How to clean up water-damaged electronics: the rice bowl

Sure, you could meticulously disassemble and clean your water-logged gear, but why go to all the trouble when the help you're looking for is right in your kitchen? Rice -- not only is it nutritious and delicious, its absorbent nature can be harnessed to dry out your toilet-soaked gear, as one (un)lucky BlackBerry-wielding Washington Post blogger discovered recently when he dropped his phone in the worst-possible place. But half an hour with a blow dryer and a night submerged in a bowl of uncooked rice managed to get his handheld back up and running -- unfortunately, we suspect no amount of rice will absorb the lingering thought of toilet water in your ear whenever you're on a call.

[Via Digg]

[Nash @ Jun 20th 2007 1:33AM]

Would toilet water be transmitted over bluetooth ?

[Homer J @ Jun 20th 2007 1:48PM]

Man, I wonder how many Blackberries end up in toilets.

[Josh L. @ Jun 20th 2007 1:44AM]

Good thing it wasn't on or it could have shorted... Like my PSP... I hate myself... and my $250 brick...


"unfortunately, we suspect no amount of rice will absorb the lingering thought of toilet water in your ear whenever you're on a call." I smell a good opportunity to link to an article about bluetooth headsets.

[mmiikey @ Jun 20th 2007 1:51AM]

got rice?

[Tom @ Jun 20th 2007 1:55AM]

It's so easy! Just add water!


...actually don't.

[derek @ Jun 20th 2007 1:59AM]

let's just hope he dropped it in AFTER he flushed...

[Carl M @ Jun 20th 2007 2:09AM]

What to do when your electronic gadget falls into dirty water:

1. Remove battery.
2. Rinse with clean water.
3. Dry dry dry. Put in a warm dry place for a long time.
4. Cross your fingers.
5. Insert battery and try it out.

Step 2 is important if your gadget fell into dirty or salty water.
Otherwise, you can get corrosion, which can quickly destroy surface-mount ICs.

[hobgoblin @ Jun 20th 2007 3:23AM]

about point 3, no the kitchen stove is not that kind of place.

[- @ Jun 20th 2007 4:45AM]

The best warm, dry place I've found to dry electronics (and damp, single articles of clothing) is by the rear exhaust of a desktop CPU. It beats standing there with a hair dryer and doesn't take up any more electricity than what you're already using.

[keese @ Jun 20th 2007 8:16AM]

Think about it, hobgoblin. SMDs are basically baked to the PCB.
The stove may be a good place if you keep temperature at say 80°C.

Taking out the battery will stop electrolysis and rinsing with purified water or isopropyl will remove particles that short circuit the electronics.

Oh and thanks for yet another reason to not buy an that iPhone.

[Richard Lai @ Jun 20th 2007 8:59AM]

I heard industrial spirit does the job too, and the water has to be nothing else but distilled.

[robbiec @ Jun 20th 2007 2:13AM]

The packets of silica that you get in packets of pills also works quite well

[Owen V @ Jun 20th 2007 2:23AM]

a little bit of anhydrous sodium sulfate would work too, if you happen to be in a chemistry lab.

[rp @ Jun 20th 2007 2:18AM]

I was just going to say that silica gel packs that you get in anything that needs to be kept dry (pills, beef jerky, shoes etc) would be ideal. essentially, the rice is acting as a dessicator. you can pick up dessicant on the cheap at a hobby store, it is often used for drying flowers. so if you happen to drop your laptop in the toilet, that's your best bet. it'll suck the water right out, just put it in an enclosed space with the dessicant (like a rubbermaid for example) and wait.

[dominicjames @ Jun 20th 2007 2:28AM]

Carl M has it right.

I dropped my Nokia into a pint of beer. I used the pub hand drier and got it working again after about 30 minutes - but the buttons were a bit sticky, making texting near impossible. The next morning ( too much beer the day before) I rinsed the the phone under warm water patted dry and left it overnight. The following day it was working perfectly again.

[JM @ Jun 20th 2007 2:35AM]

Submerge gadget in rubbing alcohol. This both cleans and dries the gadget since alcohol displaces the water drying it much faster in addition to dissolving grime and spilt drinks faster than water

[thehum @ Jun 20th 2007 12:38PM]

one thing about rubbing alcohol: it's usually sold as 70%(30% water) or 99%(%1 water). I've accidentally spilled 70% alcohol on my laptop while it was running and fried the motherboard. With either, you really need to let your electronics COMPLETELY dry or you still run the risk of frying them, even with alcohol. And just to be safe always use 99% even though it costs a little more

[drtekger @ Jun 20th 2007 9:34PM]

Woot, you cant be serious! It's okay if you clean your cells mobo with rubbing alcohol but dropping your whole gadget in it will cause HEAVY problems with the acrylic and plastic parts of it. The Screen will get a nasty foggy stain and the housing might tend to lose its colour and integrity. Rubbing alcohol is a solvent after all. Why would anybody high rank this?

[Rex @ Jun 20th 2007 3:08AM]

um what about wd40? isn't that a water displacement problem we have?
guys give me info on whether a person can use a can of wd40 on a wet(but switched off) gadget...

[Owen V @ Jun 20th 2007 3:39AM]

rubbing alcohol is a pure substance, it would clean as well as fresh water and evaporate much faster than WD40

[Bard @ Jun 20th 2007 3:48AM]

NOOOO WD40!!! It's a penetrant, and that means that it will eat away at certian compounds including plastic. This would permanently damage portions of PCBs and the housing itself.

