Isopropyl alcohol for water damage... works?

[Richard Mbazumutima]

I know this post is probably pretty specific but I'll start anyway...

I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and a couple days ago, on a camping trip, I jumped into the lake with my phone in my pocket and hadn't noticed after a couple minutes. So my phone at the time was dead so I had no way of knowing if anything was broken but the next day I charged it and it turned on. However when I came back I noticed the phone would charge and everything was functioning EXCEPT... (dun dun dun) the SCREEN was BLACK. Now I use my phone quite often so I know where a couple apps are. Knowing this I am able to turn the flashlight on and off so I know the touchscreen works but the ONLY PROBLEM seems to be THE SCREEN. I've been reading up on this and long story short, I've heard the submerging the phone in isopropyl alcohol (99%) can fix the phone. So I just wanted to know if any of you guys have had this problem and if you had any luck. Thanks for reading guys.

P.S. the reason the phone lacked water resistance is because the little door for the charger broke off.

 

[AZgl1500]

um,

day late and a dollar short on this advice.

had you NOT charged it up, and if you had placed it in a vacuum chamber, and kept a vacuum of 26 inches of mercury on it for about 3 to 6 hours, all of the moisture would have been sucked out of the phone.

it is possible that the screen still has moisture in it, in fact, I am almost positive that it does.

so, make yourself a vacuum chamber, a glass jar, pickle jar? the gallon size?
the lid has to be big enough you can put the phone inside the jar obviously.

fashion a nipple onto the lid of the jar, and connect that to a vacuum pump.
if you don't have one, Harbor Freight does for less than $30 bux.... which is a darn sight cheaper than a new display.

I've been in the electronics industry since 1958, and the vacuum chamber is my first "go to" to suck water out of anything.

Caveat: even if you get all the water out, the display drivers might be fried....
you applied power after it got wet.
that is a huge NO NO.....

folks, if your phone gets wet, jerk the battery out, and do NOT attempt to use it until you have got all the water removed from it.... with a vacuum chamber.

if you want to go cheap...... grab a new bag of White Rice, about a gallon of the stuff.
or a gallon jar with a lid that seals TIGHT.

put the rice and the phone into a Freezer bag and seal it up tight.
put it in a warm place, like the window, or your patio in the sun....

leave it there for a couple of days.
Rice works, but it is slow.....


take every thing apart, all of it you can remove from the phone.

 

[Richard Mbazumutima]

um,

day late and a dollar short on this advice.

had you NOT charged it up, and if you had placed it in a vacuum chamber, and kept a vacuum of 26 inches of mercury on it for about 3 to 6 hours, all of the moisture would have been sucked out of the phone.

it is possible that the screen still has moisture in it, in fact, I am almost positive that it does.

so, make yourself a vacuum chamber, a glass jar, pickle jar? the gallon size?
the lid has to be big enough you can put the phone inside the jar obviously.

fashion a nipple onto the lid of the jar, and connect that to a vacuum pump.
if you don't have one, Harbor Freight does for less than $30 bux.... which is a darn sight cheaper than a new display.

I've been in the electronics industry since 1958, and the vacuum chamber is my first "go to" to suck water out of anything.

Caveat: even if you get all the water out, the display drivers might be fried....
you applied power after it got wet.
that is a huge NO NO.....

folks, if your phone gets wet, jerk the battery out, and do NOT attempt to use it until you have got all the water removed from it.... with a vacuum chamber.

if you want to go cheap...... grab a new bag of White Rice, about a gallon of the stuff.
or a gallon jar with a lid that seals TIGHT.

put the rice and the phone into a Freezer bag and seal it up tight.
put it in a warm place, like the window, or your patio in the sun....

leave it there for a couple of days.
Rice works, but it is slow.....


take every thing apart, all of it you can remove from the phone.

Thank you very much for the response. I think there's still a chance based on what you've said and I'll make sure to try all those methods. And that 30$ is nothing compared to the cost of a new one.

 

[Phalon4]

Yes as long as it's 100%

 

[Richard Mbazumutima]

Yes as long as it's 100%

Tbh Idk what you mean by 100% man cuz my screen is black

 

[KOLIO]

Tbh Idk what you mean by 100% man cuz my screen is black

I believe he's speaking of the alcohol purity,ya don't want the watered-down variety that's readily available in grocery & drug stores.
Something like this,almost pure isopropyl alcohol,is best for the job:
http://www.vetco.net/catalog/produc...udfr7T57OPUHiE2rzGQqy8I7nKqT6-vBDlhoCIFvw_wcB

 

[Richard Mbazumutima]

I believe he's speaking of the alcohol purity,ya don't want the watered-down variety that's readily available in grocery & drug stores.
Something like this,almost pure isopropyl alcohol,is best for the job:
http://www.vetco.net/catalog/produc...udfr7T57OPUHiE2rzGQqy8I7nKqT6-vBDlhoCIFvw_wcB

Awesome because I did order the 99% alcohol

 

[AZgl1500]

yeah, most of the stuff I have on hand right now is 70% and useless for dehydration purposes.

I much prefer to use a vacuum chamber and my small electric vacuum pump... although the Harbor Freight version works just as well as long as it don't leak down... you have to watch the little vacuum gauge and try to keep it up in the middle 20 inches of mercury region....

on automotive a/c units, I pull them down to -26 inches mercury and hold them there for 1-2 hours.... and that nearly always sucks out the oxygen and oil molecules....

 

[Richard Mbazumutima]

Ok so strange thing happened. Reading all your comments I decided to get the alcohol and I turned off my phone waiting for the day it arrived (isopropyl alcohol). Well it arrived and I just brought it upstairs to my room with a bucket and went to turn on my phone and... it turned on perfectly fine. Screen good and everything. While I'm siked, I took out and lost me sim card lol and ordered another unlocked phone which is coming in a couple of day. What. The. Fudge.

 

[AZgl1500]

last time we talked, I forgot to mention that there is another option that works quite well.

you remove everything that will come apart, lay the phone on a window sill in full sunlight on a warm day or 3.

or you can open the oven door, pull a rack out and lay the phone on the rack outside the door, not inside the oven. set the oven temp at ~150 degrees and leave it there for a while..... this method requires constant attention to observe that the case does not get too hot..... I pick it up every 15 minutes and turn it over so the rack does not try to leave imprints in the case.

I just recently used the oven to dry out my Digital Multimeter after having left it outside on the car fender during a sudden rain shower... it works a treat.... in fact, I have a thread on this forum describing using an oven to dry electronic stuff out. do a search for it.