Phone Sat in the Snow ALL DAY

[Caindris]

Even if rice had the power to pull that much moisture out of the air you're still dealing with water in its liquid state which is going to take forever to evaporate in a sealed environment.

By far the best place to put a wet phone would be against a fan during the winter when the air is the driest. having COLD and DRY air circulate through a phone will do more to remove any water in it then setting your droid in 20 boxes of Uncle Bens ever could.

If you're in a humid environment then your best bet is to leave it against an air conditioner. If that isn't an option you could get two two furnace filters and bungie them together with the droid sandwhiched between and a fan blowing against one side. The filters will help prevent moisture in the air from getting into the circulating air that is being passed through between the two filters and help dry the droid.

If what I wrote didn't make a lot if sense see here - Good Eats w/ Alton Brown - A cheap, simple, home food dehydtator

Granted he's using the same concept to make a food dehydrator but the concept is still the same, pulling the moisture out.

 

[Benton]

I haven't researched the properties of rice in terms of the ability to absorb ambient moisture, maybe later. Regarding the air conditioning trick, I would recommend to not place the phone (in filters or not) into the discharging air, this air is virtually saturated as it leaves the a/c's evaporator coil typically at ~40°F and 98% rh. This air flow will dry wet semi-sealed items relatively slowly and will dry in a migrated pattern from warm to cold or from back to front relative to airflow. The dehydration that air conditioning provides actually occurs at the evap coil itself inside the machine and the removal of moisture in the air is taken from the returning air. The re-expansion of the condensed cool-moist air leaving the a/c unit as it diffuses into the warmer room causes the air in a room to dry as example: leaving air at 40°F with 98% rh will be at ~35% rh when heated to 72°F.

Placing the device at the inlet to the air conditioner (returning air) will dry the device the quickest as the air flow will be equal in volume to the discharge air but this air will have a much lower rh and therefore greater ability to absorb the moisture in the device (water in the device will represent 100%rh).

Enough physics, I think I'll have some rice for lunch today.

 

[loop4zil]

I haven't researched the properties of rice in terms of the ability to absorb ambient moisture, maybe later. Regarding the air conditioning trick, I would recommend to not place the phone (in filters or not) into the discharging air, this air is virtually saturated as it leaves the a/c's evaporator coil typically at ~40°F and 98% rh. This air flow will dry wet semi-sealed items relatively slowly and will dry in a migrated pattern from warm to cold or from back to front relative to airflow. The dehydration that air conditioning provides actually occurs at the evap coil itself inside the machine and the removal of moisture in the air is taken from the returning air. The re-expansion of the condensed cool-moist air leaving the a/c unit as it diffuses into the warmer room causes the air in a room to dry as example: leaving air at 40°F with 98% rh will be at ~35% rh when heated to 72°F.

Placing the device at the inlet to the air conditioner (returning air) will dry the device the quickest as the air flow will be equal in volume to the discharge air but this air will have a much lower rh and therefore greater ability to absorb the moisture in the device (water in the device will represent 100%rh).

Enough physics, I think I'll have some rice for lunch today.

No dog in this "discussion"...slow day here due to potential snow so I decided to look up "rice hygroscopic" on google. Came up with a bunch of hits...I selected this one...cause it looked academic. Probably LOTS better ways of drying something out...but if all you got is rice...then you go with what you got.

http://uarpp.uark.edu/Publications/Drying/Lu and Siebenmorgen 1992 Trans ASAE.pdf

"INTRODUCTION
Rice kernels are hygroscopic materials which adsorb or desorb moisture depending on their ambient environment. Moisture adsorption is a major cause of rice fissuring in the preharvest period and postharvest handling, processing, and storage operations . ...

OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study were to:
Use the finite element technique to model the
moisture adsorption behavior of long-grain rough
rice.
Experimentally measure the effects of temperature
and relative humidity on the moisture adsorption
behavior of rough, brown, and white rice.
Determine the diffusivities of long-grain rough rice
components using the finite element method..


CONCLUSIONS
1.
Moisture adsorption of 'Newbonnet' and 'Lemont' long-grain rice was satisfactorily simulated by the finite element model which assumed the kernel shape to be a prolate spheroid.
2.
The equilibrium moisture contents of white and brown rice were higher than those of rough rice for all test conditions. White rice had the highest moisture adsorption rate, and rough rice had the lowest adsorption rate. White and brown rice reached equilibrium moisture content within 24 h.
3.
The endosperm had considerably higher diffusivity values than the bran and hull. The hull had the lowest diffusivity values and, therefore, was more resistant to moisture transfer. The diffusivities of the endosperm, bran, and hull increased with temperature. The temperature-dependency of the diffusivity of each rice component and form was well described by an Arrhenius-type function.