[mustharshid @ Jun 20th 2007 3:38AM]

Tip: make sure you don't eat the rice if it's used on any toilet soaked gadget.

[adrian @ Jun 20th 2007 4:09AM]

When I accidently wash my cellphonein my washing machine for about 5 minutes, I take the battery out, wrap the phone in a plastic bag with silica gel. It took 2 days to make the phone back on.

Adrian
http://www.lifeatmost.com

[ethana2 @ Jun 20th 2007 6:02AM]

I take out the battery, disassemble, and rinse with distilled water, or sometimes alcohol, but I think if you use that you have to be more careful about what you get it on.
With something like coffee, first aid is essential. Act fast, get the exterior clean and dry, power down, remove energy cell.

If uncooked rice works well for that, I'll have to remember that. Soak in bowl with distilled water and uncooked rice... wouldn't there be a risk of the pcb getting soggy, though?

[spam_from_engadget @ Jun 20th 2007 6:10AM]

I am reminded of the supposed best way to dry out your hiking boots after one of those wet days out in Scotland: fill them with porridge oats and leave overnight.

Has the added benefit of a providing you with a healthy and nutritious breakfast...

[nicholas @ Jun 20th 2007 6:21AM]

After pulling my SE P910 out of the washing machine, vibrating like no phone should ever do without eliciting sounds like Paris’ ring tones, I pulled the battery and let it dry for a week. They’re not waterproof! Nor, even weather proof. It worked for two years thereafter.

[Andrew @ Jun 20th 2007 8:28AM]

As I always say... water doesn't hurt electronics... electronics being on in water hurts electronics.

[Tim in Augusta @ Jun 20th 2007 8:46AM]

I like the rice idea to help dry it out.

When I sent my cell phone through the washer, I discovered it during the rinse cycle. I pulled it out, pulled the battery and tried opening it up and drying it with a blow dryer set on "cool" - but that didn't get it going.

I did get it to work, though, by rinsing it in pure distilled water and leaving it out to dry for a few days. It worked fine after that with only a few lines across the screen to remind me of the accidental washing. More than a year later and it still works fine.

My friend washed -and- dried his phone (same model as mine) and his worked fine almost immediately, no rinsing needed.

[blooy @ Jun 20th 2007 8:56AM]

My wife dropped my phone in the public toilet. Later that day I forgot about it and was chewing the antenna as I always do (nervous habit), then she reminded me. I took it apart and dried it out, got it working again but it eventually corroded and died. At least I survived.

[Larry Bloom @ Jun 20th 2007 10:00AM]

I have been told that the time and the blow dryer is what fixed the phone... rice does not significantly adsorb quantities water at room temperature. Which is why you cook rice(brown has even a harder time which is buy they remove the brown layer by milling) if it adsorbed water at room temperature your rice would be soggy and gain weight if left in a bowl (take dry rice put on scale and wait... it does not gain weight)
A lot of the thought is because people put rice in salt… it actually help because it is a abrasive, not because it absorbs water… Popcorn is actually better since it will not clog the holes in the shaker (and I think that pop does absorb a small amount of water… you can revive old popcorn by soaking in water before trying to pop… it is the water pressure inside of the kernel which makes it explode)

Larry

[Troy Lim @ Jun 20th 2007 11:08AM]

Rick works...I grew up getting the moisure out from my watch......
Chinese style

[Sikachu @ Jun 20th 2007 11:59AM]

I'm in Thailand, and everyone has a big bowl of rice in their household. I had accidently dropped my cellphone in the water one time by accident. Suddenly, after the rescue mission from the water, I took the battery out, and ran to a rice bucket in my house. I stucked my phone in there, covered with rice. After 3 days, I went back to that bucket, put the battery in, and it works!

I love to hear that somebody actually share something about rice and water :D

[Sven @ Jun 20th 2007 12:36PM]

When I soaked my phone in a swimming pool I revived it by suspending it in a beaker over 1/2 inch of quicklime, then sealing the top. I'm not sure how long it should have taken, but overnight fixed the problem. Quicklime is a helluva desiccant.

[Gregg Sanford @ Jun 20th 2007 1:07PM]

Hmmm... I remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown talks about how some people/restaurants put uncooked rice in their salt shakers to prevent moisture from clumping the salt. However, it the grains of rice just prevent clumping by agitating the salt. If rice really did absorb moisture like that then we'd be able to have a bowl of rice in the morning by leaving it on the counter overnight. It was more than likely just the time sitting there that dried the phone out.

[Arvid @ Jun 20th 2007 4:24PM]

An even better way to dry watar-damaged electronics is to open up everything as much as possible, put all parts ontop of a pan full of rice in the owen at 50 degrees celcius for a day or so... works wounders on cameras and such..

[alex1robinson @ Jun 21st 2007 8:44AM]

I had a similair experience with an Ipod Nano I put through the washing machine. I realised halfway through and got it out but it was dead after I left it out to dry for 3 days.... So I thought that it was possible that the soap in the water was shorting the circuits so I rinsed it in Brita filtered water for 10 hours and left it to dry for a day in a cup of salt covered with clingfilm (plastic wrap) over the radiator... Works perfectly :):)

[Rex @ Jun 21st 2007 9:59AM]

Thanks! now i know...wd40 may have MANY uses, but NOT for wet electronics...
cheers folks..and cheers to engadget, u have NO idea how many people wash their clothes with their gadgets in them...
thanks again
rex

[Rex @ Jun 21st 2007 10:02AM]

btw here is a link
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiccant