and it did.

I had a memory stick loaded with data that remained hidden in my pants pocket.

Through a wash cycle, it remained hidden.

After the drying cycle, the memory stick was laying in the bottom of the dryer tub.

Thinking it toast, I did check. Computer recognized the memory stick and could even access the data files.

So, those simple little things seem to take quite a bit of abuse as noted by being washed and dried...

Nice John although I'm not sure I'd trust that device in the future. Rust / oxidation will get it in the end I think. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I wonder how many times I can wash my key fob. Before it dies.

Funny you should mention the key fobs...

The ex's extra key fob disappeared after her daughter had used the car. Daughter swore she had left the keys in a pre-arranged spot near the fish pond.

A couple months later I was cleaning the fish pond and found the keys in the crud at the bottom. The cleaning was necessary because of some other activities of my 3yo niece. Seems she was prone to tossing things in the pond to see the fish move. Kids!!!

Anyway, took it apart, rinsed it in an alcohol bath and dried it with my heat gun. Put a new battery in and I worked great.

Cell phone, once wet, forget it. No hope of recovery....

Not surprising for a totally solid state device (and no non sealed electromechancial parts)..

The sealing required at the IC module level and the outer glass layer at the chip level to avoid gaseous contamination that will kill a chip in short order make a ride in a washing machine seem like a cake walk..

As long as you get the water out of the physical housing/surface mount board as you did with the drier..

Amazing what silicon can withstand.. I recall a quality procedure in the production process for memory chips taking them up to 100 deg C for a period before final screening.

We had a walk-in environmental test chamber runaway condition that developed over a long weekend that took a large system up to over 180 degrees F.

That was high enough temperature to evaporate out the lubricants out of things like blower motor sleeve bearings, switches, buttons, casters to where they were seized or sticking... and plastic switch buttons beginning to go soft (melt) but not a single silicon failure.

There's a lot of discussion on this subject going on right now on an engineering forum I read.. regarding electrical equipment in the New York Subway system that was submerged in salt water courtesy of Sandy.. Better to replace but long lead times and need to get the system back up and running is critical..

There are firms that specialize in "refurbishing" critical, expensive, long lead time equipment in a timely manner. This involves tear down of the equipment and washing circuit boards in de-ionized water, and replacing all non sealed parts e.g. relays, circuit breakers, etc.

Some electrical equipment manufacturers publish procedures or have processes at their plants to quickly rebuild flooded commercial high value, long lead time electrical equipment.

Commercial, military, automotive, and better quality electronics typically use "conformal coatings" to protect entire circuit boards (using all sealed components of course).. Good definition and read here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformal_coating

Navy Electronics Technicans (ETs) will be quite familiar with this if you worked on equipment with repairable circuit boards...

I have a SanDisk cruiser (8GB) that I lost one day. I searched around my office, around the house, in my various cars, and could never find it. I moved on with life.

The landscapers came by the office for Spring trimming, noisy all day. When I was leaving the building, I spied a grey lanyard and my drive hanging in the bushes...great! Tried the drive when I got home, worked! Awesome.

Through the snowy winter, late summer and early spring rains...drive still works four years on with no apparent ill effects. The drive I bought as a replacement scrammed, drat the luck!

You guys should see all the slot electronics at work that get soaked in beer and alcohol. Usually I clean them with smoking hot water, and a heat gun to evaporate all the moisture out, and they work fine..... "usually"

Don't go that far...
I went swimming with my BRAND NEW phone 4 years ago... found it in the bottom of the lake 800 feet out about an hour later (just chilling in the sand).

Took the battery out, left it out in the sun. Used a hairdryer on it at night. Left it out in the sun another day, then used the hair dryer again. Tried turning it on - dead. Plugged it into the wall, and it slowly booted up. Had to replace the battery, but the phone worked for 3 years after that. Speaker died after about 2 years, and SIM kept disabling after 2.5, but i got through 3 years! It was an LG TU915....