What to do if your phone is machine washed

In the modern world, where every minute is worth its weight in gold, many people in a hurry forget to inspect their belongings before washing. Because of this, there are often situations when, along with things various objects fall into the washing machine. Water causes irreversible damage to some, but not to others, but what should you do if you washed your phone in the washing machine? This gadget, as you know, is not designed for this kind of procedure.

What not to do

The first thing you need to figure out is what not to do in such a situation:

Turn on your cell phone immediately after getting wet in soapy water. This may lead to a short circuit and then the device cannot be repaired. Even if the cell phone case is made of waterproof material, the likelihood of liquid getting inside after washing is very high.
Connect a machine-washed smartphone to an electrical outlet for the reason stated above.
Moving, shaking or turning the phone over unnecessarily, pressing buttons or the screen, or blowing air through it. Due to such manipulations, the soap solution can get into areas “unaffected” by the liquid.
You should not speed up the drying process by using hair dryers, hot batteries, etc., as the screen and camera of the phone may be damaged due to instability to too high/low temperatures.

Ways to save a mobile device

To bring your phone back to life without sending it to a repair service, you can try to revive it yourself. What to do to restore a washed phone? To do this, you need to follow the following tips.

After washing, the device must be disassembled as quickly as possible, remove the SIM card, memory card, battery and other removable parts.

Note! To perform the procedure, you will need a set with small screwdrivers, hexagons, and other special devices, the choice of which depends on the model of the gadget. It is important to choose a scalpel, a pick, or something thin to pry off the body parts, otherwise you won’t be able to disassemble it.

After this you should do the following:

Wash the phone parts with tap water. Soap base is more harmful than plain water.
Wet parts can be left in a warm room for several days to dry completely. The drying time depends on the extent of the wetness; it must be fully sustained.
It is advisable to apply contact cleaning spray to the dried board.
Only after complete drying, the phone is assembled and turned on.

The drying process will be noticeably reduced if the parts are treated not just with water, but with the addition of alcohol, which, when combined with water, quickly evaporates. This recommendation works great for a phone taken out of the washing machine.

Advice! It is better to wipe the phone with a lint-free cloth, otherwise small lint will have to be removed manually, which will take more time and effort. Fabrics that absorb moisture well are ideal materials.

This method of restoring a phone is considered more effective:

A mobile device damaged after washing in a machine is placed in a special ultrasonic bath with a solution and left to process for some time.
Then the phone is thoroughly dried. This treatment serves to prevent corrosion and remove oxidation from small parts. Most mobile gadgets contain jagged metal parts that can easily begin to rust. Even if after normal drying of the phone it performs all functions as before, over time the device will still stop working completely or partially, and some functions will be unavailable.
The dried phone parts are assembled and the device is turned on.

You can also restore your phone using absorbents, for example, use silica gel. To do this, a cell phone, disassembled into parts, is immersed in silicate balls and left there to absorb moisture. If you don't have silica gel on hand, you can use plain rice, which can absorb excess moisture.

When using this method, it is worth remembering that the rice/silica gel balls themselves get wet while absorbing moisture and thereby prevent normal drying. Therefore, the rice/balls need to be changed as often as possible. In addition, you need to take into account that the rice may contain particles of debris, which, if stuck to the parts, can disrupt their operation.

When to seek help from a specialist?

If the phone is completely dried in accordance with the above tips, all parts are inserted back into the device, but it does not turn on, you must take the device to a service center.The center’s specialists, if necessary, will replace damaged parts with new ones, perform additional cleaning, or tell you what can be done with a smartphone damaged from washing.

Note! If the smartphone was turned off before it went into the machine, and the washing temperature was less than 40 °C, then there is a chance that it can be repaired. If the temperature was 60 °C, most likely this “bathing” was fatal for the gadget - the risk of damage to the screen and camera is very high. When washing the phone while the phone is on, the chances of success are also scanty

After swimming in soapy water, only push-button cell phones that are not equipped with a sensor return to their former state. On smartphones, the screen may leak or crack, while older phones do not have this problem. If the screen does not work, please note that replacing it on a simple push-button telephone is less expensive than on newer models. Therefore, sometimes trying to repair such damage is simply impractical - it will be cheaper to buy another smartphone.

There is also the possibility of problems related to the functionality of the device. For example, the camera may stop working or the OS may crash if the cell phone is equipped with it. In this case, it is also better to seek the help of experienced specialists who will determine the type of breakdown and carry out the necessary procedures.

Providing “first aid” to a washed phone at home, it is worth remembering: all actions performed independently are risky. It is advisable to turn off the device after washing and immediately seek help from specialists.