Water damage - can my Droid be saved?

[meowberry]

My water bottle opened in my bag tonight and water got all over my phone. I'm not sure how much of it got wet, but I don't think it was ever completely submerged. I took the phone out (it had already turned itself off) and dried it as much as I could with my shirt, then took the battery out. Then went home and put it in a bowl of rice, until I read on here that that's not the best idea, so I removed it. The water damage indicators have not turned red.
I'm an idiot and don't have insurance, but I've had the phone since last April, so I believe I'm still under warranty - correct? If I do need to replace the phone, will Verizon be able to tell that there's water damage, since the indicators have not been activated?
It's been about an hour and the phone already seems dry, but I'm going to leave it for at least 48 hours until I try to put the battery in and turn it back on. I don't know how I will live that long without my phone!
I did read the "How to deal with a Droid that's gotten wet - The Right Way!" thread, but I'm kind of afraid to put my phone in alcohol and introduce more liquid into it, especially since it wasn't exposed to anything sticky.
Does my poor little Droid have a chance?

 

[eNomineZerum]

Sorry, I will keep you in my Motorola prayers. When you say water bottle do you mean tap water or bottled name brand water?

Push through and go for the 48 hour period, my heart bleeds for you.

By the name of Zero

 

[meowberry]

Sorry, I will keep you in my Motorola prayers. When you say water bottle do you mean tap water or bottled name brand water?

Push through and go for the 48 hour period, my heart bleeds for you.

By the name of Zero

It was filtered water from a Brita pitcher that I put in a reusable bottle - does that make a difference...?
Thank you for the Droid prayers! It will be a rough 48 hours.

 

[Nods_Dad]

Here's the deal.....if you turn it on with it wet or with any water in it you stand a great chance of messing it up anymore as water acts as a conductor and will short things out. So don't what ever you do don't turn it on or put the battery back in. As for the rice trick I've seen it work on phones and ipods or maybe it was just the fact that I let the device dry out. As for the alchohol trick I say go for it. You want to get the water out before things start to corrode. They way I see it what have you got to lose? You already dropped it in water.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

 

[nakhleh926]

keep us posted, I feel bad for you, hopefully everything comes out fine. I'm not 100% sure on the warranty but I THINK it's still possible to insure the phone as long as they don't find out about what happened to it, is your phone the only line of service you have or is someone else in your contract as well?

 

[meowberry]

Here's the deal.....if you turn it on with it wet or with any water in it you stand a great chance of messing it up anymore as water acts as a conductor and will short things out. So don't what ever you do don't turn it on or put the battery back in. As for the rice trick I've seen it work on phones and ipods or maybe it was just the fact that I let the device dry out. As for the alchohol trick I say go for it. You want to get the water out before things start to corrode. They way I see it what have you got to lose? You already dropped it in water.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

Right, I'm not planning on turning it on or putting the battery back in anytime soon.
The reason I'm a little iffy on the alcohol trick is because I'm unsure if the alcohol would set off the water damage indicators, which I'd like to keep intact in case I need to replace the phone under the warranty. Maybe I am way off base and alcohol will not affect the indicators at all, but I am playing it safe for now.

 

[meowberry]

keep us posted, I feel bad for you, hopefully everything comes out fine. I'm not 100% sure on the warranty but I THINK it's still possible to insure the phone as long as they don't find out about what happened to it, is your phone the only line of service you have or is someone else in your contract as well?

Thanks! That's what I was thinking as well. Yes, my phone is the only one on my contract.

 

[sjohn902]

If the water damage indicators haven't been triggered, then I'd avoid trying alcohol just in case it triggers them.

Just give it a few days. I've had a phone totally submerged in water at one point, a friend had his iPhone. I used alcohol, he stuck his in the freezer for a few minutes (supposedly helps evaporate the water). In both cases we let our phones sit for awhile. In both cases, they worked fine afterward.

If the water damage indicators aren't even activated, then I'd bet money that if you wait 4 or 5 days (maybe a week if you can), your Droid will be fine.

 

[nakhleh926]

keep us posted, I feel bad for you, hopefully everything comes out fine. I'm not 100% sure on the warranty but I THINK it's still possible to insure the phone as long as they don't find out about what happened to it, is your phone the only line of service you have or is someone else in your contract as well?

Thanks! That's what I was thinking as well. Yes, my phone is the only one on my contract.

>.> that might make it a little harder to get away with but if you're completely out of options I'd definitely try saying you wanted to put insurance on it and if they asked why you were calling from another number just say the battery was dead or something, I had to switch phones for a month for money issues, and never needed my actual phone to complete the changes, so if you have an old verizon phone that doesn't require data or something, write the serial numbers down, do a device change, then in a week or something switch back and say youd like insurance on it (worked for me but I had insurance on it to begin with so I'm not sure if they'd give you the option by default or not, pretty sure this voids the warranty, though), then after that if you can work up the courage to "lose" your phone or run it over 1 to 20 times you could end up with a new one, you'd have some billing pro rates but definitely better than paying for a new phone. but yeah hopefully it doesn't come to that, good luck again!

 

[meowberry]

If the water damage indicators haven't been triggered, then I'd avoid trying alcohol just in case it triggers them.

Just give it a few days. I've had a phone totally submerged in water at one point, a friend had his iPhone. I used alcohol, he stuck his in the freezer for a few minutes (supposedly helps evaporate the water). In both cases we let our phones sit for awhile. In both cases, they worked fine afterward.

If the water damage indicators aren't even activated, then I'd bet money that if you wait 4 or 5 days (maybe a week if you can), your Droid will be fine.

Thank you! That definitely gives me hope. I'll try to hold out as long as possible before I attempt putting the battery back in.

