Help! Dropped My Phone In A Toilet!
 

yep. in a toilet. luckily it was a clean one. lol I took the battery out and disassembled it and blew on it like hell and got all water possible out so that when i shook it or blew in it no water was seen what-so-ever. put it in a box of rice for about 8 hours. took it out. popped the battery back in and the light at the top right will flash but that's it. and i took the battery right back out again. My life is in that phone. all my family and friends are long distance and its my only means of communication besides the internet. i am also moving in a week hence why i cant afford to get a new one or pay the cell phone insurance deductible. any other ideas as to how to do a quick fix? condensed air, in top of a dryer while its running, next to a house fan, ANYTHING?!? :-? ughghdjfkos HELP ME PLEASE!!!!

Wirelessly posted (by a fat naked guy!)

Leave it off, this happens quite often and actually I'm shocked it hasn't happened to me cause I wap a lot in the bathroom… even in the shower before no lie. Leave it apart for a few more days and clean it with alcohol that might help dry up the water more. As for the dryer I wouldn't because the air is kinda humid

Patience is the key here. You should not attempt to put the battery back in for several days. Water can get into the keyboard and not be visible, but it still takes several days to dry. You want to leave it in a warm place like on top of the vents of your TV or a stereo or cable box that gets warm. The UNCOOKED plain rice (not minute rice) is a good trick but I certainly hope you remember to throw away the rice after your toilet dip..lol. Time Time Time...that's the key.

Yuk. I don't care how clean the toilet was, if there really is such a thing. I don't think I could ever use that thing again. Use the insurance, it why you pay every month for it. I would tell them that it was lost or stolen and get another one, the deductible can't be that much.

As you have found out, just because you don't see any water coming out of the phone, does not mean it didn't get into the phone.

LET THE PHONE FREAKEN DRY, for at least 5 days
not 1 day, not a few hours -- FIVE, 1234*5*, 5 FIVE, or yeah did I say 5?

Can't wait, then take it apart like you have done
and get air moving over, around and through it for at least 2 days
Not 8 hours, not a few mins, 2 days.

And for me taking it apart is... case off the phone, side rails off the phone
keypad out of the phone so it can dry out under the keypad and the membrane under it. Also get the LCD screen up off the circuit board. Pull the LCD connector off of the circuit board and use compressed air in the connector to blow any water out of it.

DO NOT put the battery back into the phone unless either: the 2 days of fan moving air around it is up, or the 5 days in a bag of rice (with the phone taken apart as well) is up. Once it's put down to dry, do not touch it, do not look at it, do not smell it, do not think about it.

The biggest mistake people make is popping that battery back into the phone "JUST TO SEE IF IT WILL WORK"

Still can't wait? Ok pay the bucks and take it to a Laptop/PDA repair service.
The Yellow Pages will be your best friend to find one local to you.

If the phone is important to you, make sure you have the SIM card out of the phone as well. Borrow a phone and pop it in and you can use that until it's dried out.

If you do not allow the phone to get dried completely, you run the risk of losing this phone and all the info in it, because you are in a hurry.

if you have access to a full time air conditioned room that will work very well as well. due the whole dehumidifaction thing.

an example would be the IT server room. I have had to use it in more than one occasion and not just for a bb.

depending how long it was submerged and water getting on the screen. that will take the longest to dry.

one user had the same issue as you here, and all that ended up not working was teh microphone on an 8703e.

One word: back-up. Too many stories of people losing or damaging their bb, worried about critical data, yet it must not be that critical for those who will not spend the 5 mins. it takes to save their data for easy recovery...

Am I the only one who avoids using their BB in the can? I think that might be the definition of a "little too connected"

I have heard a little about cleaning with alcohol. apparently my sister in law has kind of used it before but it was too long ago for her to remember anything else. can you elaborate a little more as to how much, etc?

I dont need the info on it. I need the phone itself. Im moving in less than a week and its my only means of communication. And my moving I mean to a whole other city/state. So I really need a phone.

I am actually a fish enthusiast and have a bunch of different testing kits for water. And I tested the water in the toilet and tested the water from a kitchen sink. The water from the toilet was just as good if not CLEANER then the sink water. :razz: crazy huh?

wow... that stinks! :)

Sorry to kick you while you are down and I hope you get is back running again. Keep us posted...

This has happened to me before as well. The only thing different is I dropped mine in a urinal. :x Yuk, I know. Even though it was a clean urinal, the thought of putting that to my face terrified me. So, after it dried, I got myself a new housing for that bad boy... :razz:

Ok since you don't need the data on the phone, let it dry and pop the sim in a borrowed phone or hit Freecycle or Craigslist for a freebie someone is giving away. Heck I'll bet some on the forums might live close enough to give one of their older used phones.

If you lived close to me, I'd be happy to let you have a one of my spares from AT&T.

And what exactly would inspire you to test toilet water?

Sorry, Omkhar, use my bb all the time in the can. Just not after I wipe until I've washed my hands.

HAHA. To see what some of the levels of different things were in the water. Bottled dasani and aquafina water was surprisingly worse than tap water too. crazy huh?

OT, but related to your post... I read a study done on bottled water that was very eye-opening. Some tested very bad, with coliform bacteria and other types of contaminents -- aresenic, metals, etc. The laws governing public drinking water are much stricter than laws about bottled water. Since reading that study, I rarely buy bottled water any more.

Found the link:
NRDC: Bottled Water - Appendix A

So I can appreciate your habit of testing water!

OK, I know pursuing this is WAY off topic, but what exactly were you testing for? Ph? I suspect if you were testing for fecal bacteria, your test results might be a bit different.