Soaked Gadgets? You Can Save Them Via Acumor

Have you dropped your cell phone in the toilet? How about letting that tablet slip into the swimming pool?

Do you know what steps to take to rescue your electronic gadgets from these watery graves? If not, you might be setting yourself up for heartbreak you don’t need.

It’s true—you can often save gadgets that you’ve soaked.

Saving drowned technology

The tech website Gizmodo recently provided a good tutorial of what consumers can do to save the gadgets that they have accidentally dropped into bodies of water. First, and most important, you need to immediately shut off the device’s power.

As Gizmodo explains, it’s not the water that destroys your electronic toys—it’s the electrical shocks that the water causes. So if your device has a battery, quickly remove it. If it doesn’t, make sure to turn the power off and keep it off. Don’t be tempted to check to see if your device still works.

Other steps

Once the power is off, remove everything else that you can from your device. This means taking off back covers, removing SIM cards and taking off ear port coverings. As Gizmodo explains, there’s a good reason for this: You want to open up as many holes as possible in your device. This will allow water to dry up more quickly. It will also let more air into your device.

Next, vacuum as much moisture out of your device as possible. A vacuum with a small nozzle is ideal for this. Finally, it’s time to dry your device. Gizmodo has a surprising recommendation for this: Rice Krispies. Yes, dropping your iPad or smartphone into a bowl of dry Rice Krispies will suck water right out of them. After 48 hours, give your device a try. If you’re lucky, it might work.

Keeping it dry

Of course, better than rescuing an electronic gadget from water is keeping it dry in the first place. There are several options for this. The New York Times recently ran a nice feature ranking the various waterproof cases on the market. Such options as the LifeProof, Joy Factory Rain Ballet and Liquipel cases can come in handy if you’re hanging by the pool with your favorite e-reader.

Our advice, though, is simpler: Keep your electronics away from the water. It might be tempting to bring your iPhone to the edge of the swimming pool. But such a move might prove awfully expensive.

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Acumor delivers proactive maintenance services through our flat-rate IT Support Service. Designed to reduce your costs, increase your profits and mitigate your business risks, we partner with you as your Virtual CIO and IT Department, allowing you to focus on running your business, not your technology.

Read additional Acumor articles in their February Newsletter .

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(Image Credit – Acumor)

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