IPhone survived serious water damage. A success story!

Question

I just wanted to let people know about the survival of my partners' iPhone 5 when faced with a 40 minute cycle in the washing machine at 30degrees.
We realised that the phone had been accidentally packed into a full load after about 40 minutes. We managed to cancel the wash and drag all the soaking wet clothes out.
Found the phone and immediately tried turning it back on (something I later read was probably a bad idea - but you don't read this kind of thing until its to late!) the screen remained black with no apparent life whatsoever.
After looking on the Internet for cures it seemed the most popular thing to do would be to seal the phone in a air tight container full of uncooked rice. We did this and left it on top of the boiler in the boiler cupboard where it would be warm. We were warned against taking a hair dryer to it.
In the meantime we contacted Apple to see how much repair would cost (we had no AppleCare) and we quoted something like £300.
After a full 4 days we took the phone and tried turning it on. Still nothing. I'd read somewhere that the phone shouldn't be plugged in to a charger but thought it would be worth a shot. After a couple of seconds the 'empty battery' 'please plug me in' symbol flashed up...there was life.
10 minutes later we checked the phone and yes, it was charging and yes it turned on! The phone received a load of backed up messages, connected to the Internet and most apps were working fine. Not all was working, the camera shutter wouldn't open and the screen looked very wet or damaged.
Hanging onto this miracle we decided to unplug the phone to avoid any issues and put it back into hibernation in its box of rice. After 2 more days the camera and all other apps were working perfectly. There was still an issue with the display. It looked better but still not 100%. We called a cowboy phone repair company to ask whether they could do anything with it, they believed there might be a corroded connection in the display and suggested speaking to Apple. Apple would fix it for £150. After further diliberation we decided to give it some more time to dry out.
Over 10 days we returned to the phone to find an almost perfect screen. Unless you tilt it to an angle there would be no sign of water damage. Success! Lets just hope it holds out in the long run.
I wanted to give anyone who has taken water damage to their iPhone some hope that with some patience you can save yourself a lot of money by just putting your wet phone in a box of rice in a warm place and leaving it for 2+ weeks. Even after a thrashing around a washing machine.

Answer 1

Hi WildTort! I would like to know if your phone continued to work? Did the camera ever start working?
I did the exact same thing: sent my iPhone 5 through a full wash cycle, set it into rice for almost 2 weeks, it's now working (everything except for the camera) although there are a few 'issues' with dropped calls and other blips.
Do you think I should let it sit for  a longer time without being turned on, or should i take the whole thing apart and try to clean it of corrosion in alcohol?
(I have only a month to go before my contract expires)
thanks for your help!