Just dropped my iPhone4 in the bath - HELP!

bobbysands81

I accidently (obviously) dropped my iPhone4 in the bath, it would have been submerged for a couple of seconds, I immediately fished it out and it was still working but I turned it off immediately.

When I turned it off the apple logo flashed up for a couple of seconds and then went off, flashed up again for a couple of seconds and went off again.

Now the phone is just sitting drying out - anyone know what the feck to do? Is it just a paper weight now or should it work again when I turn it on? When should I turn it on to check it???

D1stant

Put it on a radiator overnight and say your prayers

redman85

stick it in some rice(uncooked) for a few days. change the rice every day. It soaks up the moisture

There is a slim change it will work....

What ever you do don't try to switch it on. Just let it dry out

smcgiff

Remove the battery ASAP until fully dry

bobbysands81

smcgiff wrote: »

Remove the battery ASAP until fully dry

Remove the battery???

seanybiker

Bag of rice is best bet.

towger

As well as the rice put it in the hotpress. Had the same issue recently with nintendo ds and all was fine after 3 or 4 days .

bobbysands81

Right... I have it placed on a towel between the elements of one of those towel heater things that are in bathrooms... They get very hot (too hot too touch) so it should dry it out quite quickly.

How soon before I try to turn it on?

x in the city

bobbysands81 wrote: »

I accidently (obviously) dropped my iPhone4 in the bath, it would have been submerged for a couple of seconds, I immediately fished it out and it was still working but I turned it off immediately.

When I turned it off the apple logo flashed up for a couple of seconds and then went off, flashed up again for a couple of seconds and went off again.

Now the phone is just sitting drying out - anyone know what the feck to do? Is it just a paper weight now or should it work again when I turn it on? When should I turn it on to check it???

buy a galaxy s2... good for a full wash @ 40 degrees.

x in the city

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Right... I have it placed on a towel between the elements of one of those towel heater things that are in bathrooms... They get very hot (too hot too touch) so it should dry it out quite quickly.

How soon before I try to turn it on?

would leave it over night... wrap it in a towel over the towel rail mayb. for a few hours...reduce the heat too.

bobbysands81

I bought the phone directly from Apple less than a year ago. If it doesn't work again is it covered on any warranty or anything?

Appleguy

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Right... I have it placed on a towel between the elements of one of those towel heater things that are in bathrooms... They get very hot (too hot too touch) so it should dry it out quite quickly.

How soon before I try to turn it on?

I don't know why people post looking for help if they're going to ignore any advice they are given. :rolleyes:

You were advised to put it in a bag of rice (which you change every day) and in the hot press for a few days. This is the only chance you have, do it or your iPhone is ****ed! Sin é!

Dont turn it back on for a week!

Appleguy

bobbysands81 wrote: »

I bought the phone directly from Apple less than a year ago. If it doesn't work again is it covered on any warranty or anything?

Water damage is not covered by warranty, and the two water indicators on your phone will now be red, Apple will send it straight back to you without service if you send it to them!

bobbysands81

Appleguy wrote: »

I don't know why people post looking for help if they're going to ignore any advice they are given. :rolleyes:

You were advised to put it in a bag of rice (which you change every day) and in the hot press for a few days. This is the only chance you have, do it or your iPhone is ****ed! Sin é!

Dont turn it back on for a week!

It's now sitting pretty in a bowl with rice under it, over it and around it and they're in my Hot Press!

Do I need to cover it as well or should that be enough?

How long would you recommend I leave it there?

Appleguy

Just make sure its submerged in the rice. I'd leave it for 5 to 7 days and change the rice half way.

Just trying to maximise your chances of success here, it could well already be fecked. But this is the best thing to do!

How on earth did it end up over a bath full of water anyway?

x in the city

a week will make f**k all difference, the moisture will be gone in 24hrs at least.

someone at work washed his samsung galaxy s2 in a full cycle and it was grand after.

Terri26

sorry to butt in but in cases like this should you take teh battery out of the phone and put them seperate in rice or not touch it, just switch it off and leave in a bowl of rice. have heard this being recommended before and was wondering what you should do if this happened me. Again!

kjl

bobbysands81 wrote: »

It's now sitting pretty in a bowl with rice under it, over it and around it and they're in my Hot Press!

Do I need to cover it as well or should that be enough?

How long would you recommend I leave it there?

i would get a philips screwdriver and remove the back plate and then remove the battery, this would be your best chance of reviving it.

However, if it worked when it came out, it will probably be ok.

CathalDublin

Dont turn it on for at least 24hours and get the Hoover on it for 20-30mins then bag of rice for the night, and it should be dry and hopefully unharmed.
Deffo use the Hoover over the hair dryer/hot press/rad/etc.
The Hoover should suck the moisture from the device before any components corrode

antodeco

Do NOT put it on a radiator nor apply heat to it. Lots of rice as mentioned before. If you can put it in an airtight container this will improve the saving chances dramatically.

culabula

bobbysands81 wrote: »

It's now sitting pretty in a bowl with rice under it, over it and around it and they're in my Hot Press!

Do I need to cover it as well or should that be enough?

How long would you recommend I leave it there?

Plenty of rice. A week.

It is the turning of it back on that causes the damage so leave it for at least 7 days.

babsybaby01

Make some curry sauce,if the phone doesn't work use the rice with the curry sauce and comfort eat...every cloud has a silver lining...

120_Minutes

kjl wrote: »

i would get a philips screwdriver and remove the back plate and then remove the battery, this would be your best chance of reviving it.

