Remote control been through 40deg wash...not working! Help anyone, please?

Lizbetty

Good morning folks.
So far this week I have managed to break the portable tv remote control (admittedly throwing it against the wall in a fit of frustrated rage) and now I have just washed the cover for the settee after the baby spilt milk all over it, only to hear a sickening clunking noise coming from the washer, which turns out to be the downstairs tv remote. Whoops.

Not a good week. We now have no working remotes and so no teletext either.

We only have the old stylie analogue tvs, does anyone know if those universal remotes are any good, please? Or know of anywhere we can get cheap tellies? We're not into technical stuff really (only just have a dvd player, lol!) and we're quite skint so the best option of taking the opportunity to go digital might be slightly beyond us as much as I'd like to

All advice welcomed, thanks in advance!
Lucy

DigitalJedi

The universal remotes are pretty good if all you want to do is change channels/volume etc. The thing they don't usually do is mimick some of the functions you rarely need like tuning new channels.

You can pick them up for peanuts now in places like Poundstretcher so shouldn't break the bank.

Hope that helps

bestpud

Let it dry out thoroughly - it may just return to life. We have put ours in the airing cupboard before now, although when it had had a drink over it, not a full wash!

But I dropped my mobile in the bath once and it recovered after a couple of days in the airing cupboard.

Glad I'm not the remote control in your house though! :rotfl:

If that fails, maybe ask on freecycle for a remote?

Lizbetty

Thanks for the quick replies!!! I've taken the batteries out and it's sat on the window sill in the sunshine hopefully recouperating.

Will have a look in Poundstretcher, thanks for the tip - assumed they'd cost a fortune!

I once dropped my car immobiliser in a cup of tea at work just before home time and had to wait for it to dry before I could go home. I'm not sure I can be trusted with these electrical appliances, lol! Husband says that walk to telly is good exercise, so there's optimism for you..!!

Thanks again!
Best wishes
Lucy

Loose_Cannon

I once dropped a mobile phone in the loo, and predictably it wasn't too happy about that. I took the battery out, and left it on a well-ventilated window sill above a warm radiator for a couple of days and it eventually came back to life... So try bestpud's suggestion of the airing cupboard - you might be lucky!

Lizbetty

Loose_Cannon wrote: »

I once dropped a mobile phone in the loo, and predictably it wasn't too happy about that. I took the battery out, and left it on a well-ventilated window sill above a warm radiator for a couple of days and it eventually came back to life... So try bestpud's suggestion of the airing cupboard - you might be lucky!

Hee hee..unfortunately, our airing cupboard doesn't work, lol! One of life's many frustrations. There's a water tank in there which splashes everywhere and nowhere to stand anything. Sigh. It's so dusty the remote'd probably end up contracting emphysema or something! Lol!


It's very sunny on the kitchen windowsill though so I have high hopes that it will dry out and function again. (Actually, it did when it went in the potty - but that was only the end bit that got covered in wee).

arthur_dent_2

I don't know about remotes but I lost my mobile and several days later my eldest came in from outside with it dripping wet and assumed dead, however I used it this morning to phone OH so it turned out ok in the end.

BillScarab

You could always look on freecycle for a new Telly, people are often giving away the older CRT Tellies on there.

floss2

Keep turning it in the sun, so it gets a good tan all over & dries out thoroughly!

Good suggestion to ask on Freecycle, lots of people are changing their tv for flat screen jobbies.

ailuro2

The universal remotes do work, but not perfectly, we had one for an old telly whose remote gave up the ghost, and the buttons on the front of the tv no longer worked. Some claimed to do the TV and video but only did TV, another one we had only did the basic sound and programme up and down button even though they were set proplerly. I think asking on freecycle sounds like a good idea.

Savvy_Sue

the important thing when you wash your mobile / TV remote or anything like that is to give it a good long time to dry out before you try to switch it on again. It's switching it on while it's not completely dry that blows it up ...

And I've managed to 'retrieve' two mobiles following that advice, so trust me on this ...

Take it apart as far as you can - leave battery cover off and if there's any other 'bits' which come off, take them off too. Fascias on phones can sometimes be removed easily, obviously don't try TOO hard, and I've never had to do this with a remote ...

Here's hoping ...