My Lumia 820 fell in sea water.. what should I do?

[Thos Parkouristas]

My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

Yesterday my phone fell in sea water I tried to switch it on several times! Sometimes it turned on sometimes not... When I returned home a couple of hours later i put the phone in rice do you think that was enough should I do anything else??? The phone has been in the rice for one day... PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[travis_valkyrie]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

Time to get a new phone. Sea water is more conductive and corrosive than say, tap water. If water penetrates to the inside of the phone, I wouldn't recommend using it, even charging it for that matter. Even if it dries, it'll still end up corroding some parts of it.

Reason why it turns on and sometimes it does not could be that water is short circuiting metal points in the board.

 

[Thos Parkouristas]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

It was always turning on just sometimes it gave me an error... It was a thunder and the settings icon next to it.

 

[Ian Too]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

Only twice have any of my devices survived a dunking.

The first was when a friend dropped my Siemens M35i into my beer after I had explained that I'd bought it because it was water-proofed. He had to buy a new Nokia after his girlfriend did unto him... :grin:

The second time, I fell into a river trying to retrieve a geocache. I immediately removed the battery and when I got home put it in the airing cupboard with several sachets of silica gel. Although it seemed to work, the device, a iPAQ PDA, started playing up after a couple of weeks and was dead within a year.

In general, the simple truth is electronics and moisture don't mix, and the one thing you shouldn't do is try to turn the device on while it's still wet. This is because the current encourages corrosion, so:
1. Battery out,
2. Put in a warm, dry place like an airing cupboard,
3. wrap in rice or silica gel to absorb moisture as it's driven off,
4. Leave it at least 24 hours to dry off, before reinstalling the battery and starting it up.

 

[Thos Parkouristas]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

Man I think it's already dead I tried that s**** with the alcohol I left it to dry I turned it on and the after five minutes it was dead... :'( I'll get it to Nokia to see what could be done thanks for your help anyway!

 

[xandros9]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

I think its safe to say its toast. The salt and gunk will destroy the internals. The fact your tried to power it on immediately afterwards and this is a day later doesn't help my optimism.

If it were me I would have immediately ditched the battery, rinsed out the internals with fresh water/dunk in alcohol maybe.
then rice

although i'm not confident.

 

[EL620]

Trying to power on the device in that state might have lowered the chances of saving it.

 

[Thos Parkouristas]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

It doesn't work at all it is dead!!!

 

[xandros9]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

It doesn't work at all it is dead!!!

We are very sorry for your loss.

I will leave these here:

 

[Thos Parkouristas]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

Finally I brought it to Nokia, I lied and I told them that it stopped working and they found out about the water so they sent it back and cancelled my warranty which was a couple more months. Finally the phone worked so I'm really happy!!! The only issue was the mic but I'll get it fixed nothing to worry about!!!

 

[gordonfink]

If it fell in water of nay kind, especially sea water, you need to turn it off, take it apart, and clean it with 99% isopropyl alcohol. Corrosion inside will continue, and it will eventually die.

 

[vsmh96]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

I think its safe to say its toast. The salt and gunk will destroy the internals. The fact your tried to power it on immediately afterwards and this is a day later doesn't help my optimism.

If it were me I would have immediately ditched the battery, rinsed out the internals with fresh water/dunk in alcohol maybe.
then rice

although i'm not confident.

I will side his explanation.
But if you must try.
1. Remove battery and all removables (sim, micro sd card etc etc).
2. Rice should be fine but you could also try dunking it into i. alcohol (the percentage is important and tells you how fast it dries. After that you could put your phone into an airtight box with silicate gel or rice together. Leave for at least 3 days. Patience my dear friend.

Doesnt work after that? Too bad, probably gone bad.

 

[gordonfink]

Re: My Lumia 820 fell in sea water... HELP!!!!

Rice is not fine - that is a myth. It may dry out some water that's there, MAY, but it does not get it all, and it does not stop corrosion.

The only thing that stops corrosion is to remove all of the corrosive agent. IPA 99% is the way to do it, and you must be meticulous to get it.

If you didn't want to scrub it all, you could put it in a glass of IPA 99% overnight, then let it air dry for a couple of days.

 

[Thos Parkouristas]

I already did it. Before it completely turned off and then I brought it nokia!

 

[safeips]

I just damage mine by accidentally wasting water inside the phone. It's completely dead! I guess its time to upgrade...