this..

him: won't turn on?
me: no sir.. I was in florida and...
him: (cutting me off) I'll be right back
him: (walks out of the back) We'll be replacing the phone considering we can see no clear outside, or intended damage.. you cannot keep this one however..
me: cool..

I'm not sure where the water mark is on the 3g or if the silica gel packets may have reversed the effect of it.. I am clueless to that, but I'm guessing that was his shot at good customer service or he was trying to leave exactly when the store closed.. and I guess i'm not so angelic to speak up.. ha thanks to all those with reasonable and intelligent replies.. be seeing you all around

p.s.
st1ngo said:
I assume you still have the box etc the phone came with...

I would suggest you put it back in the box and take it back to the store and tell the nice man there that you must return this as you are too stupid to own an iphone ..............:)
Click to expand...
lol, did you giggle to yourself after posting that little snazzy joke of yours? :cool:
 
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