The Wonders of Rice

This blog entry could also be called "How Facebook saved us $50."

Without doing too much finger pointing, let it suffice to say that this MP3 player was left out in the rain and ceased functioning.

We put it in the sun. Placed it in warm dry spots in the house. Tried charging it again. Left it sit a few more days in warm places. Tried charging it again. Nothing. Nothing we did could revive it.

Then I saw on Facebook how a friend had accidentally washed his iPhone and solicited advice on how to revive it. Among the suggestions was to place the soggy phone in a bag of rice and leave it sit for a few days.

It made sense to me: the rice would draw out the moisture. But I was pretty sure our MP3 player was completely dry already and not functioning. This would indicate to me that some residue had dried on the electronic innards and rendered them useless... So, if the bag-of-rice trick were going to work, I would need to wash off the residue and that meant soaking the MP3 player in soapy water.

Could I do this? Could I drop an electronic device into soapy water on purpose? It's not like we had anything to lose by trying... It turns out I could. I soaked it for about 15 minutes, shook it around in the suds, rinsed it off, and put it in a bag of rice. In a warm place.

Wah-lah!

2 days later, we charged the player and it's working. Victory over electronics I can not begin to understand!

What do you do when your drop a phone, iPod, or MP3 player in the washer, toilet, or creek? I recommend rice.