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KevinRightWing

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 15, 2007
270
31
Houston TX
I am trying the rice maneuver, but in the meantime......

The cost of replacement with apple is $270. It is hard for me to spend nearly $300 for a phone that came out 18 months ago when an iPhone 6 can be purchased for $650. Being a heavy user, what would you do in my situation?

Thanks for the help!
 

0928001

Suspended
Sep 15, 2012
453
385
I'd buy the 5S for $270. I am by no means poor, but I am a major cheap@$$.

An upgrade from the 5s to the 6 is not worth an extra $380 IMO. If you want to spend $650, wait a few months and get the 6S.

Hopefully the rice trick works and you have to spend $0. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you.
 

nox5

macrumors 6502
Oct 16, 2013
415
49
Open it and dry it 10x quicker with hair dryer before it will corrode
 

wproct

macrumors 6502
Dec 4, 2014
460
170
Iowa
I agree with af21187 in purchasing the 5s for $270. The significant cost difference is the reason for us selecting the 5s over the Iphone 6. I'm also hoping for the best in you reviving your 5s. Good luck!
 

a.guillermo

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2015
109
3
Hopefully you won't have to buy a new phone-- I've heard of several instances where the rice trick works.

How long until you are eligible for an upgrade? If you are low on funds (or just can't permit yourself to blow that much money), I can tell you what I did:

I destroyed my phone about a month and a half before upgrade. I dropped it in a mud puddle, and didn't even realize that it was gone from my pocket for about a minute, had to search everywhere else where I was walking, and then discovered by process of elimination that it was in the mud puddle. So on my hands and knees I searched through the puddle, and found it eventually. Let's just say that it was beyond salvageable.

Since I was only about 45 days from an upgrade, I went to best buy and bought a go-phone. It was a piece of junk, but I was able to get my contacts etc, and I was able to text and call for those 45 days. The phone was $30, and it served it's purpose.

Now that I have the iphone 6, it was a tremendous reward. I felt like Tom Hanks after he got off the island in Cast Away when he couldn't even sleep on his bed.

I suppose that was a little dramatic.. #firstworldproblems but it worked for me, and it can work for you too, if you have an upgrade soon!
 

businezguy

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2003
389
456
I'd recommend you wait 3 to 5 days before you try to turn it on. The longer you wait, the better chance you have that it'll turn on again. I know that's inconvenient, but it might help you avoid paying that $270 fee.
 

uid15

Suspended
Mar 9, 2015
1,186
637
This "rice trick" is for amateurs who are clueless about electronics and repairs. Yes, rice will absorb SOME of the water, but there's a battery inside your iPhone which you CANNOT remove unless you take it apart - a battery which is pumping electricity through an iPhone full of liquid... and that's called electrolysis, and it means that the internals have a VERY high chance of corroding. If the rice was GUARANTEED to absorb ALL the water from ALL the hidden nooks and crannies IMMEDIATELY, you may stand a better chance, but water inside an electronic device can become trapped, and remains in place stubbornly by surface tension, until it is completely disassembled and cleaned professionally, usually with an ultrasonic tank and alcohol solution of sorts, and then dried gently in a low temperature convection oven.

This water can remain trapped under perforated RF shielding cans (RF circuits are VERY VERY VERY sensitive precision instruments, the operational parameters of which may be altered SIGNIFICANTLY by even the grease of a fingerprint!), lodged inside a microphone capsule, inside a vibration motor housing... the list is endless.

This "rice trick" is not a magic solution to save water damage - it is, at best, moderately effective and more a placebo.

Source: Qualified electronic repair engineer since 1991.


Electrolysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdgPQZ4CIBQ

"iFixit" advice on removing the battery immediately: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/70976/What+should+I+do+if+my+iPhone4s+got+water+damaged

----------

I'd recommend you wait 3 to 5 days before you try to turn it on. The longer you wait, the better chance you have that it'll turn on again. I know that's inconvenient, but it might help you avoid paying that $270 fee.

TERRIBLE advice, and most definitely NOT what you ought to do; read my post.
 

bakedapple

macrumors newbie
May 4, 2015
11
0
Northeastern USA
I'd buy the 5S for $270. I am by no means poor, but I am a major cheap@$$.

An upgrade from the 5s to the 6 is not worth an extra $380 IMO. If you want to spend $650, wait a few months and get the 6S.

Hopefully the rice trick works and you have to spend $0. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you.

^^100% agree with this. Besides, you should be able to get at least $75 for your old iPhone on Craigslist or a local "mom & pop" cell phone/electronics shop. Or you could sell it on Swappa as well.

If you have the original box, PM me. I'd be interested in buying it.

Please keep us updated. Good luck.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
This "rice trick" is for amateurs who are clueless about electronics and repairs. Yes, rice will absorb SOME of the water, but there's a battery inside your iPhone which you CANNOT remove unless you take it apart - a battery which is pumping electricity through an iPhone full of liquid... and that's called electrolysis, and it means that the internals have a VERY high chance of corroding. If the rice was GUARANTEED to absorb ALL the water from ALL the hidden nooks and crannies IMMEDIATELY, you may stand a better chance, but water inside an electronic device can become trapped, and remains in place stubbornly by surface tension, until it is completely disassembled and cleaned professionally, usually with an ultrasonic tank and alcohol solution of sorts, and then dried gently in a low temperature convection oven.

