I now have a very clean iPod
The other day I did my laundry.
As usual, I looked through all my pockets before I consigned my clothing to the wash. I’ve had too much previous experience with washing Kleenex, for example, although I’ve noticed that in recent years that they seem to have made Kleenex stronger and almost washing-machine-proof.
This time, as I began to transfer my clean but wet clothing from washer to dryer, I noticed my iPod and earbuds lying layered between some sweatpants and a towel.
I stared at it for a minute, unbelieving. But I’d checked the pockets! My iPod couldn’t have gone through the wash! And yet I must have missed a pocket because there it sat, and as I rescued it from the laundry I saw tiny drops of water glistening on the inside of its transparent little screen.
Well, what did I expect when an iPod goes through the washer? That it would stay dry? I tried to turn it on (a mistake, as I later discovered, because apparently it can damage it further) and of course it was unresponsive.
Then again, I couldn’t possibly be the only person who’d inadvertently laundered an iPod. And sure enough, I discovered that others had passed this way before me, and they had a world of advice to offer. The gist of it was to dry the iPod under a light bulb for up to five hours, and then put it to sleep in a bed of rice for between two to seven days, then plug it in to charge and see if it lit up. If that happens, you’ve got a healed iPod. If not, well, at least it’s clean. But you won’t be hearing its music ever again.
I decided to let mine rest for a week. At the moment of truth, it felt like a mini missile launch. Would my iPod work again or would the whole endeavor be a bust?
It lit up. Mission accomplished. The internet’s a fabulous thing, isn’t it?
I changed from Kleenex to cloth handkerchiefs twenty five years ago, in a fit of ecology. However, the Beloved Spousal Unit and our joint delight-of-our-old-age daughter persist in destroying trees just to wipe their noses, so I find the Kleenex in the washer very often. Yes, they are getting tougher, and this is wonderful, but, once you’ve used cloth hankies on a more-productive man’s nose, Kleenex are just not adequate. Notice, I capitalize Kleenex, because it is still an active trademark, but my keyboard won’t do that little R in a circle, and I am too lazy to type out (RegTM) after every use. Nevertheless, I continue to respect their right to their mark. The technique for drying also applies to mobile ‘phones. Never mind how I know.
“The internet’s a fabulous thing, isn’t it?”
Yup, it sure is, best enjoy it while we may because it has not escaped the left that the internet has become a primary obstacle to acceptance of the left’s memes.
If the left continues to have its way, it’s just a matter of time till its censored.
How’s that for a Debbie Downer®?
Lucky you had an environmentally bad incandescent light bulb available for the key drying job.
DJG,
I was wondering whether this would work for curly bulbs.
It is as difficult to be original in screwing up as it is to be original in any other endeavour 😉 There is a world of experience available to those old enough the learn.
With a 100 watt old style bulb about 90-95 watts of heat are generated.
With the 23 watt curly bulb, it just doesn’t generate the heat that the old type bulb does.
So I would suspect it would not work.
Although once you put the device into the rice, the natural draw of moisture out of the unit and into the rice would do the same light-bulb or not.
I flipped my kayak this summer at Boy Scout camp…while wearing my cell phone. One of my scouts had a desiccant bag from Dollar Tree. I kept my phone in there for 48 hours, and it worked! The screen display was a bit distorted though. (I don’t know if you have Dollar Tree stores out east, but you can buy just about anything for a buck.)
Last July my wife ran my iPhone 3GS through the wash. I did the rice trick and it did boot up after a few days, but I used the excuse to get a new one (a 4S I think, not a 5.
We just happened to try the old one the other evening and it cranked right up after a 20 minute charge. It even started downloading hundreds of emails that had already gone to my new phone. It can’t make or take calls but I wonder whether it’s otherwise fully functional for web, email , music, etc.; anyone know?
I have seen somewhere that even if you can get back your functionality via the rice treatment you still have to worry about corrosion…
Carl,
Your old iPhone is a fully functional iPod now with the phone turned off.
Dan: Thanks
Yea! Now I wish I had a big music library to put on it…
I read this post and all I could think was… did you eat the rice?
Cool! You (neo) were lucky that turning it on didn’t wreck it, the water sending current where it hadn’t oughta go.
I have an iPod which I think must now be one of the world’s oldest still in use. It’s a 20g bought around 2004 or 2005. The battery life is down to maybe 90-120 minutes but it still works fine.
(a mistake, as I later discovered, because apparently it can damage it further)
Generally speaking, water doesn’t do much against electronic boards, unless there’s electricity running through the board. Which means the water acts as an unlimited shortcut and it basically fries the electronics once power is applied.
It’s better to dry out a machine first before turning the power on. Although with delicate micro processors, sometimes even that isn’t enough due to moisture trapped between layers.
Water is essentially a conductant. Salt water one of the better versions. Pure distilled water doesn’t conduct much, since metal impurities are low. A circuit board is designed in such a way that electricity flows in a pattern or direction. The components are thus manufactured to handle the heat and amperes produced by that current. Once the current is redirected or misdirected, components can short out as in literally burn out and start smoking. Capacitors can pop and discharge stuff they weren’t meant to discharge, destroying the capacitor’s ability to hold charge.
With all due respect, I am not the least surprised at your initial faux pas. My wife and I are your contemporaries and we seem to be making similar careless mistakes the more we age. I hope this doesn’t leave you depressed, as I doubt this type of issue will be a one off experience.
I’ve used the rice method with success myself, but I’ve wondered if instant 5 minute rice would be better than the slow cooking 20 minute rice…
I live on the humid S Texas coast and find that rice works fine, no need for the light bulb step, but I did turn the phone over each day in case it made a difference. It was my husband’s old flip phone not an iPhone but the principle is the same.
But, the real question, Neo, is did that washing “clean up” all that foul language rap that you listen to 😉
The hardiness of Apple’s products makes me smile when I remember back to the 1980’s when the digital “gurus” called Apple a kids toy only that wouldn’t survive the marketplace.
Microsoft controlled a lot of the market share back then.