Splish-splash, the Nokia gets a bath.

[vakkotaur]

Last night after my session on the treadmill I put my cell phone in the pocket of my sweatshorts so I wouldn't forget it yet again. I've left it lying next to the remote controls a couple times. I then dealt with a few things, and one of those things was the laundry. You can see where this is going, right? Yep, that's what happened. As I normally don't have anything in that pocket, I didn't check it and into the washing machine it went. A few minutes later I wonder where the phone is. I look in the usual few places I might have left it. Uh oh.

I went down to the washing machine as fast as I reasonably could, shut it off, sorted out the sweatshorts, fiddled with them to get to the pocket that had the phone in it an extract the phone. Crap, it's glowing and the display.. isn't displaying. Everything but the phone goes back into the washer and the laundry continues. Meanwhile I run water over the phone, hoping to at least drive out the detergent. I dig for the manual, find it, and look for how to take the case off and the battery out. Between the manual and kinkyturtle, who has the same model phone and changed cases on it, over IRC I manage to get the back off and pull the battery. The front is off a few moment later. Another water treatment to hopefully drive out any detergent or anything else that the first didn't take care of. A final rinse with distilled water (what, doesn't everyone have a jug of distilled water for just such an emergency?) to hopefully rinse off any minerals or such that the tap water had and then I wait for it to dry.

The hair dryer on low heat helped things along some, but it still wasn't right last night. I risked putting the battery in and saw it come up, and try to display, but then the display was goofy. It did at least seem to still have all the information I'd entered. I pulled the battery back out and let everything dry overnight.

This morning when I checked it, it worked. The display displays what it should, though it does show some signs of the misadventure. The contact information is there. It can make calls and receive calls. The speaker sounds no worse than before and supposedly the microphone isn't too much different either - though I'm told it wasn't all that great to start.

Now I need to remember where the phone is and not shove it in a pocket and get another gallon or two of distilled water.

Comments

[chakawolf.livejournal.com]

Alcohol will displace the water, and it dries quickly.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

I didn't have any alcohol handy and even if I had, I wasn't sure what it might do to the various plastics.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest some kind of belt hook or carrier rather than putting it into your pocket. That way you are less likely to overlook it.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

For normal carrying around, I have a sort of belt pouch that works quite well. It stays on the belt, however. In the evening I change and wear the sweatshorts while on the treadmill. Wearing the phone on the treadmill doesn't really work very well (I tried it a couple times) and so I lay it down next to the remote controls for the TV, VCR, and DVD player on the back of the couch - the treadmill is situated so that makes a fairly reachable shelf and I can watch TV while exercising. I've forgotten it there a couple times, overnight at least once.

If Jay and I are both home, the phone tends to stay in its charger. When either of us travel, I carry the phone with me. As Jay has been travelling the last several weeks, it's gotten to the point where I notice its absence more than I notice its presence, at least during the day.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, it sounds like a good thing that you noticed the absence this time, or it would have gone through the spin cycle. In my experience, that's the killer for all sorts of things. Electronics will often survive being wet, but they are rarely made strong enough to take those G-forces.

Fortunately, replacing a simple phone like the model you have is not going to cost a whole lot in any case. It's just the nuisance of getting the new one activated and the old one disabled.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Actually, this phone uses a SIM card, so as long as that survived there'd be no deactivation & reactivation issues, just put the card in the new phone and go on. I'm not sure if that card also stores all the contact information so it might get a bit annoying re-entering that. Which reminds me, I ought to enter the MFF hotel's number so I have it handy.

[tilt-longtail.livejournal.com]

I called you and a SOCK answered!

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, the manual explains how to remove the case! Huh. I learned how to remove the case by watching the guy at the cellphone accessories kiosk in the mall do it when I bought the tiger-striped case.