By Peter Cochrane, 9 May 2005 14:20
COMMENT In response to reader advice re: wet and salty electronics
09.05.05, 13.13 GMT, Histon, Camdridgeshire UK
Thanks for all the similar stories, experiences and advice sent in response to my recent post on resilient technology.
You know how it is - you get very cold and very wet, and then you forget some of your basic chemistry, miss out the clean water stage and so on. Can't think why this should happen, apart from the immediate focus on survival.
The hearing aid incident from reader Chris Knowles (see reader comments at the bottom of this page) was a good one - I'm not quite there yet. I did leave my glasses on, though - and losing them would have certainly meant a train ride home!
I have never tried the freezer trick (freezing soaked notes so the water crystallizes as ice and you can just flick it off), also recommended by Knowles, but will give it a go if there is a next time.
For the record my money came out looking like new and has now been passed into general circulation. So if you get any fivers that smell a bit salty... they may be mine!
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1. anonymous
The flip side of this story is that when you *want* to destroy a device, they can be remarkably resilient.
I was so annoyed with my Bluetooth headset (useless battery life, dropped calls, awful quality) that after yet another important call lost I decided to smash it to pieces, to make me feel better about the whole thing.
Despite using a lump hammer on a concrete floor, it really took some destroying. I'm pleased to say my big hammer won out in the end.
(I now have a new Bluetooth headset which works perfectly.)