Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alissa on July 5, 2011 at 3:40pm

Just curious did you have your Dex in any type of case or skin? My daughter accidently dropped her Dex in the tub a few weeks ago and it lived as well! I'm so thankful. Our Dex had a skin on and was pulled from the tub very quickly. I also stuck it in a bag of rice for a bit and then I shook out all the drips of water I could. Thankfully it never seemed to skip a reading (ha, ha). So happy your Dex is working!!!

Permalink Reply by KevinS on July 5, 2011 at 3:42pm

No skin or case, just in my pocket. Its funny, it didn't work at all until the next morning. I thought for sure it was done.

Permalink Reply by Dan on July 5, 2011 at 6:04pm

I hope it keeps working. I got mine wet last year. It conked out immediately, then came back to life when it dried out. Trouble was, there must have still been water sloshing around inside, or the corrosion was slow to take effect, so after a couple of days it went dead again, this time for good. (Although I did not try your trick with the bag of rice ....)

I hope you're in the clear -- but I'd be interested to know if it's still working perfectly by week's end. Good luck and keep us posted!

Permalink Reply by Mountain Biker on July 5, 2011 at 9:42pm

I had one Dexcom that went through an entire wash cycle and worked fine after it dried out! I had another that got splashed by a wave in my Kayak and it died (though they replaced it under warranty).

Permalink Reply by Renea on August 14, 2011 at 7:59pm

How do you get the back off? Mine went for a swim in the washing machine tonite. I have it sitting in a bag of rice right now but was curious as to how you get the back off.

Permalink Reply by KevinS on August 15, 2011 at 2:26pm

You need a super small screw driver or it a allen wrench that small. You need to take the back off to let it dry.

Permalink Reply by jbowler on September 2, 2011 at 6:59pm

I used to hose off computer keyboards to remove the coke from them; I was glad I used diet coke (the sugar variety is more difficult to eliminate). Water does no harm to electronics once it has dried out. The problem is the mechanical components - particularly the cheapo dead-flesh buttons on things like the Dexcom. Don't let the positive click fool you - that's just a piece of clicky plastic, the real work is done by a piece of conductive rubber that connects to gold plated (if you are lucky) or just copper contacts on the printed circuit board. These things can be ruined by water - I've got one modern Sony keyboard that I tried all my best solvents on and it still doesn't work (the ones I hosed off were the 1980's ones with real mechanical switches.)

All the same, the Dexcom is pretty simple, though I haven't taken mine apart yet, only had it for 1 day so far. I'd guess it will work fine after washing and drying pretty much regardless of what it gets into. The keys might stop working though - typical symptoms are having to press really hard.