However, if it worked when it came out, it will probably be ok.

only if its the model with philips screws.

Mr Velo

I did the same to my 3GS last year - dropped in a sink of hot sudsy water... immediately fished it out and didn't know WTF to do.

It was still powered on. Only thing i noticed was it was very the sound was gone (when i tried to make a call).
Got the wife's hairdryer and blasted it with hot air (which i have been told since was totally the wrong thing to do).

Anyways, it worked for me - sound came back - not great at first, but after a day or two the phone was working as well as before the dunk.

bobbysands81

Well it's currently sitting in a little freezer bag covered with rice in my nice and warm (but not hot) Hot Press.

I intend to try and turn it back on tomorrow at some stage - probably tomorrow night so that will be a full 48 hours.

If it doesn't work what options do I have? Has anyone had a water damaged iPhone fixed by any of the phone shops around the place? What did they charge? Was it fixed properly?

guil

If it doesn't work I'd chance sending it back to apple anyway. I've seen a few posts here or on the O2 forum where users have claimed to get a replacement phone for a water damaged one. Obviously don't say anything about it when you ring and it won't cost anything to try

Blazer

Appleguy wrote: »

How on earth did it end up over a bath full of water anyway?

pron time

bobbysands81

Came home, checked my phone in the Hot Press and as I'm looking at it one of my buddies text me and it came through on the phone!!!

So here I am posting this from my phone and all is well!!! The phone, after going for a swim last night, is now working perfectly!!!

antodeco

That's great news. Just be aware that the affects of the moisture could still appear in a few months.

bobbysands81

By the way, a big THANK YOU for all the advice.

dodzy

bobbysands81 wrote: »

I accidently (obviously) dropped my iPhone4 in the bath

x in the city wrote: »

someone at work washed his samsung galaxy s2 in a full cycle

Mr Velo wrote: »

I did the same to my 3GS

Sweet jebus.......unbelievable:rolleyes:

cramp

Good to hear everything is ok .. But if it's still not....
U could have stuck a claim in on ur home insurance!

Doodah7

cramp wrote: »

U could have stuck a claim in on ur home insurance!

Not necessarily the best advice. It really depends on the policy. Many have an excess provision - as high as €500 - which would mean you would get very little, if anything at all, and with likely resulting increased premiums for the next number of years...

bobbysands81

For anyone else who's as stupid as me... there's plenty of mobile phone shops that can fix water damaged iPhones, one I contacted quoted me €60 to fix it or no charge if they can't.

dodzy

bobbysands81 wrote: »

For anyone else who's as stupid as me... there's plenty of mobile phone shops that can fix water damaged iPhones, one I contacted quoted me €60 to fix it or no charge if they can't.

They will most likely be doing what has already been suggested in previous posts, nothing more, for that charge. Best advice is do what has been recommended already on this thread - failing that, you could then give it to the pros

Gadget.Repair

dodzy wrote: »

They will most likely be doing what has already been suggested in previous posts, nothing more, for that charge. Best advice is do what has been recommended already on this thread - failing that, you could then give it to the pros

Good to hear you got your phone working again but I would stress that you need to get it checked out, as I see stuff every week in my shop where people get their electronic device wet and just dry it out and think all is good, the problems dont start to appear for weeks or months and then its to late.

When you droped it into the bath the water gets inside and when it evapourates it leaves behind the minerials that are in the water these over time cause serious damage to the board and can even cause chips to fall off.

every time I see a post about water damage all the responses are rice this and hot press that, very rarely is it bring to your nearest repair shop.
the phone costs €600 so a €60 charge as stated above isnt that much.

though on saturday i did a water repair on a htc whose sd card wasnt seen any more I only charged €35 for this.

What I'm trying to say is ask your local repair shop, after you have it turned off, how much they would charge to open it and wash the PCB, might be a lot less than you think.

As for claiming on house insurance dont not only is there an excess but your premium will go up a lot for years, could prob buy two iphones with the extra charges

redman85

Gadget.Repair wrote: »

dont not only is there an excess but your premium will go up a lot for years, could prob buy two iphones with the extra charges

I claimed a Nikon D90 on house insurance that I accidentally blew up (dont ask). That was €900 at the time and the premium didnt go up as it was my first claim. It took awhile but I was in no rush

kjl

guil wrote: »

If it doesn't work I'd chance sending it back to apple anyway. I've seen a few posts here or on the O2 forum where users have claimed to get a replacement phone for a water damaged one. Obviously don't say anything about it when you ring and it won't cost anything to try

plus, you can buy the water damage sensor stickers from ebay, simply replace them and you will be covered under warranty.

kjl

dodzy wrote: »

They will most likely be doing what has already been suggested in previous posts, nothing more, for that charge. Best advice is do what has been recommended already on this thread - failing that, you could then give it to the pros

Not true, if I dropped a phone in water I take out the circuit board and give it a bath in lacquer thinner, this will clear all moisture from the phone. The I would replace any parts that had damaged. Sometimes the screen for example get discolouration and the camera is also susceptible to damage.

whiterebel

kjl wrote: »

plus, you can buy the water damage sensor stickers from ebay, simply replace them and you will be covered under warranty.

Yes, I can really see that fooling Apple's repair techs........:pac:

kjl

whiterebel wrote: »

Yes, I can really see that fooling Apple's repair techs........:pac:

They are made for exactly the same material and look exactly the same, I know many people who have voided their warranties and used this trick