This water can remain trapped under perforated RF shielding cans (RF circuits are VERY VERY VERY sensitive precision instruments, the operational parameters of which may be altered SIGNIFICANTLY by even the grease of a fingerprint!), lodged inside a microphone capsule, inside a vibration motor housing... the list is endless.

This "rice trick" is not a magic solution to save water damage - it is, at best, moderately effective and more a placebo.

Source: Qualified electronic repair engineer since 1991.


Electrolysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdgPQZ4CIBQ

"iFixit" advice on removing the battery immediately: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/70976/What+should+I+do+if+my+iPhone4s+got+water+damaged

----------



TERRIBLE advice, and most definitely NOT what you ought to do; read my post.
And despite all that reality there's also the reality that for quite a few it works and the device works just fine often enough and for long enough until they upgrade to another one at some point anyway.
 

uid15

Suspended
Mar 9, 2015
1,186
637
And despite all that reality there's also the reality that for quite a few it works and the device works just fine often enough and for long enough until they upgrade to another one at some point anyway.

I am stating that, considering how much people pay for iPhones, why WOULDN'T you want to repair it correctly? This rice trick may work by fluke or otherwise, but it's a matter of time before the inherent failures caused by having NOT had it seen to properly will come to light. It is hardly scientific or good practice; I know what I am talking about.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
I am stating that, considering how much people pay for iPhones, why WOULDN'T you want to repair it correctly? This rice trick may work by fluke or otherwise, but it's a matter of time before the inherent failures caused by having NOT had it seen to properly will come to light. It is hardly scientific or good practice; I know what I am talking about.
And, again, there are plenty of cases where the matter of time is long enough for people get the usefulness of the device that they would have otherwise gotten before they would have upgraded anyway. Sure, plenty of other cases where that's not the case. And that shouldn't necessarily prevent someone from doing something more if they can and want to, but at the same time if they can't or don't really want to for one reason or another, they might as well try what they can/want and see if that might work (given that there's a decent chance that it just might).
 

uid15

Suspended
Mar 9, 2015
1,186
637
And, again, there are plenty of cases where the matter of time is long enough for people get the usefulness of the device that they would have otherwise gotten before they would have upgraded anyway. Sure, plenty of other cases where that's not the case. And that shouldn't necessarily prevent someone from doing something more if they can and want to, but at the same time if they can't or don't really want to for one reason or another, they might as well try what they can/want and see if that might work (given that there's a decent chance that it just might).

I see that angle, yes :)
 

newellj

macrumors G3
Oct 15, 2014
8,154
3,047
East of Eden
This is not your common water case. Swimming pools are generally chlorinated, which is likely to significantly aggravate the corrosion problem. Rice obviously can't help with that.
 

chambone

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2011
969
25
Netherlands
Putting things in rice is nonsense. What's needed to dry things quickly is for example flowing air and/or elevated temperature. Had those people for whom the rice trick worked put the phone in a drafty place or on top of the tv, it would have booted up just the same. Anyway, first course of action with wet electronics is cutting the power. With iphones that means opening it up and taking out the battery asap.
 

snow755

macrumors 68000
Sep 12, 2012
1,884
844
Putting things in rice is nonsense. What's needed to dry things quickly is for example flowing air and/or elevated temperature. Had those people for whom the rice trick worked put the phone in a drafty place or on top of the tv, it would have booted up just the same. Anyway, first course of action with wet electronics is cutting the power. With iphones that means opening it up and taking out the battery asap.



your funny you cant take the battery out your self
 

kargurin

macrumors 6502a
Apr 24, 2015
555
403
Make sure to wear some sort of under armor protection if and when the thing dries out and is usable. And goggles too. Cause the thing is gonna explode at some point with all sorts of shrapnel being thrown every which way.

:eek:

Get a current iPhone for gosh sake.

:D
 

Newtons Apple

Suspended
Mar 12, 2014
22,757
15,254
Jacksonville, Florida
Putting things in rice is nonsense. What's needed to dry things quickly is for example flowing air and/or elevated temperature. Had those people for whom the rice trick worked put the phone in a drafty place or on top of the tv, it would have booted up just the same. Anyway, first course of action with wet electronics is cutting the power. With iphones that means opening it up and taking out the battery asap.

Most people have no idea or the tools to take their iPhone apart!

Much less taking out the battery:p
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Putting things in rice is nonsense. What's needed to dry things quickly is for example flowing air and/or elevated temperature. Had those people for whom the rice trick worked put the phone in a drafty place or on top of the tv, it would have booted up just the same. Anyway, first course of action with wet electronics is cutting the power. With iphones that means opening it up and taking out the battery asap.

Nonsense that still works for plenty without the need to do anything else.

----------

Make sure to wear some sort of under armor protection if and when the thing dries out and is usable. And goggles too. Cause the thing is gonna explode at some point with all sorts of shrapnel being thrown every which way.

:eek:

Get a current iPhone for gosh sake.

:D
It's going to do what again?
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Hey, don't let me stop you from stuffing whatever you like in a bag of rice. If you think it works, go for it.

No need to think when there are plenty of examples when it actually has worked. No one says it's some sort of a magical fix that fixes it all or works all the time, but it's done the trick for plenty of people.
 
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