Every year I get many calls that all start the same, we were on vacation and my (blank) fell in the pool or ocean, what can I do?
Vacation is wonderful but it can be hazardous to your tech health. Below are a few tips that can make things less wet and provide a safer vacation with your tech.
1. Leave it at home. I know, it will seem impossible but leaving your tech at home is one of the safest ways to prevent theft or damage. The only thing worst than a wet device is a stolen device. Leaving tech at home on vacation is becoming a new trend and people are finding that it is very easy to reconnect to family and friends if the tech is not present.
2. Don’t leave your tech in hot cars with the windows rolled up. Heat damage can and will in short order warp, or kill your tech. Carry your tech items with you if you are going to be out of the car for a long period of time. Covering it up with towels or jackets will only increase the heat factor for the tech items.
3. Avoid FREE WIFI. if you need to duck into a coffee shop and check email or look something up on your bank’s site, remember that others can be watching and capturing your passwords. Never log into a secure site on Free or Public WIFI. This counts double for vacation. It is fine to look up an address or plan an outing, but never log into any site on Free or Public WIFI, you never know who is watching and having your bank account drained while on vacation is not a good time.
4. Make sure if you are traveling outside of your country you have contacted your Wireless Carrier and made arrangements for international access. International roaming can cost you a small fortune and can be avoided with a call or visit to your cell phone provider. International travel also means you will need a power converter. Do not buy a cheap one for all power converter, these can kill your tech so quickly. Get one that is designed for the area that you are going to be in and make sure it works with your device. Also you may want to consider a small battery powered charger in case you are out all day and need to charge with no access to your power converter.
5. There is no real waterproof solution, there is water resistant and it is not waterproof. Water is the main enemy of tech but did you know that sand and sunblock are just as bad? Sand can get into your connectors and charging port and render your device useless. Sunblock and other tanning oils are just that, oil. not only will it leave prints that are hard to get off if your device is plastic, it can leave permanent marks on your device as well as find its way into the cracks and openings on your device and kill it. Zip-Lock bags are not a solution, if you put your device in a plastic bag and its outside in the heat and moisture your will see that condensation will start to form inside the plastic bag and make its way into your device rendering it useless.
6. If your device falls into the water or gets wet the next minutes are crucial.
First turn it off. Do not leave it on or try to use it.
Second take it apart or remove the back or battery.
Third. submerge the entire thing in uncooked non instant rice. try to get the device totally submerged in the dry rice, try to get it positioned so that the item is on edge. This allows the water a place to run out of the device. I have had to use a trash can from my motel room and 10 pounds of uncooked rice to get a wet laptop dried out.
The bigger the item the longer it takes. A laptop can take two to three days, a tablet 2 days a phone 24 to 36 hours.
After soaking in the rice take your device out and replace the battery and try to start it up, if you see water or moisture behind the screen. Turn it off and re-soak for more time. Moisture will kill your tech so fast so make sure it is totally dry before turning it back on.
Here is hoping that you have a dry and tech safe vacation.