 

[meowberry]

keep us posted, I feel bad for you, hopefully everything comes out fine. I'm not 100% sure on the warranty but I THINK it's still possible to insure the phone as long as they don't find out about what happened to it, is your phone the only line of service you have or is someone else in your contract as well?

Thanks! That's what I was thinking as well. Yes, my phone is the only one on my contract.

>.> that might make it a little harder to get away with but if you're completely out of options I'd definitely try saying you wanted to put insurance on it and if they asked why you were calling from another number just say the battery was dead or something, I had to switch phones for a month for money issues, and never needed my actual phone to complete the changes, so if you have an old verizon phone that doesn't require data or something, write the serial numbers down, do a device change, then in a week or something switch back and say youd like insurance on it (worked for me but I had insurance on it to begin with so I'm not sure if they'd give you the option by default or not, pretty sure this voids the warranty, though), then after that if you can work up the courage to "lose" your phone or run it over 1 to 20 times you could end up with a new one, you'd have some billing pro rates but definitely better than paying for a new phone. but yeah hopefully it doesn't come to that, good luck again!

Unfortunately I switched to Verizon to get a Droid so I don't have another Verizon phone. Why would it be better to try to switch to the insurance rather than use the warranty? I was planning on taking it in and saying I didn't know why the phone stopped working. But does the warranty only cover certain things? Sorry if these are dumb questions, I haven't previously had any phone issues so haven't had to deal with any of this.

 

[nakhleh926]

Thanks! That's what I was thinking as well. Yes, my phone is the only one on my contract.

>.> that might make it a little harder to get away with but if you're completely out of options I'd definitely try saying you wanted to put insurance on it and if they asked why you were calling from another number just say the battery was dead or something, I had to switch phones for a month for money issues, and never needed my actual phone to complete the changes, so if you have an old verizon phone that doesn't require data or something, write the serial numbers down, do a device change, then in a week or something switch back and say youd like insurance on it (worked for me but I had insurance on it to begin with so I'm not sure if they'd give you the option by default or not, pretty sure this voids the warranty, though), then after that if you can work up the courage to "lose" your phone or run it over 1 to 20 times you could end up with a new one, you'd have some billing pro rates but definitely better than paying for a new phone. but yeah hopefully it doesn't come to that, good luck again!

Unfortunately I switched to Verizon to get a Droid so I don't have another Verizon phone. Why would it be better to try to switch to the insurance rather than use the warranty? I was planning on taking it in and saying I didn't know why the phone stopped working. But does the warranty only cover certain things? Sorry if these are dumb questions, I haven't previously had any phone issues so haven't had to deal with any of this.

They're not dumb questions , I don't think the warranty covers water damage where I've been told total equipment coverage insurance does by Verizon themselves, if they don't see the water damage then you might be fine with just saying it stopped working, I'm not 100% sure if they check anything other than the water indicators though, just don't want them to screw you out of a phone since I'm not sure if they mark your account saying it has water damage after the first failed attempt at a warranty. wish I could help with less extreme suggestions but I'm having a hard time thinking of anything else, assuming it ever gets to this point.

 

[meowberry]

>.> that might make it a little harder to get away with but if you're completely out of options I'd definitely try saying you wanted to put insurance on it and if they asked why you were calling from another number just say the battery was dead or something, I had to switch phones for a month for money issues, and never needed my actual phone to complete the changes, so if you have an old verizon phone that doesn't require data or something, write the serial numbers down, do a device change, then in a week or something switch back and say youd like insurance on it (worked for me but I had insurance on it to begin with so I'm not sure if they'd give you the option by default or not, pretty sure this voids the warranty, though), then after that if you can work up the courage to "lose" your phone or run it over 1 to 20 times you could end up with a new one, you'd have some billing pro rates but definitely better than paying for a new phone. but yeah hopefully it doesn't come to that, good luck again!

Unfortunately I switched to Verizon to get a Droid so I don't have another Verizon phone. Why would it be better to try to switch to the insurance rather than use the warranty? I was planning on taking it in and saying I didn't know why the phone stopped working. But does the warranty only cover certain things? Sorry if these are dumb questions, I haven't previously had any phone issues so haven't had to deal with any of this.

They're not dumb questions , I don't think the warranty covers water damage where I've been told total equipment coverage insurance does by Verizon themselves, if they don't see the water damage then you might be fine with just saying it stopped working, I'm not 100% sure if they check anything other than the water indicators though, just don't want them to screw you out of a phone since I'm not sure if they mark your account saying it has water damage after the first failed attempt at a warranty. wish I could help with less extreme suggestions but I'm having a hard time thinking of anything else, assuming it ever gets to this point.

ahh okay - yeah I'm not sure what else they could check, I don't know if enough water got in the phone to cause visible corrosion, but I guess I don't really know what I'm talking about, haha
Well hopefully the phone will just turn back on in a few days and I won't have to deal with any of that!

 

[eggsped]

I'd try to find some of those dessicant packs and put it in a bag. The desicant will draw the moisture out of the phone.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[Droid Firefighter]

First things first, talking about any kind of fraud is not allowed on DF. I'm not a moderator and you are fine so far. Just be aware of what anyone tells you. Secondly, after my wife left her phone on the back of her ambulance it fell off and got ran over. I bought a second phone off of ebay and tried to insure it. Verizon said since it was past 30 days I couldn't get insurance through them for the new phone. You might try calling one of the cell phone insurance companies directly to see if they will do it. Lastly, keep the phone off like everyone has said. My wife (yes again) dropped one of her old phones in the toilet. By the time the insurance replacement came in, it was working again and continued to for a year. Good luck!

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