How to Repair a Water Damaged Phone
The cell phone of today travels in places that put it at more risk to damage than ever before. People take their phones in the pool, in the bathroom, even placing them on the ledge in the shower to not miss that important text or social media alert. The cell phone today is always within close range of water, and will wind up in the toilet, sink, shower, or pool, and then the phone is toast! Or is it?
These are 5 simple ways how to repair a water damaged phone;
1. Letting the Phone Completely Dry
Resist that urge to turn on the phone after it has become submerged in water. Even if the phone was in the toilet for a fraction of a second, the entire circuit system is wet, and turning it on could create a short that permanently damages the device and all your date will be gone. Patience is going to be required in repairing a water damaged phone, open the phone and take out the battery, remove the SIM card, and place all parts on a paper towel to air dry.
The goal here is to make certain that every tiny piece of the inner workings of the phone are completely dry before attempting to power it back on.
2. Placing the Parts in Container of Rice
When you are eager to speed up the drying process, uncooked rice could be the key to getting your phone back in working order. Fill a large container with uncooked rice and set it aside. Place the phone, the battery, all the parts that were removed, into a plastic bag but do not seal the bag. Now place that bag into the container with the uncooked rice and seal the container.
It is important that the rice does not come in direct contact with the phone because tiny dust particles from the rice could jam circuitry and make things worse.
3. Hair Dryer Set on Cool
When you have the phone completely taken apart but want to know if you can salvage it, dry all those pieces with a paper towel. Once you remove the majority of the water, take a hair dryer and place it on the coolest setting. If your hair dryer does not have a cool setting, then an air compressor or cans of compressed air used to clean dust from keyboards works just as well.
Keep these delicate parts away from the strongest force of the air, just allow it to gently get inside the phone and dry away moisture more rapidly before it damages the circuitry.
4. Replacing the Battery
The phone has been dried, the pieces removed and dried, and you even used compressed air to get deep inside the phone to remove moisture. Getting the phone to turn on at that point could be as simple as replacing the battery. If you do not have a spare battery, either head to the phone repair shop to buy one or see if you can use one from the phone of a family or friend.
All you are trying to do at this point is to see if the phone powers on, then you can remove the battery and allow it to fully dry.
5. Freezing Your Cell Phone
One last hope to repairing a water damaged phone is to simply freeze it. With the battery removed, take the phone and wrap it in two paper towels to prevent frost damage, then place in the freezer for ten minutes. Remove the phone after ten minutes, install the battery, then power the phone on and hope for the best.
Don’t despair if it didn’t turn on the first time, remove the battery and try again for ten minutes. After a few tries, you should have a working cell phone again and all your contacts, pictures, and text messages will be saved.
Even though the phone has come been submerged in water, all might not be lost yet. The thing to remember here is that it may take longer than you might want for all the tiny components to completely dry, so patience will go a long way in repairing your damaged phone.
