Does Rice Really Fix a Wet Phone?

Misconception Mini 18

Does Rice Really Fix a Wet Phone?

How many times have you been faced with a soaking wet phone, and been offered the solution of a bowl of rice?

But does this really work, or is it just another misconception? Find out on today's misconception mini.

Thanks everyone

#facts #mythbusting #didyouknow #rice

[SciManDan]

Has the rice trick ever worked for you?

[sebastianortega]

Well, I *have* used cat litter to speed up the drying process in wet electronic devices. I've also used silica gel bags. They both work pretty well.
However, as I understand it the problem is not the device getting wet itself but the minerals, particularly salts, that are dissolved in regular water as they can cause a short-circuit in the device if it's on. Theoretically, if your phone gets wet you could just "wash" it in distilled water to try and remove as much minerals as possible and then let it dry out.

[acenterprices]

My wife passed today at 1pm mountain time. She loved your show. Thank you for all you do.

[DarkMetaOFFICIAL]

Actually Dan, the rice will be absorbant in high humidity environments. Maybe that's why it worked for them. If relative humidity is high enough, the rice will pull water from the air. If lower, it will release it's humidity to equilibrium with surrounding air relative humidity. The rice will dry out if the air is more dry. The rice will become more moist if the air around it is more humid. I would just use some form of dessicant and air flow to try and dry a phone. As long as the important bits were ipv protected and not powered on. But even then it still depends on salinity, salt content of the water, or conductivity in general. vs. distilled water, as shorts are what kills a circuit. Corrosion can lead to shorts regardless of saving it in time. You can dry out a wet phone and it will be ok, but under specific circumstances only.

[avivatar]

The key to remember here is this:
A circuit board when de-energized can be put in a washing machine. Many industrial circuit boards go through exactly this process before being repaired. When your phone gets wet, if you can’t turn it off immediately and water gets to the circuit, it’s toast. If you do manage to turn it off, the next challenge is getting any water trapped inside out. Rice may not be the best option, but it’s one most homeowners have, so it’s easily accessible. Your phone was likely on when it went into the wash, at which point there was no saving it.

Still, the point of the video still stands, and it’s worth looking into better alternatives when trying to dry out the internals of a phone if you have access to them.

[Yasashi]

Actually it does work. The most important thing however is to turn it off as fast as possible because the water most of the time doesn't reach the circuit instantly and if you turn it off the parts most exposed won't have electricity flowing. After that put it in a bag of rice and actually seal it so that humidity builds. The rise will better absorb the water like the person below me explained better. It saved 2 of my phones I accidentally had on me when dipping into a lake.

Also yes you're right, the other options are better, but the crucial part is time and rice is something most households have at home, therefore it evolved to rice is the best option, so yeah, if you have cats use litter and if you have oatmeal use that.

[meganwyatt]

I love you man❤
I've been in the phone repair business for ten years at board level and if I had a dollar for every time I have heard "ive had it in rice for a week so it should be ok" I would have made more money than repairing repairable jobs!
A note for people that have water damaged their devices that value their data.
1. Dont plug it in or attempt to charge it. 2.Take it to a shop and have them dissconect the battery as soon as possible (a charge running through the shorts will corrode traces and components quickly especially with salt water) you have time to organise a repair if needed at this point.
3. If your data isn't important wrap the phone in a tea towel and put it in the oven at 50 degrees Celsius (don't exceed 150 Celsius as that can damage some lcd screens) take it out every 40 minutes and let it cool then repeat 4 or 5 times and check for condensation in camera lenses and lcd. If there is no condensation you might get lucky so try to charge or turn the phone on at your own risk.
4. If someone tells you to put it in rice because the phone technician is just trying to rip you off promptly punch them in their stupid face because they are not the person that has to tell you your baby photos are now lost forever because of these flacking dumb shits😳

[khandimahn]

It greatly depends on how wet the phone got. Or more specifically, how much water got inside the phone. Going through a wash cycle, time for a new phone. But drop in a puddle and pick up immediately, it's worth a try.

[MelanaC]

I got my phone damp and I put it into an air tight ziplock back with silica gel and clean cat litter for about 3 days.
Then I opened up the phone and using 99% isopropyl alcohol I removed some water marks - careful not to just slosh the isopropyl alcohol everywhere!
I also replaced the battery.
My iPhone 6 worked again perfectly including the fingerprint sensor!
BUT the phone was never immersed in water, it was on a table when coffee was spilt so hardly any liquid got inside…
I did not use rice!
Another fab mini Dan 🤩
Cheers 🤗🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Frie_Jemi]

If the device is turned off when it gets wet and you react quickly you can keep it in the off position and stick it in rice and generally it will dry it enough but I've always been told to use the instant rice. I discussed using oatmeal and kitty litter with a phone tech and he said because of the dustiness it's not advisable

[Sherwoody]

My grandparents lakeside home was always damp. My grandmother used to put rice in the salt shaker to keep the salt from clumping. Seemed to work.

[JoakimKanon]

Use the rice before the components shorts. After, it’s no use.
If any electronics get wet, turn it off asap.

[bretsheeley]

My guess is that the main trick is to make sure the phone remains off (and I mean OFF OFF, not in sleep mode) while there is still moisture inside, to prevent shorting. Beyond that, you'll want to get the moisture out as best as possible. That will be dependent on the humidity of the air, and how well the air is moving through the interior of the phone and the exterior (in order to get the 'saturated' air out, get unsaturated air in, and continue the process of the extraction).

I'd be interested to hear more details on that study to see what the humidity was during the test, along with the success/failure rates for each of those surrounding materials. My guess is that in the end a fan blowing into the vents/opening in the phone casing while being near a dehumidifier would be the best case; but that's just a hypothesis that would need to get some empirical testing before I would give the idea any real support.

[MartinJames]

I dropped a small radio in a stream once. It was ruined. At someone's suggestion, I immersed it in water again, this time distilled water, taking care to wash the bowl I used in distilled water first. I made sure the distilled water went all through the radio, then shook as much as possible out again and left it to dry in a warm place. In a about a week, it worked again!

I have tried this with a couple more electronic devices and they didn't work afterwards. In the case of the radio, it was clearly the suspended particles or dissolved salts in the stream which were doing the damage, not the water itself. Worth a try with an electronic device which is already ruined, I reckon. You might be as lucky as I was the first time, and if you're not it'll have cost you no more than some distilled water.

I also wonder if isopropyl alcohol would do the trick? It is sold in spray cans for cleaning electronics, but you can also buy it in litre bottles or 5L containers. That should evaporate and dry out much more quickly than distilled water.

[baekkistyle]

Drying your phone in any way might save your phone if you're lucky, but the problem with a wet phone is the battery which often can't be removed start the process of electrolysis, basically dissolving various metals in your phone.
Back when batteries were easily removed, quickly removing it and drying your phone had quite a good success rate in my experience, never used rice though.

[skinwalker]

It isn't the water/moisture that damages the equipment - it is the process of turning that equipment on while it has not fully dried.
(This does not apply to things soaked or rusted.)

[Morpheux]

It worked with older phones, back when you could take the battery out, I saved a few phones that way.

[nathenwade]

Its not the putting in rice part that helps the phone though, it is the leaving the phone alone ( and turned off to prevent short circuits) to dry part that helps.

[chrisb]

I learnt long ago that putting stuff into a washing machine without checking the pockets is a bad idea.

[jursamaj]

"Less absorbent"? In what way? Total water absorbed after a long time, or how fast it absorbs initially?