iPhone in lake 14 hours - a day later it worked

[davet]

While boating to July 4th fireworks, my wife's phone fell into 8 feet of water. My son found it the next day - 14 hours later. Following advice gleaned from this site and the web, we did NOT turn it on. We first removed SIM card, then repeatedly (about 6 or 7 times) vacuumed water out of the SIM slot, plug slot and earphone jack. We then put it in a cotton sock and hung the sock inside our clothes drier by hanging the sock over the door and shutting the door. The phone was suspended in the air and never touched the rotating drum. We laid a folded towel on the floor under the drier door so it the iPhone would not get hurt if we dropped it (we did). We ran the drier on LOW heat (gentle) for 30 minutes, then air fluff (no heat) for the next 30 minutes, repeating this for about 7 hours. We were concerned that this might be too hot, so we switched to using our oven set at temperature of 110 oF. Not all ovens have this low of a temperature, so don't use an oven unless it goes this low. We kept in in the oven overnight and until 6 PM the next day.

We then charged it, and it worked perfectly. Amazing!

 

[Applejuiced]

Sure it did

 

[davet]

Camera no longer works

I see why you are a Zen Master of the MacRumors world, and I am just a newbie. Although all other features still operate, my wife says that the camera does not. She gave it an added 12 hours at 110 oF, but to no avail. I guess there will be no pics of the grandkids until she qualifies for a new phone

 

[SDub90]

Sure it did

I've had an iPhone 3G and 4 that have gone through worse... I'll say liquid... damage and still worked (though I took a much different approach to cleaning it). The only problems after I cleaned them were water specs between the LCD and glass of the 3G (no problems with the 4).

 

[bigjnyc]

Glad to hear that. I totally believe this because my friend went through something similar last summer. Dropped his phone in a pool and after 3 days of having it sit in rice and constant blow drying it worked again, he had some water marks under the screen but nothing crazy. everything worked except for his Bluetooth, which he rarely ever used anyway.

 

[Applejuiced]

I see why you are a Zen Master of the MacRumors world, and I am just a newbie. Although all other features still operate, my wife says that the camera does not. She gave it an added 12 hours at 110 oF, but to no avail. I guess there will be no pics of the grandkids until she qualifies for a new phone

If you put it in the oven like the OP above you would had much better results.
Low temp with salt, pepper and some garlic. Fresh tomatoes, oregano and olive oil would came out perfect