How to Save Water Damaged Electronics

hard drive recovery after water damage

How to Save Water Damaged Electronics

Envision this: you have just arrived home from your family vacation. As you walk through your front door, you discover a puddle on the floor of the entryway… a puddle that has spread from a sagging ceiling panel, down the wall and into your TV room. As you search for the source of the leak, you discover a pipe burst while you were away, drenching the wall, flooring—and your electronics.

While searching you notice your television has water damage, along with your computer. Even your kid's gaming system is soaked. Now, what are you going to do to keep them quiet and occupied? We all know that’s the least of your problems.

How to Save a Water Damaged Hard Drive

hard drive recovery after water damageThe first thing you need to do is make sure it is unplugged; water and electricity together are not your friends. Wear rubber gloves to protect yourself from electrocution as you unplug the water damaged hard drive.

Instinctively your next thought is going to be to dry it out. Great thought! However, if you were thinking of using a hair dryer or setting it out in the sun, don’t do it. The heat can cause more damage to the drive and then your chances of data recovery are slim to none. Even if the hairdryer is set to low heat, it would just cause charge build-up in the drive.

You may be tempted to open the hard drive. Again, don’t do it. Leave that to the professionals. Instead, wrap the hard drive in paper towels, sprinkle silica gel on top of the paper towels, and place the water damaged hard drive in a Ziploc bag.

Why silica gel? Silica gel is used to soak up moisture, which is what we want to happen. Silica gel is what you find in those little packets when you buy things online. You can find it in certain types of kitty litter. If you’re uncomfortable sprinkling it on top of the paper towels (and are worried about it getting inside your electronics), make homemade packets using coffee filters (just fold them up with a little silica inside and staple them closed).

Take the hard drive to a specialist in the morning. Here at E.R. Services, we can refer you to experts that will do their best to save your water damaged hard drive.

Use this technique for any water damaged electronics in your home. Unplug. Manually dry. Wrap in paper towels. Cover with silica gel. Contain in plastic. Wait overnight. Make an appointment with a pro for final restoration.

How to Dry Out a Water Damaged Phone

Oh no, your kid dropped your phone in the water! Phones are expensive these days; we all have mini computers at our disposal, and replacing a nice phone is not cheap. However, it’s not the end of the world, and in most cases, your phone can be restored quickly.

Take a deep breath and follow these steps. First, if your phone is submerged in water, take it out of the water, and make sure it is turned off. Next, remove the battery if you can.

Now you are going to want to take a paper towel and remove the water from the exterior of the phone. Next is the hard part: just let it sit until it is completely dry for a few days. If you have dry rice or silica gel, you can fill up a Ziploc bag with it and place your phone inside.

Avoid blowing into the phone; you do not want to blow water in deeper. Don’t shake your phone either for the same reason. A blow dryer sounds like a good idea, right? Wrong! Once again, the heat could cause more damage and the air could move water deeper into the phone.

Once your phone is completely dry, take a deep breath, power it on and hope for the best! Still not working? Bring it to a specialist.

Burst Pipe? Electronics Damaged by Water?

If your house has flooding problems causing water damage to your electronic devices, give us call. E.R. Services is here to help all our Charlotte neighbors. Whether it’s a busted pipe, toilet or sink overflow, appliance failure, severe storm or sewer backup, we are prepared to help.

While we prevent water damage to your home, we do not provide water damage restoration services. However, we can refer you to experts who can provide these services. Give us a call to get the process started!

Article Summary

Quick question & answer: What’s the best way to dry out a water damaged phone?

You can dry out a water damaged phone by removing it from the water, ensuring it is turned off, and then removing the battery. Wipe water from the outside of the phone with a paper towel. Place the device inside of a ziplock bag of rice to help absorb the liquid.

TAP TO CALL