Don't put your drowned phone into rice to dry it

https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Don%27t_Put_Your_Device_in_Rice._Here%27s_Why...

by sdfjkl • 7 years ago

26 29 7 years ago

A bit late, this was like the first result on google - https://www.gazelle.com/thehorn/2014/05/06/gazelles-guide-wa...

To be clear, the Gazelle article is the incorrect one - it advocates drying the phone first using a desiccant like silica gel or cat litter (though it says rice is the least effective of them). There is no mention of using alcohol (except in some comments).

The iFixit article advocates displacing the water using rubbing alcohol (i.e. open it up and dunk the motherboard/etc. in alcohol) - thus halting the corrosion that would continue if it were left to dry.

jandrese• 7 years ago

Is alcohol better than just patting it dry and blowing it out with some compressed air?

hiram112• 7 years ago

I have had rice work several times - maybe it wasn't the rice but just a coincidence.

I should note I left the phone in the rice for a few days, and it still didn't work. So I bought a new phone and forgot about it for a few months. Low and behold, when I did remember it months later, it worked, and did for a year or so more.

rossdavidh• 7 years ago

I, also, have had rice work, albeit not every time (I realize this statement makes it sound like I dunk my phone on a regular basis but honestly I don't). I don't doubt that there are better dessicants out there, but rice is always handy.

hjk05• 7 years ago

I have a rock that keeps tigers away, does it work? Well I’ve never had a tiger in my apartment so it must work right?

Correlation is not causation. You left your phone in rice, but it didn’t work. It didn’t do anything. The water dried just like it would in any setting. And you where lucky to not get any damage from the corrosion.

Sohcahtoa82• 7 years ago

Digressing slightly, but he mentions the difficulty with trying to clean dried pancake batter...

The trick to cleaning dry pancake batter is to soak the area with water for a few minutes. It'll revert back into a more batter-like texture and will easily wipe off.

closetohome2• 7 years ago

Article: Rice doesn't work. If it worked for you, it was a coincidence and your phone would have been fine anyway.

Commenters: Yes but I put my phone in rice once and it worked, so...

gowld• 7 years ago

Open your device as soon as you can, take out the battery,

If only our devices were user-friendly instead of planned obsolescent.

ceejayoz2• 7 years ago

Built-in batteries are part of the planned waterproof nature of modern phones, so that's a bit of an odd statement in this context.

If you drown your iPhone XS, you just wipe it off. Removable batteries mean openings, which means intrusion opportunities.

roddds• 7 years ago

None of the iPhones had removable batteries, and none but the most recent ones are waterproof.

Konnstann• 7 years ago

Louis Rossmann did a video [1] on rice and its effects on electronics, debunking the myth completely.

[1] https://youtu.be/yPeITOz2_YM

guilhas2• 7 years ago

Brought to you by the guy which sells machines to clean electronic devices.

_fbpt2• 7 years ago

Clickbait headline deliberately fails to explain what to use instead of rice.

What you want to do is first displace the water—or more specifically, all the conductive stuff in the water. You can do this best by using 90%+ isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and a toothbrush. Open your device as soon as you can, take out the battery, and get scrubbing. Submerge the whole motherboard in alcohol, and scrub away. Only then, dry it and see where you stand. By getting the liquid displaced before it can dry, we are cleaning the pancake batter on Sunday morning. This is your best strategy for liquid damage.

Cpoll• 7 years ago

What would you have titled it?

I'm not sure that "Instead of putting your phone in rice, open it up, douse it in 90%+ isopropyl and brush it with a toothbrush to remove the water before it dries" is short enough to be an effective title.

And "To fix a drowned phone, drown it again in isopropyl" is arguably even more click-baity.

In further defense, the comments here show the necessity of a title like this. If the title were "how to fix a drowned phone," many people would say "oh, I know this one, just put it in rice" and ignore the article.

closetohome2• 7 years ago

Youtube version: Fix your WET PHONE by DROWNING IT!

Thumbnail is a picture of a guy in SCUBA gear holding a phone and looking shocked. The phone is circled in red for some reason.

_fbpt2• 7 years ago

Cllickbait witholds information to make you click. This headline is clickbait because it witholds information. "To fix a drowned phone, soak it in isopropyl" is better because it's a summary and conveys information.

kiddico• 7 years ago

Would it be reasonable to put that entire paragraph in the headline instead?

viewtransform• 7 years ago

Is there any solution to water damaged Mac standalone keyboards ? I have several keyboards that were ruined by minor water spills. I don't understand what component in these keyboards gets permanently destroyed by water.

ksaj2• 7 years ago

One of mine died just from the moisture of a cleaning cloth after a wipe down. Pretty sad.

guilhas2• 7 years ago

It worked on my phone. Shut it down immediately, put in rice. You can clearly see the rice getting moistened slowly.

brokenmachine• 7 years ago

I've used Damp-Rid that they sell in the hardware store before.

I put the device (in my case it was an mp3 player that I ran with in a rainstorm) in a sealed container with the stuff. I left it in there for a few days and it did the job and it worked for about a year afterwards. It still does "work" but the screen is always blank now, so who knows, maybe the corrosion got to it in the end...

Don't put your drowned phone into rice to dry it

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