There’s nothing more frustrating than dropping your precious cell phone into liquid, whether it’s in the kitchen sink, bathtub, coffee, tea, beer, or a swimming pool. When this happens, the immediate feeling is one of despair and annoyance. But don’t lose hope, all is not lost. It is possible to fix cell phone water damage and once again make it work as well as it did before the accident happened.

If you have dropped your phone in any liquid, the most important consideration will be how long it has been submerged and how quickly you can find a solution. If your phone has been sitting in a bathtub of water overnight, the chance of it working is slim as the circuit board has likely been damaged beyond repair, but if it’s only been in water for a short time, chances are high that you can repair your device and avoid having to spend on a new phone.

As soon as you realize the problem, you have to remove the battery. If the battery is still connected the chance of serious damage will be higher as even a small voltage can be conducted through the water and cause a big problem. Don’t worry if the battery itself doesn’t work, it wouldn’t be that expensive to replace.

You then need to disassemble the phone into as many individual sections as you can safely. If possible, remove the touchpad and screen as they may contain some amount of liquid. If it is a sunny day, place all the pieces in direct sunlight, this would help any moisture that is present to evaporate. If the accident happened at night or on a rainy day, your best bet would be to try to dry the circuit board and other parts with a hair dryer or by placing it next to your home’s central heating boiler.

An interesting alternative that has helped many people to recover damaged cell phones is to disassemble the phone and then place the pieces in a container with uncooked rice. Since rice absorbs moisture quickly, it will help to suck up any droplets of liquid that may be in there.

Do not place a cell phone in a microwave oven or other kitchen equipment, as it may end up causing a greater amount of damage. As long as you take quick steps to address cell phone water damage, you should find that you can still make full use of your precious device.