Help Liquid damage

[Silver17]

I did the stupidest thing possible yesterday and dropped my desire into a cup of tea.

Only had my phone 3 weeks, can't believe it. Only the bottom quarter of the phone was submerged and I took it out in seconds.

I shook most of the tea out and attempted to dry it with a hair dryer on cool setting. However most of the liquid went inside the area which you can't get at unless you unscrew it (which will completely void the warranty).

Ive been drying it out the best I can in an airing cupboard, but have done the stupid thing and attempted to turn my phone on as I needed it urgently to make a call.

The phone worked but got really hot and the power button no longer works. I quickly shut the phone down.. but I now realise I never should have turned it on at all. This morning I can't even get it past the HTC screen.

The 2 water damage stickers on the battery and phone which I can find are both still white, so Im unsure as to whether I could attempt to return it to Phones for You as they have a 28 days returns policy, and claim the phone is faulty.

I haven't got phone insurance.

Any advice?

 

[BarnumC]

No household insurance? I understand many household insurance policies wont cover a cellphone, but mine does, try there first. As for the return... what do you have to loose.
For those who dont know..
If you should drop your phone into water take it apart as much as the manufacturer wants you to, ie back off, sim out, chip out and of course battery out. Open all covers and completely cover the device with rice. Not pudding rice out of a tin! but ordinary, every day dried rice. Leave it till you can stand it no longer, and then add a week. The longer you leave it the better chance you have.
Saying that, it is probably the milk that has made your electronics warm up.

Try turning on with the chip and sim out as well, it might be a fault there..

More tea vicar? one lump or two?

 

[Haste75]

The gadget show did a special on drying out phones a while back.

Turned out the best thing to do was Hoover the phone for a while. Take the battery out STRAIGHT away, then spend 20 mins with a vacuum sucking out the water.

 

[Silver17]

I've looked at my dad's household contents insurance, but it doesn't cover liquid damage.

I'm worried that even if I manage to dry it out, the phone won't work anyway because I turned it on and it may have fried the circuit board.

 

[Pedro7]

liquid insurance? why don't you make it perfectly obvious that something else has damaged the phone so it is covered?

i know the pain of damaging your desire.. mine slipped out of my hands and i cried... there's two chip marks at the top now

 

[sookster54]

Look up the bag of rice trick, I did it with the Palm Pilot over 10 years ago when it got dunked in a rather deep puddle, and it worked. Since water damage isn't covered by warranty and the warranty is likely voided now, you may as well disassemble the bodies and do not spray any kind of liquid removal or even try to turn it on (too late, you already did), fill a bowl halfway with dry rice and place the Desire on top then add more rice ontop of it and leave for at least 3 days.

Though you COULD try returning the phone and saying it's faulty as long as you get rid of visible evidence of water damage, it might work.

 

[OFI]

It sounds like a faulty phone to me and you should return it under the 28 days returns. It got very hot in your pocket turned itself off then refused to start up any longer.

Good luck


Protip: Please don't turn wet phones on

 

[SUroot]

Though you COULD try returning the phone and saying it's faulty as long as you get rid of visible evidence of water damage, it might work.

They'll know.

 

[jim_h]

They'll know.

Yeah, they will. Any tech worth their salt will spot water damage a mile away.

 

[kilroy]

I remember being told a few years ago that you should immediately put your phone (battery removed of course) in a jar of methylated spirits if you have water damage. Apparently prevents the circuits from rusting, and gives the phone a better chance of survival. Anyone heard anything like that before? I'm not endorsing this method, just repeating what a tech told me at one of those repair centres.

 

[nx1977]

I wouldnt try the meth spirits option.

Meth spirits will eat some components, especially AMOLED screens

 

[jim_h]

I remember being told a few years ago that you should immediately put your phone (battery removed of course) in a jar of methylated spirits if you have water damage. Apparently prevents the circuits from rusting, and gives the phone a better chance of survival. Anyone heard anything like that before? I'm not endorsing this method, just repeating what a tech told me at one of those repair centres.

My concern with that advice would be the effect solvents have on some plastics.

I'd definitely ignore it and go with the rice and/or vacuum advice instead.

 

[MDesire2010]

Take the battery and cover off as well as the SIM and MCSD card out and put the phone in a bowl of dry Rice for a few hours. It'll absorb whatever moisture left in it. I've heard this works from several of my friends water/snow/alcohol submerged phones.

 

[kilroy]

No worries, that advice is a few years old, when the N80 was Nokia's flagship. A lot of the materials, particularly the screen are a lot different now.

 

[loveandroid]

Definitely not your cup of tea



Sorry, I am bored!

 

[OFI]

Yeah, they will. Any tech worth their salt will spot water damage a mile away.

Well isn't that the point in taking it back under the 28 day returns and not under warranty? (i.e replaced in store not from manufacturer)

If there's no screen damage and the water damage stickers haven't indicated then I can't see a problem.

 

[master_yoda]

Well isn't that the point in taking it back under the 28 day returns and not under warranty? (i.e replaced in store not from manufacturer)

If there's no screen damage and the water damage stickers haven't indicated then I can't see a problem.

Agree.

Take it back under the 28 day returns, you have nothing to lose

 

[SUroot]

When you return a phone, do they not check it works? Tea is sticky. It's probably obvious just by pressing the buttons

 

[jim_h]

Well isn't that the point in taking it back under the 28 day returns and not under warranty? (i.e replaced in store not from manufacturer)

I'm not sure I understand your point. Are you saying that it's going to be ok with the store for someone to take back a phone under the 28 day return agreement for the reason that it's been dropped in liquid? I can't believe they'd go for that.

 

[SUroot]

Its tantamount to theft really.

 

[DjLukeW]

The phone would be checked by the store, and diagnosed. You havent got a hope of a store replacing it

 

[Jason71]

The rice thing works well. did for me with my hero anyway. however the problem is it was tea not clean water. I know it seems counter intuitive but really you should try to wash out the tea using pure distilled water like the type they sell for putting in irons or car engines. When the tea (especially if there was sugar in it) residue is gone you can then use the vacuum/rice methods to remove 100% of the pure distilled water. ideally you should dry it for several days before trying to turn it on. My hero was fully submerged and made a full recovery.

 

[nx1977]

Well isn't that the point in taking it back under the 28 day returns and not under warranty? (i.e replaced in store not from manufacturer)

If there's no screen damage and the water damage stickers haven't indicated then I can't see a problem.

No. 28 day returns are for manufacturing faults, not being silly enough to drop in your drink.

They will test it, and when they find you've dunked it (it really is very obvious to a trained tech), add a note to your file so you wont be able to claim easily from them in future for any faults.

It's why dedicated phone insurance pays to get.

 

[Silver17]

Yeah I suppose I should be honest...back to the old Samsung for me I suppose. No way I can afford a new phone.

I just thought that if you claimed a phone was faulty within 28 days they would just regard it as a manufacturing fault. Maybe they would check the outer water damage stickers... and the screen, but not inspect it fully. But your right, I don't want to get caught out.

 

[OFI]

No. 28 day returns are for manufacturing faults, not being silly enough to drop in your drink.

They will test it, and when they find you've dunked it (it really is very obvious to a trained tech), add a note to your file so you wont be able to claim easily from them in future for any faults.

It's why dedicated phone insurance pays to get.

I don't know what phone shops you go to but around here I don't see many 'trained techs' in them. What I do see are late teens who will look for obvious damage, see it doesn't switch on and then do whatever needs to be done.

See if there is a standard repair/replace charge then.

Meh up to the thread starter but yea get insurance in future.