Recent Flood Damage

[Zak]

I have a flood damage with different electronic items that were under water.

1438s monitor
electronic piano
CD drives and burners
disk drives
hard disks
TV set

All these items except of the TV set were in (partly original) boxes. The TV set is a pile of mud, but the other items look clean because of the boxes, you wouldn´t think they were under water. My question is, are there chances I could restore some of the items? I think I can´t just plug them in an give it a go? How should I proceed?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Zak

I have a flood damage with different electronic items that were under water.
All these items except of the TV set were in (partly original) boxes. The TV set is a pile of mud, but the other items look clean because of the boxes, you wouldn´t think they were under water. My question is, are there chances I could restore some of the items? I think I can´t just plug them in an give it a go? How should I proceed?

What kind of water was it? Clean-ish rain water is not so bad, sewage (from overflow) is a whole different league. If it was rain water and the items look fine, it is probably not too bad. I would take them apart and check if they look fine on the inside as well. If they do, I would just fire them up and see.
Clean water is not particularly harmful for electronics if it is not for too long and it is dried properly before turning on the power. Corrosion would be the problem, but that takes time.
Any hard drives which were under water might not be good anymore if the water entered the inside. I am not sure whether the water can pass through the breather hole.
6-7 years ago, I had an amplifier which was sitting on the floor in a basement when a heavy rain fall flooded the basement. After drying it up it worked perfectly fine, and still does. And all my Amigas have been through the dishwasher, and they are all working fine (and are now also clean).

[Zak]

Thanks for your reply. Heavy rain flooded the cellar. The water hasn´t been that clear, the TV set looks dirty. But the boxing seemed to filter the water. All items that were in boxes look totally clean. The boxes themselves though have had it.

[prowler]

If in doubt about their cleanliness, rinse the items first in clean tap water.

They will need another period of drying afterwards, but it might just improve the chances of salvaging them.

[Zak]

Tap water alright. I think I will try this. Thanks.

[pandy71]

tap water first, secondary distilled/deionized water - used frequently in cars (car battery, radiator etc) and to ironing clothes (steam generation) - last wash with deionized water.
Later i always recommend to wash everything with IPA - relatively cheap alcohol used as cleaner in PCB industry - it will help to remove water (especially from very difficult places).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_alcohol
Be patient, dry everything very well - even few weeks.

Buy some http://dx.com/p/1-5l-pressure-spray-...prinkler-46763 - it will help a lot and reduce water/alcohol consumption.
For first tap water wash, you may add one - literally one drop of some degreaser/dishwashing liquid - it should help to reduce surface tension.

Don't wash HDD's! Just dry.

[Zak]

Thank you. Looks like a long term project.

[pandy71]

Originally Posted by Zak

Thank you. Looks like a long term project.

Definitely - especially with High and Very High Voltage (TV, power units) there is no rush as not fully clean and dry electronic will be broken in fraction of seconds... Color TV for example have HV flyback transformer which produce together with voltage multiplier over 25kV (25000 Volts) - current is small but with this voltage even dry dust con be turn to decent conductor.

Horizontal deflection transistor is usually rated for above 1000V UCE and believe me not by coincidence.

Everything must be clean from mineral and organic remains and fully dry - for HV parts i will go for special HV protection lacquer but after drying and cleaning everything. Something like http://www.duecielectronic.it/index....70+-+V-66&k=16 but those type lacquers are used in cars (ignition circuit protection - should be easy to buy in some car parts shop) - those lacquers have HV resistance and they expel water remains but real HV circuits use usually vacuum bath with trapped air and humidity removing, together with impregnation (like transformer oils).

Low voltage electronic is quite easy to clean but HV always find traces of dirt and water to start conducting...

Sometimes parts need to be removed form PCB, PCB must be cleaned and parts (after cleaning) re-soldered. Water can be really nasty.


Good luck, before you start - make some pictures especially for such electronic like TV, monitors - perhaps we can help you "remotely" what can be done.

[Zak]

I am about to reach the decision to get rid of most of the material.

I am facing the problem that it´s not easy to disassemble the monitor and handle the tube and interiors not to mention the large TV set. I am also concerned about the high voltage as you said. And I am lacking the skills, I am a white collar clerk.
I cannot do anything about the cd drives, cannot disassemble them, as well as the hdd´s. I wouldn´t use them this way anymore, I feel the fear that they could harm my computer when trying to test them. So they are not reliable and unusable.

Feels like I have to accept to turn off the artificial respiration and prepare for a funeral.

The only thing I will maybe go for is the electronic piano.

[Jope]

You can try selling off the gear too, in case someone who can attempt to recover them is interested.

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by Zak

I am about to reach the decision to get rid of most of the material.

I am facing the problem that it´s not easy to disassemble the monitor and handle the tube and interiors not to mention the large TV set. I am also concerned about the high voltage as you said. And I am lacking the skills, I am a white collar clerk.
I cannot do anything about the cd drives, cannot disassemble them, as well as the hdd´s. I wouldn´t use them this way anymore, I feel the fear that they could harm my computer when trying to test them. So they are not reliable and unusable.

Feels like I have to accept to turn off the artificial respiration and prepare for a funeral.

The only thing I will maybe go for is the electronic piano.

I've always stayed clear of water damage to larger electronic items. However, with smaller items e.g. mobile phones I've recovered them by wrapping the up in some silica (the packets found in shoe boxes for example) as it helps to absorb moisture. Maybe something like this on larger scale might be a solution?

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

I've always stayed clear of water damage to larger electronic items. However, with smaller items e.g. mobile phones I've recovered them by wrapping the up in some silica (the packets found in shoe boxes for example) as it helps to absorb moisture. Maybe something like this on larger scale might be a solution?

It's a good idea but baking provides a uniform heat over everything including places where silica may not reach.

[Zak]

I can get the spray bottle and the distilled water and alcohol here but as I said that´s all above my skills. And selling it? I´d rather throw it away. What would be the use for me, I can´t imagine anyone paying more than one Euro for it.

What could happen if I just tried the items? Worst case? Would I burn down the house, would the monitor explode?

[Jope]

If you just try them without cleaning them first, they're ruined for sure.

The only reason I suggested you sell them is that it always pains me if some Commodore hardware is thrown away. Even if the motherboards are too corroded to be repaired, there's always some spare parts that could be pulled.

[Zak]

I will have to adopt more of the community thinking. But the 1438s monitor is Amiga Technologies by the way.

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by Zak

I can get the spray bottle and the distilled water and alcohol here but as I said that´s all above my skills. And selling it? I´d rather throw it away. What would be the use for me, I can´t imagine anyone paying more than one Euro for it.

What could happen if I just tried the items? Worst case? Would I burn down the house, would the monitor explode?

Yes and Yes, the monitor is likely to explode or go bang and if you don't do anything with it now it could still go faulty in the future, it's got a higher likelihood of doing so if it's not cleaned out properly. But don't bin the parts as they're getting harder to find.

[Zak]

I will finally bring the monitor and other parts to the scrapyard. Can´t use the destroyed original box for shipping and did not find anything really appropriate yet, and I don´t feel like doing more work to this anymore.