Seriously, this happened to me. When my son was 2 or 3 years old, he took my work cell phone and dropped it in the toilet (is there a better motivation to make sure everyone in your house flushes the toilet?). I couldn’t find it, I called the number and couldn’t hear it. I asked my son and he slowly led me to his bathroom where he raised the toilet seat and there it was.
Yup, I reached down into the water (was flushed, thankfully) and pulled it out. I removed the battery and washed the entire thing with Lysol …twice. I let it dry out for 2 days and it worked. However, I still got rid of the phone in just a few months since I couldn’t look at it the same.
Now Yahoo offers up this article – How to Revive a Wet Cell Phone. This story may only interest me, but there are some good tips in this short article:
The Cell Freak has all the collected wisdom on the topic, including some advice I’d never heard, like soaking the phone in 95% alcohol to dissolve all the water trapped inside. I’ve personally had good luck with low-level heat for wet phones and laptops: A few hours on the lowest setting inside an oven (150 degrees or thereabouts) can dry out a gadget and make it good as new.
Great ideas. Of course, an ounce of prevention…