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Help Dropped GS3 in water!

R

racer88

Member
CRAP! Dropped my new GS3 in water. I grabbed it out very quickly. (My cat-like reflexes apparently intact!)

The phone was on. Worked fine. Dried the outside of the phone off. Figured I was good to go. Phone worked find for a few hours after that.

On the way home from work, I was playing some music on it. It started pausing on its own. So, I powered the phone down.

Got home. Opened the back and there were some droplets inside... just around the edges, but not much. I wiped it dry. I removed the battery. No water around it at all.

Put battery back in and tried to power it on. Nothing.

It's now wrapped in a paper towel and in a bag of rice.

Hopefully, that will work.

Question: I do have insurance on the phone (Verizon). Is this type of damage covered?

Thanks! :(
 
racer88 said:
CRAP! Dropped my new GS3 in water. I grabbed it out very quickly. (My cat-like reflexes apparently intact!)

The phone was on. Worked fine. Dried the outside of the phone off. Figured I was good to go. Phone worked find for a few hours after that.

On the way home from work, I was playing some music on it. It started pausing on its own. So, I powered the phone down.

Got home. Opened the back and there were some droplets inside... just around the edges, but not much. I wiped it dry. I removed the battery. No water around it at all.

Put battery back in and tried to power it on. Nothing.

It's now wrapped in a paper towel and in a bag of rice.

Hopefully, that will work.

Question: I do have insurance on the phone (Verizon). Is this type of damage covered?

Thanks! :(
Click to expand...

Ideally you should have removed the battery instantly and stuck it in a bag of rice.. But its too late for that, Id also suggest to remove the paper towel and let the rice to the work of drawing out all the moisture, Happened to me with my iPhone 4 and after 24hours in the rice it worked fine :) was still under warranty for a month and genuinely did have a home button issue so was given a replacement a few days after anyway.
 
If you do a insurance replacement, they send you a complete new phone so you get another battery, back cover and headset to keep from your old phone.
 
Next time, remember not to take any chances. If it's wet, remove the battery right away! No matter if it's still on, yank it out like it's a plague. Remember, it's not the water itself that causes the problem, it's the fact that it might short the circuit boards. No power, no short-circuit.

Also, if rice is not available, although this would appear to sound counter intuitive at first, you can dip the phone in rubbing alcohol, and leave it there for a bit. If course, still without the battery. Why does this work? The alcohol displaces the water from the tiny crevices where it might lodge itself on the phone, and then the alcohol dries up nicely to leave you device moisture-free.
 
Yes initially its water shorting the board. This is the immediate issue to be dealt with. Then the water must be removed. If the water is not removed well enough, its corrosive nature will start take hold
 
tiede said:
Next time, remember not to take any chances. If it's wet, remove the battery right away! No matter if it's still on, yank it out like it's a plague. Remember, it's not the water itself that causes the problem, it's the fact that it might short the circuit boards. No power, no short-circuit.

Also, if rice is not available, although this would appear to sound counter intuitive at first, you can dip the phone in rubbing alcohol, and leave it there for a bit. If course, still without the battery. Why does this work? The alcohol displaces the water from the tiny crevices where it might lodge itself on the phone, and then the alcohol dries up nicely to leave you device moisture-free.
Click to expand...

Are you Walter White aka....heisenberg? :smokingsomb:
 
After my Driod took a swim I became fairly educated in "wet phone" saving.

First and foremost remove the batter ASAP. Don't hesitate..remove it. Better two days without a phone than a cash outlay (well, at least in my book it was).

Two, the type of water it falls in will also contribute greatly in whether or not you have a shot at saving it. Ocean water...good luck. Toilet water...way better chance (no salt or typically other conductive elements in the water). I was lucky, mine was a full dunk in a fresh bowl toilet. Bubbles emerging from it and everything. I also had a Ottorbox Commuter on it too.

Rice and silicate packets work to a degree, but my reading indicated that the best two options were to tear down the phone as far as you were comfortable with and use a 40 watt bulb about 8-10 inches from the phone for 18-24 hours OR use a fan blowing on it a low to medium speed. Not high.

On mine I have a torx screwdrive set that I was able to tear it apart fairly far. I guess I got faily lucky as I had only had the phone about a month or two.

Again, remove battery ASAP and the type of water (and what conductive elements it has) and what conductive elemental residue it will leave behind. The poster above that said use alcohol was right in that the fact is that the alcohol removes some of the liquid related corrosive/conductive properties.

Did I mention to take the battery out ASAP?
 
UPDATE: It's ALIVE! ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

I'm a very happy camper. 36 hours in a ziplock bag with rice and four 1-oz bags of dessicant.

So far, everything seems to be working.
 
Thought I would add some information in case someone else get their phone wet and turns to this thread.
I read a review somewhere last year on the best ways to dry your phone. I can't remember the source, unfortunately. Anyway, they tested rice, and other methods and found the best thing to use was cat litter crystals. If you're not familiar, they are some type of man made "crystals" that suck the moisture out of their surroundings. In the review it said to pull the battery, etc. and put it in a tupperware container with the crystals for at least 24 hours. I've passed this onformation on to a few friends who have had unfortunate accidents and it has worked for every one of them.
 
Dropped my Samsung Galazy S3 in water and though I had hard bricked it. No response. Did you recommended 24hr in rice and walla, it works again. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
 
tiede said:
Next time, remember not to take any chances. If it's wet, remove the battery right away! No matter if it's still on, yank it out like it's a plague. Remember, it's not the water itself that causes the problem, it's the fact that it might short the circuit boards. No power, no short-circuit.

Also, if rice is not available, although this would appear to sound counter intuitive at first, you can dip the phone in rubbing alcohol, and leave it there for a bit. If course, still without the battery. Why does this work? The alcohol displaces the water from the tiny crevices where it might lodge itself on the phone, and then the alcohol dries up nicely to leave you device moisture-free.
Click to expand...

Like dissolves like, and water and alcohol are not like. rubbing alcohol isn't as good as say, your uncle's gin mill corn mash. Ain't much alcohol in the rubbin' type. Anyway, you just might move the h2o somewhere else. Like into a circuit. Desiccant, heat (natural) and time. Rice is nice...Got a room that gets lots of sun and warmth? Let it dry. Have a drink and watch the grass grow. Otherwise, take it in and get a new one if you're paying the insurance...
 
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