Skip to content

What to do when your cellphone gets wet

Blackbery9320ETOnce again, I’ve been given a lesson by the best teacher on earth – experience. And I’m sharing the lesson with others with the hope that you would be wiser and would know what to do in case what happened to me happened to you.

Last week, while checking in at Iloilo airport for the flight back to Manila, the mineral water in my bag spilled.The contents of my handbag all got wet, including my Blackberry phone.

It’s the same phone that I accidentally dropped in Southmall Supermarket December last year and was picked up by an honest janitor who returned it to me.

First lesson: Learn when to pay more and when to try to save money. I was not wise enough and it ruined my budget.
The reason the bottle of mineral got squeezed into my handbag was because I was trying to save money by not paying for the excess baggage. I had three pieces of baggage and I was in excess of 2.5 kilos.

The last box that contained green mangoes given by my aunt and suman sa ibos specially made by our neighbor using best quality malagkit weighed only a little over two kilos. I decided to just hand-carry it.

Since I already had my handbag and trolley luggage, I squeeze my handbag into the latter. Probably the bottle of mineral water was not tightly closed. My bag became a mini-lake.

I made the mistake of turning on my cellphone to find out if it was damaged. Wrong.

Upon arriving in Manila, I brought it to the cellphone repair shop. The repair guy said it’s severely damaged. I had to buy a new phone.

The ‘disaster’ led me to check online on what to do when it happens again. Here’s the one by Stacy Johnson in MSN Money ( www.msn.com).

What not to do:

1. Don’t turn it on. You’ll be tempted to see if the phone still works. Resist. Leave it off, or you may cause a short circuit. Do that and it’s game over.

2. No hair dryers. Blowing heat sounds smart, but there are two problems. First, the blown air may actually push droplets deeper inside the phone. Second, even on a low setting, a blow-dry may be too much heat for your phone to handle.

3. No sun. People have dried their laundry this way for centuries, but it’s not the way to dry a phone. Don’t leave it sitting in direct sunlight. It could bake.

4. No oven. This may sound crazy, but in researching this story we found people who actually tried it. Some even claim it worked, but we really don’t recommend it. Especially if the battery is carelessly left in, it could explode. Same deal with microwaves, which you should keep metal out of anyway.

What to do:

1. Turn the phone off. If possible, immediately power down the device. Water-damaged phones can act a little weird and may freeze up or keep cycling on and off. You want it to stay off, with no electrical activity, to protect the circuitry. If you have access to the battery, carefully remove it along with your SIM card.

2. Grab a towel. With a paper towel or whatever you have handy, do your best to wipe off visible moisture on both phone and battery.

3. Find some rice. You need uncooked rice and a sealed container. A large Ziploc bag will work, but a Tupperware container is best. Fill it up with rice, bury your phone, and then close it up. You’ll want to leave it alone at least overnight, although some repair sites recommend leaving it for a day or more.

4. Get a replacement while you wait. If a phone is vital and you don’t already have a backup, head to the store with your SIM card and see if you can get a cheap one to keep communications up and running, and to help you avoid the temptation of trying your phone before it’s fully dry.

5. Check and recharge. Once the waiting period is up, retrieve your device, and after making sure there’s no rice stuck inside, plug it in to charge and see what happens.

Other articles said let it dry for at least 24 hours.

In this day and age when cellphones have become part of your life, you feel disabled without one. Another lesson I’d like to share: don’t let it ruin your day. Cellphone lang yan.

Published inUncategorized

274 Comments

  1. chi chi

    My aunt followed #3 with rice. Ayos!

    My hubby’s blackberry, no can do. Inilagay ba naman sa bubong ng kotse while fixing his gps. Minutes driving on the road biglang may tunog nagulungan, cell na nya. 🙂

  2. chi chi

    Ellen, sa propesyon mo di pwede walang cell na powerful. Sa akin ang cell ay nabubuksan lang kung naghihiwalay kami ng hubby sa mall. Kaya naman ang cell ko ay panahon pa ni Mahoma, yun bang motorola circa 2002. 🙂

    Korek ka, “cellphone lang yan” pwede palitan anytime pero ang good mood mahirap mabawi.

  3. Nakakatawa na nakakaiyak, di ba, Chi.

    Tongue, sana nga, Tongue. But I bought Samsung Note II. Got a good deal, I think, for P23,500.

    I’m still learning how to use it.

  4. Daalawang cell phone ko na ang nasira, hanap na ako ng hanap at hiniram ko ang cell ni bunso at tinawagan ko ang cell ko, nag ring, iyun pala nasa bulsa ng pantalon ko sa washing machine, 2 beses nangyari .

  5. mcmrobles mcmrobles

    i will bear the ‘dont let it destroy your day.. cell phone lang yan ‘ advise. pero iiyak muna ako. kahit kaunti lang, talagang maiiyak ako.

  6. Mas mahal pa ngayon yung Note II kesa Galaxy S3. Palabas na kasi yung Galaxy S4 in a few weeks.

    Before buying gadgets, I suggest you check out the prices on eBaY, Amazon, Rakuten or Lazada. They change daily. Sometimes the price drops are so big you’d feel sorry if you didn’t know on time. I bought an Android Tablet for my son who graduated recently. The price was 20% off the usual we bought immediately only to find out later in the day we paid at least P3K more than the latest online price.

