Friday, May 25, 2007

Coke Cans

We had an Eating-Meeting at the church a couple of weeks ago. We all brought a meat dish and a vegetable dish and a dessert. We put them on a big table and grazed. It was great, and the Eating-Meeting is just the set up for this sorry tale.

It seems we had the grandkids with us. Because I was tasked with carrying some tables we were in my pickup truck and when it came time to leave, the kids were each carrying an unopened soda, in the 12-ounce can.

One of those unopened soda cans got put into the cup holder on my front seat. It's a standard double-can holder and it collects all manner of coins, ammunition, lint, loose screws and other detrius. I also drop my cell phone in there.

Well, that unopened Coke rode around with me for a week or more, till one day I picked up my cell phone to use it and found it wasn't working. Then I looked more closely at the Coke Can and it looked all distressed. Kind of pooched-out from pressure. Then I noticed that the can had split along the side and had leaked Coca-Cola into the holders and that my cell phone had been soaking for a couple of days.

Coca-Cola is hard on a cell phone. Very, very hard. I used that phone for a lot of things, and one of those things was as a database of phone numbers. All that, of course, is lost.

I have never known a soft drink can to split like that, and I imagined that the pop-top would have let go first. No, it split down the side.

Three or four days later, I found the root beer can that exploded in the back door pocket. Sticky mess. It's a sad affair.

We haven't had that much unseasonably warm weather in central Louisiana. Yeah, the interior of the truck gets hot, but I've never known soda cans to spontaneously explode in the heat of a vehicle. The only rational explanation is that they ain't making them like they used to.

You've been warned.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep, recently had a can of Azirona Tea leak on the floor of my car. Split. Not the first leaker. Just realized I've encountered this several times in the past few months. Hmm, have to start treating them like eggs, I guess.

Anonymous said...

The inside of a dark colored vehicle parked in the sun probably gets hot enough to boil water.

Anonymous said...

Used to be you could figure 16 cans to the pound, now it's closer to 24.

farmist

Rivrdog said...

They ain't makin' 'em like they used to. I have soda cans blow all the time in the Norcold reefer in my boat, and while it isn't the best at holding a temperature, I don't think it ever goes below 28 in there. The cans used to be able to take that, with maybe just a bulging lid, but now they rupture.

As for the phone, I think you can save it. Buy some distilled water and soak it with the battery off. Soak for several hours, gently swishing the phone around in the water occasionally. Dry it out for several days, attach the battery and see if it fires up. If not, repeat the process. I wouldn't give up on it until I'd been through several of these evolutions.

Also, the phone store may be able to remove the chip, boot it in another phone, and recover your phone book. Offer them $$$ to do that.

Anonymous said...

Paw,
If it's a "standard" type phone the chip in the back can be removed and inserted into another "standard" phone. It should start up and act just like it's your phone, same phonebook, programming and all.

Good luck.

jon spencer said...

As George and Flintlock Tom are saying.
But instead of flushing with water we use alcohol in attempts to save wet electronics. For a small handheld radio we will use upwards of a quart in multiple flushings. Afterwards we bake the radios at 130 to 150 (dry heat) in a homemade hot box. Sometimes it works, sometime it is just practice.
We do not reinstall the battery until we are sure there is no moisture left in the radio.

Gay_Cynic said...

Jon already provides the best available solution I know as a former cell phone store manager. It's a crap shoot, but you can't win if you don't throw the dice.

We usually just took the phone out of the alcohol and let it dry for 3 days to a week...but then again, we were in the California desert..