Cell phone water damage rescue
Liquid damage is one of the most critical cell phone disasters. Fixstore Munich offers highly professional water damage cleaning and data recovery on site.
First aid for water damage: react correctly
If your cell phone has fallen into the pool, toilet or drink, your direct behavior determines the chances of rescue. As soon as electricity and liquid meet on the circuit board, electrolysis (short circuits) occurs and shortly afterwards severe oxidation (rust). Be sure to follow these rules:
🚨 Please note:
- DO NOT POWER ON:If the cell phone is off, leave it off.
- DO NOT CONNECT A CHARGING CABLE:Charging in humidity causes instantaneous short circuits on the logic board that destroy IC chips.
- DON'T PUT IT IN RICE:Rice does not remove moisture from the inside of the casing. Instead, the starch from the rice settles in charging sockets and makes everything gelatinous.
- NO HEATING OR HAIR DRYER:Heat damages the sensitive OLED layers and only pushes moisture deeper into the device.
The professional cleaning process at Fixstore
A simple drying attempt is far from enough, as minerals and salts in the water remain on the circuit boards and slowly eat away at the cables. In our workshop we proceed systematically:
- Complete disassembly:We carefully open the case and dismantle all components (cameras, battery, flex cable).
- Remove cover:We unsolder the EMI protection plates (shields) on the board to gain free access to the integrated chips (IC).
- Ultrasonic bath:The bare circuit board is cleaned in a special ultrasonic bath with pure isopropanol (99.9% alcohol). The vibrations dissolve all oxidation and mineral residues without leaving any residue.
- Troubleshooting & Soldering:We check the conductor tracks for corrosion under the microscope and replace defective capacitors and charging ICs.
What are the chances of success?
If the device is brought to us quickly (on the same day) and no attempts have been made to charge it, the success rate is **approx. 70-80 %**. Even if the display is damaged by water, we can usually repair the board so that a complete **data recovery** can be carried out.