My cellphone got put in the wash

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By accident, I put my cellphone through the wash cycle. Is there: A) Any inexpensive way of repairing it, or B) any type of relatively inexpensive phone I could get to replace it?

weirdly, the same EXACT thing happened to me last weekend. first wait until completely dry to turn it on. otherwise you run the risk of short-circuiting. if it is dead, and forever gone, check to see if you are eligible for an upgrade. i was with my carrier and i was able to get a GREAT one for free. i just had to renew my contract.

also, some carriers have really cheap refurbished phones you can get for like $40 without having to renew. these are GREAT in case you aren't close to your time to upgrade. hope this helps

IMMEDIATELY take out the battery and sim card. Let it get really, really dry. You may be able to save it. I read online that if it's soaked, dunk it in alcohol first because that dries faster. Then let it dry for 3 days in a warm place. There is a Motorola V170 from Tracfone at our house that I did that with, after it went through the wash but not the rinse. It actually came back working perfectly except the down arrow no longer works. When the same phone went all the way through the wash AGAIN, as well as the rinse, we just took it apart and laid it on a sunny windowsill, without the alcohol. We did not expect it to revive, but it is still working, everything but the down arrow! On the other hand, I have seen phones die and not revive, so it probably depends on the phone, too.

I don't know about other models of phone that have more features, the V170 makes and receives calls and that's about it. I do know that prompt action to take out the battery is very, very important.

Very true about removing the battery, sadly I lost a phone some years ago that way.

I've always put it in a ziplock bag filled with rice. The rice absorbs all the moisture, and it's worked before for my mother. She even left the dang thing on for awhile after it fell in the water.

Dunking it in alcohol also works because it has far less of the corrosive minerals that water does. And I know all about phones loosing it, I dropped mine in a cup noodles and it's never been quite right since. It deletes numbers on it's own, calls people, rearranges my phonebook... it's crazy. But 95% of the time, it does work, so I haven't felt the need to toss it.

a) bury it in rice
b) I think cellphones now come free in cereal boxes.
I think you can get a new one for about $29 dollars, or even less.

Battery and sim card out straight away! Don't try turning it on just to make sure.

If you have the gear, sonicate it 3 times for 5 mins in 3 beakers of 3x300ml MilliQ water and stick it in a vacuum oven at 60C for 24 hours.

If not, do it like everyone else says..

What type of water was it? Hard water can cause limescale and problems. If you have this in your area, then this could cause problems

c) breakfast cereal is very expensive in Mexico, or maybe the boxes are just really really large.

maybe:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2121/189 ... 9518_b.jpg

Wait to it drys. Which can take a few days. Happened to my 4 GB Thumb Drive and it still worked perfectly.

However like my Dads old phone you might just have to find a cheap replacement6.

Right now I just use the cheap virgin mobile phones with the $20 200 Minute Packs. For other calls I use house phone. Virgin Mobile is great if you need basic, working phones for everyday use. $30 can get you 400 Minutes. The phones are also cheap to replace,

For home phone been thanking about magic-jacks though.

Thumb drives have no latent energy/power source, so wetting them isnt a big issue.

I recently left the remote for my jeep's stereo in the cup holder, and it rained. despite sitting partially submerged in water for a day or two, it dried out just fine.