SORTED - Help - Mobile Phone in Washing Machine

wazza

Daughter put a new load into the washing machine and switched it on. After a few minutes i heard a clonking noise. When i looked at the washing machine a LG cookie mobile was staring back at me :-(

I quickly put the machine on drain and then took the mobile out. The mobile was switched on with a LG logo showing. I took the back off and took the battery out. The display unit has water inside it, behind the screen. No matter how much i shake it or tip it sideways etc it won't come out.

What can i do now? Shall I......

1. leave it to dry out naturally

2. use a hairdryer

or

3. place it inside a dryer inside some clothes to avoid damage?

Has a phone that has been through a wash cycle ever recovered?

Thanks in advance for any replies

gadgeteer_2

Strip it to pieces then stick it in an airing cupboard and leave it for a few days.

Or another one I've heard is leave it in a big bag of rice which will also absorb the moisture. Leave it for a few days and pray!

texranger

wazza wrote: »

Daughter put a new load into the washing machine and switched it on. After a few minutes i heard a clonking noise. When i looked at the washing machine a LG cookie mobile was staring back at me :-(

I quickly put the machine on drain and then took the mobile out. The mobile was switched on with a LG logo showing. I took the back off and took the battery out. The display unit has water inside it, behind the screen. No matter how much i shake it or tip it sideways etc it won't come out.

What can i do now? Shall I......

1. leave it to dry out naturally

2. use a hairdryer

or

3. place it inside a dryer inside some clothes to avoid damage?

Has a phone that has been through a wash cycle ever recovered?

Thanks in advance for any replies

i would suggest you inform your daughter that mobile phones do not wash wash well, use a bit of furniture polish on a clean lint free cloth will clean a phone LOL

now to your question. leave it to dry naturally this usually works

jayme1

take the battery out like you have and put it under a warm lamp (not too close), DON'T use a hair-dryer and DO NOT put it in the tumble dryer, both those are far too hot for electronics.

leave it under the lamp for a day or two until the water evaporates.

but I must warn you that you may have killed it for good by turning it on while it was wet.

scheming_gypsy

gadgeteer wrote: »

Strip it to pieces then stick it in an airing cupboard and leave it for a few days.

Or another one I've heard is leave it in a big bag of rice which will also absorb the moisture. Leave it for a few days and pray!

I'll go with that.. Rice is often advised to draw out the moisture.

Fifer

jayme1 wrote: »

take the battery out like you have and put it under a warm lamp (not too close), DON'T use a hair-dryer and DO NOT put it in the tumble dryer, both those are far too hot for electronics.

A hair-drier too hot for electronics would give a user 1st degree scalp burns. Think how hot the hot air reflow ovens PCBs go through during manufacture are. They melt solder.

jayme1

Fifer wrote: »

A hair-drier too hot for electronics would give a user 1st degree scalp burns. Think how hot the hot air reflow ovens PCBs go through during manufacture are. They melt solder.

interesting how every single electronic drying guide on the internet says the exact same thing as me then - that a hair dryer is too hot.

yes during manufacture process certain parts of a mobile phone are subjected to much hotter temperatures than a hair dryer but not the whole product.

and yes if you hold a hair dryer on your head for a sustained period it you will find it is too hot for your head.

for the uneducated using a hair dryer on electronic products, they would most likely just turn the hair dryer on hot and hold it on the phone, that would be too much for a mobile phone.
using something like putting it under a warm lamp (making sure it is not too hot) is a much better solution, and if you must use a hair dryer it must be on cool setting holding it far enough away as not to make the phone too hot.

you will need to show me further specific evidence that using a hot hair dryer on electronic products would not harm them than just stating that 'certain parts are subjected to even hotter air than a hair dryer when they are being made' and are fine.

Fifer

jayme1 wrote: »

interesting how every single electronic drying guide on the internet says the exact same thing as me then - that a hair dryer is too hot.

yes during manufacture process certain parts of a mobile phone are subjected to much hotter temperatures than a hair dryer but not the whole product.

and yes if you hold a hair dryer on your head for a sustained period it you will find it is too hot for your head.

for the uneducated using a hair dryer on electronic products, they would most likely just turn the hair dryer on hot and hold it on the phone, that would be too much for a mobile phone.
using something like putting it under a warm lamp (making sure it is not too hot) is a much better solution, and if you must use a hair dryer it must be on cool setting holding it far enough away as not to make the phone too hot.

you will need to show me further specific evidence that using a hot hair dryer on electronic products would not harm them than just stating that 'certain parts are subjected to even hotter air than a hair dryer when they are being made' and are fine.

Using a hair dryer to dry electronics in the same way as one would use one to dry hair is perfectly safe and acceptable. I did not say "certain parts are subjected to even hotter air than a hair dryer". I said the electronics are subjected to higher temperatures, which is what you said a hair dryer was too hot for, which is patent nonsense. A hairdryer carelessly used will damage the plastics, but no more or less so than a lamp carelessly used.

My "evidence" is over a quarter of a century working as an electronics engineer in high volume electronics manufacturing plants - seven years of that in a mobile phone factory.

Mrs_pbradley936

That has happened to us as well. Dry it in the airing cupboard for a few days. Ours was fine - when I looked for info about this they said that sea water would "kill" it. I should add that our phone was a bog standard Nokia not an I Phone perhaps they are more delicate.

Bob_the_Saver

Don't iron it!

jayme1

Fifer wrote: »

I said the electronics are subjected to higher temperatures, which is what you said a hair dryer was too hot for, which is patent nonsense. A hairdryer carelessly used will damage the plastics, but no more or less so than a lamp carelessly used.

My "evidence" is over a quarter of a century working as an electronics engineer in high volume electronics manufacturing plants - seven years of that in a mobile phone factory.

I obviously meant 'electronics' in the sense of the 'whole' mobile phone

you having worked in the electrical/electronic sector obviously have read what I put wrong and have specifically made the distinction between the specific 'electronic' components of the mobile phone (the PCB and chips) and the whole finished electrical product.
something that almost anyone not working in the electrical sector would not have made that distinction.

I still stand by my point that using a hair dryer is a bad idea, if only that holding it over the phone, while constantly moving it around making sure that the phone isn't subjected to any too intense heat for too long for what could be hours until the phone is dry is a little more than impractical.

using the lamp technique you are able to leave it for plenty of time to ensure the device is fully dry which could easily take a day or two. and if you note I did say place under a warm (ergo not hot) lamp and not in a position that is too close to the lamp.