 

[KZIWarrior]

No dog in this "discussion"...slow day here due to potential snow so I decided to look up "rice hygroscopic" on google. Came up with a bunch of hits...I selected this one...cause it looked academic. Probably LOTS better ways of drying something out...but if all you got is rice...then you go with what you got.

http://uarpp.uark.edu/Publications/Drying/Lu%20and%20Siebenmorgen%201992%20Trans%20ASAE.pdf

THANK!!! Your article is just what I needed... it actually supports my argument about the stupidity of this method:

The BEST absorption rate of all rices showed only a 10% increase in moisture content (moister for white and brown rice ended at 23% from an original 13%). Also if you look on page 2 the rice was arranged to allow MAXIMUM absorption in a way that would NOT be reproduced in a useful way for the purposes of drying a phone, specifically: "baskets were sufficiently large so that there was little kernel-to-kernel contact." Not exactly an arrangement that you would use to dry your phone which would means the rice around/on your phone would likely have a much lower absorption rate (so now you're down to single digit increase).

You will get far more liquid evaporation with the phone 'naked' sitting near a vent or other air source (fan) than you will "moisture absorption" with it packed in rice. This was just further proof that it is time and surrounding conditions (relative humidity and airflow being the most important) that matter most.

 

[loop4zil]

No dog in this "discussion"...slow day here due to potential snow so I decided to look up "rice hygroscopic" on google. Came up with a bunch of hits...I selected this one...cause it looked academic. Probably LOTS better ways of drying something out...but if all you got is rice...then you go with what you got.

http://uarpp.uark.edu/Publications/Drying/Lu and Siebenmorgen 1992 Trans ASAE.pdf

THANK!!! Your article is just what I needed... it actually supports my argument about the stupidity of this method:

The BEST absorption rate of all rices showed only a 10% increase in moisture content (moister for white and brown rice ended at 23% from an original 13%). Also if you look on page 2 the rice was arranged to allow MAXIMUM absorption in a way that would NOT be reproduced in a useful way for the purposes of drying a phone, specifically: "baskets were sufficiently large so that there was little kernel-to-kernel contact." Not exactly an arrangement that you would use to dry your phone which would means the rice around/on your phone would likely have a much lower absorption rate (so now you're down to single digit increase).

You will get far more liquid evaporation with the phone 'naked' sitting near a vent or other air source (fan) than you will "moisture absorption" with it packed in rice. This was just further proof that it is time and surrounding conditions (relative humidity and airflow being the most important) that matter most.

Excellent...I now consider the "rice method" an urban legend! The best way to dry your phone is to not drop it in liquid!

 

[hookbill]

I always thought the rice method sounded like more fact then fiction. Solid proof, nice work guys.

 

[KZIWarrior]

Excellent...I now consider the "rice method" an urban legend! The best way to dry your phone is to not drop it in liquid!

LOL, agreed there... but sadly accidents do happen so some people will need methods. Personally if mine ever gets wet enough to trip the water indicator I'll probably try the alcohol method (most logical to me) but then at that point anything is worth trying to save the $89 deductible.

Oddly though I've seen several posts on here where peoples phones have gotten wet enough to damage them (normally the display) but the indicator wasn't tripped. I'm wondering if the display has a separate/additional sensor. Otherwise a lot of people could be getting the phones replaced via warranty wink.

 

[Matth3w]

It was worth the deductible when my previous phone got wet (even the LG enV3 is a few hundred bucks out of contract). These Droid phones are still 500+ without a contract. And they were quick as hell. This is my only phone - I don't have time to sit my phone in rice or even anything else for more than a few hours because I get a lot of people contacting me during the day.

 

[KZIWarrior]

It was worth the deductible when my previous phone got wet (even the LG enV3 is a few hundred bucks out of contract). These Droid phones are still 500+ without a contract. And they were quick as hell. This is my only phone - I don't have time to sit my phone in rice or even anything else for more than a few hours because I get a lot of people contacting me during the day.

Off topic:
Yeah, the one thing I REALLY miss from AT&T is the SIM card... No matter what if something happened to my phone (lol, like screwing up a ROM) I just put my SIM card in another phone and go... Having to call VZW to change the phone info (IF you can find an extra phone) would be a huge PIA... can't wait until 4G becomes the norm and we all use SIMs. I REALLY HOPE the US carriers use the 4G switch to unify the technology and phones like the rest of the world (AND I wouldn't mind seeing the BS subsidies go away either, but I doubt that will happen).

 

[Matth3w]

You don't need to call Verizon though, you should just be able to pick up the new phone and hit *228 option 1

 

[klipsch2345]

Actually, isn't *228 option 3 the option for switching the phone that is associated with your line? And every time I have tried it, it just kicks me to a customer service rep. If you dial *228 option 1 from any random phone it won't activate it on your account...

 

[KZIWarrior]

My understanding is you can only do that with other phones from your account (i.e. changing lines associated with them) not putting a new phone onto your current account/line as in for temp use. But it's been years since I've been with VZW last so maybe they've changed it.

 

[Matth3w]

I can't remember...but if he is just replacing a replacement phone then he WILL be replacing a line. When I got my Droid I didn't need to contact customer service, I just hit *228 and activated my phone.

 

[KZIWarrior]

Yes because the phones ID had already been tied to your account. It will be the same on a insurance or warranty replacement. To setup a new phone however you need to contact customer service or go by a store.

 

[Matth3w]

How had it already been tied to my account? I bought it used off of eBay