Well f*ck. I guess I knew this was bound to happen eventually.
I decided to soak in a hot bath around 3AM, fell asleep, and woke up a bit before 6AM … and for some portion of that time, my Kindle was underwater. I don’t know exactly how long.
Any chance it can be saved?
It’s an older, e-ink, “keyboard” model, not a fancy Fire.
Eh, there’s always a chance.
If you haven’t already done so, take the battery out of it. This is very important because if there’s still electricity flowing through it, it can still cause damage as the kindle dries out.
The only other thing to do is let it dry out. There are a lot of folks who are fond of rice on the internet. While rice is a mild desiccant, it’s not going to make much of a practical difference at all unless you happen to live in a really humid area. If you live in someplace like the swamplands of Louisiana, the kindle will dry out a bit faster if you put it in a container filled with dry uncooked rice, only because the rice will draw some of the humidity out of the air. In most of the rest of the world, sticking it in rice ain’t gonna do diddley. Really, about the best thing you can do is just leave it sitting on the counter and see if it works again after it’s had a few days to completely dry out.
Either way, the damage has already been done. Rice or anything else won’t make a difference as to whether the kindle will recover or not. You just need to dry it out and see what state it’s in.
Do not re-install the battery until it’s had a couple of days to dry out. Then you can re-install the battery and give it a shot.
The above applies to cell phones and other electronic devices as well.
Hmm. I’m not aware of any way to remove the battery. This Kindle is sealed up tight, no way to open it up that I can see.
Heh. One of my teenage subordinates came into work a few weeks ago with what looked like a container of rice, which she left on my desk for some reason. I had to ask somebody else, “Any idea what this is about?” Somebody told me, “Oh, she dropped her iPhone in water. If you put it in rice, it will draw the water out.” I looked at the container and its contents, and said, “This isn’t rice, this is orzo pasta.” Also, we live in a totally non-humid place (Eastern Washington, in the summer. Check the news for the raging wildfires we have going on right now because it’s so damned dry.)
A couple of days probably isn’t going to do it. I’d give it a week. You should also disassemble it as much as possible (This might not be an option with a Kindle, I know.) I’ve had better luck with putting my soaked electronics in a mesh bag and immersing it in cheap kitty litter, which is much more hydroscopic than rice. That said, even electronics that I’ve brought back from the dead this way never behaved quite the same again, even if they were functional. You may continue to have odd screen and/or functional issues.
Very unlikely. If it had been a quick dip (say, you dropped it in water and immediately fished it out), then maybe the water wouldn’t have gotten anywhere important. If it was submerged for an unknown period of time, it’s almost certainly dead forever.
For a device like this, you need to get it open, pull the battery, take it apart as much as feasible, and start air dusting the water out immediately. And devices this aren’t easy to disassemble.
3 hours in water? Plus time to get around posting here, etc.?
It’s dead, Jim.
There are any number of ‘how to open a Kindle’ instruction pages and videos online. Figure out which model you have and check it out.
Had a cellphone go through a complete wash cycle in the pocket of my cargo shorts. Baked it at 140 degrees F for 12 hours and it was good as new. Removed the battery before baking, of course.
Anyone know why this would not work for a Kindle?
Well, I managed to pry the back off, so maybe that will help it dry out. But not sure I can identify the battery. There’s something that looks like a battery, but it’s screwed into place.
In any case, I’ve already ordered a used Kindle from Amazon for $35. Should be here in a few days.
So I managed to pry the back off my Kindle, and I set it electronics-side down on my high-speed fan. I left it there for a couple hours, and eventually I walked past and noticed that the screen was “lit up”. Like normal.
Seems to be working properly!Yay!
For future reference, I’ve also had luck with electronics and swabbing the innards out with 91% (or whatever the highest consumer level is) rubbing alcohol. I had a MacBook Pro that Apple wanted $1250 to replace the mother board (or “logic board” as they call it) on after somebody who shall remain nameless spilled some water on it and it refused to turn on. After taking it back home, I got to it with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol and, bam, good as new. Couldn’t believe it. This was four years ago and the computer is still going strong.
Also for future reference, if you put your Kindle in a watertight Ziploc bag you can still read it, AND it’s protected if you drop it in the tub. Even for hours.
Ooh, good idea!