  7. MCMrobles. Korek. Siyempre, I have to console myself, cellphone lang yan. But nakakasama ng loob talaga.

  8. Tongue, when I was canvassing for the Samsung Note II, the guy in one of the Samsung stores in Southmall was convincing me to get the S3. all their Note IIs were sold out. In one store they accept orders.

    But Note II talaga gusto ko.

  9. Ellen, the latest best online prices:

    SAMSUNG N7100 Galaxy Note II

    PHP 20,928.00
    was PHP 32,999.00
    Location: Philippines
    Free Postage

    SAMSUNG Galaxy S3 16GB Blue and Black

    PHP 16,224.00
    was PHP 29,999.00
    Location: Philippines
    Free Postage

  10. MrTension MrTension

    Anong meron sa rice na nakakatulong mag dry ng mga wet objects?

  11. chi chi

    Ellen, though nag-drop na ng todo dito ang presyo ng Note 11, still a good buy dyan. A teckie nephew just got one for himself last week at P23K also.

  12. Chi, where I got my Note II, grey was P23K and white P23,500. I got white. Mas maganda naman, di ba?

  13. Tongue, I’ve never tried buying online. Paano ang servicing nyan?

  14. Sira na, pinalitan nila dahil kumuha ako ng insurance iyung unang nalabhan. pangalawa hindi na bumili na ako ng bagong Iphone.

  15. Grabe ang pulitika sa amin, sa daan na sila naglalaban.

    Iyung isang kandidato ang sabi niya-
    Mananalo ako dahil inindorso ako ni Mike Villarde sa ONE PLUS ONE.
    Iyung Pangalawang kandidato– Mananalp ako dahil inindorso ako ng Iglesia Ni Kristo sa TAMANG DAAN.
    Iyung Pangatlong kandidato–Mananalo ako dahil inindorso ako ni brother Eddie sa ISANG DAAN
    Iyung pang apat na kandidato– Mananalo ako dahil inindorso ako ni Penoy sa– TUWID NA DAAN
    Iyung panglimang kandidato–Talo kayo sa akin dahil inindorso ako ng tatay ni Penoy. si Ninoy sa — LIMANG DAAN
    Nung nagkainitan na nag decide na ang tao na tanungin daw si Ligot kung sino ang mananalo- Sagot ni Ligot — Ewan ko sa inyo wala akong matanDAAN.
    Kaya iyung mga kandidato sa amin hindi mo sila maatatalo ng Biblia at Santo kaya sa susunod na election maghanap ako ng Satanas na ilaban sa kanila.

  16. Ellen, the legit online retailers sell the complete kit, just like buying from the malls or dealer outlets. The warranty service for brands like Samsung is under the same terms as those bought from dealers, usually registered also online or using the receipt/warranty card as proof of purchase. Of course you must have it serviced at authorized outlets only.

    The only problem I see is when you buy from a supplier abroad, even if it is serviced by local shops, if the inevitable happens that the unit will have to replaced, you will shoulder the cost of return shipping. Other than that everything stays the same.

  17. Mr. Tension, yung bigas sumisipsip ng moisture kahit hindi in contact sa subject. Kaya nga diba, pag umuulan, nilalagyan ng bigas yung salt shaker para mawala yung basa.

    Mas mabuti, dalhin agad sa technician para doon patuyuin. Siguruhin lang na merong siyang apparatus para sa drying. Marami niyan sa mga tiangge ng cellphone. It acts like a microwave/microvibrator device that dries water from the vibration.

    Saka kung distilled water yung nakabasa sa cellphone, okey lang. Punasan lang pwede na patakbuhin pag natuyo. Yung ions ng impurities ng tubig ang gumagawa ng short circuit sa mga hindi dapat connected points. Kung tubig dagat yan, mas malala ang problema. Usually hinhugasan ng distilled water para matunaw yung mga salts na conductive. Pwede rin spray-an ng WD-40 (o Water Displacer chemical)

    Note however, na hindi dapat shini-shake yung cellphone na natabunan ng bigas lalo pa kung nasa plastic container. Yung pag-shake ay mag po-produce ng static electricity na mabilis sumira ng mga diodes, capacitors, at IC chips. Mas matutuluyang madisgrasya yung cellphone.

    Gayun din ang pag-ihip o paggamit ng compressed air. May Static electricity rin yan.

    Silica gel o yung maliliit na semi-transparent na bulitas na naka-teabag na nilalagay sa loob ng sapatos, leather bags o medicines ang mas effective na tagasipsip ng moisture kesa bigas. Kung meron kayo nyan, ipunin lang sa isang box para may magamit in case of emergency.

    That is my electronics lecture for today. Hehehe.

  18. The WD 40 spray is the best invention since, er, sliced bread. One supplier demo-ed it to me using an open type motor used in sewing machines. He sprayed a generous amount of WD 40 on the motor, plugged into the 220V outlet, and dipped it into a pail of water. Nagtayuan yung mga engineer ko, akala sasabog or magti-trip yung breaker, pero tuluy-tuloy na umikot yung motor. Amazing.

  19. Thank you, thank you, Tongue. We are learning a lot from you.

    I’m fascinated and at the same time overwhelmed with my Samsung Note. Ang daming pwedeng gawin.

Leave a Reply