studio flooded...

[frank]

hello all. after that massive rain storm last weekend, my recording space got about a foot of water over night. most stuff was up on shelves, but a few items got wet. I had a couple amp heads and a piece of rack gear totally submerged. I blew out all the moisture I could with compressed air, sprayed 'em down with contact cleaner, and put them in a closet.

please say you have been through this and that everything fires up in good working order...

advice?

[ThunderFaceWizardHead]

My basement flooded a little last year, and of the 15 or so guitar pedals I had on the floor, only 1 didn't survive. Granted they weren't fully submerged, but they all saw plenty of water. I think what you've done so far sounds like the best way to deal with it. Just make sure everything is as dry and clean as possible before you fire it up. I had an air compressor submerged for 24 hours when a lake rose 8 feet overnight at a cabin I was remodeling. Let it dry out for a while, changed the oil, and it runs fine with no apparent electrical damage. I'm not really sure how big transformers and filter caps on an amp will respond to water though.

Best of luck, and maybe keep a fire extinugisher on hand.

[Kevin S]

keep blowing them off, you may want to invest in some cleaners if there is any residue on the boards. It really would be a good idea anyway to just clean them. $30-50 now versus a full replacement cost is easy no brainer. Give it some time before you lay the juice on them.. Transformers unless filled have allot of spaces for water to hide, older stuff has paper caps and depending on how long etc, that cap may need to just be replaced

Like I said open it up clean it out blow it off, leave it for a week or so, then fire it up.

Do you have insurance by the way?

[RodC]

I wouldnt put them in the closet unless you put a gallon of decantant in there with them. Do you have a dehumidifier or do you have airconditioning? both will suck the moisture out of the air and your equipment.

What type of equipment got wet? Vintage stuff with huge trannys and paper caps is the worse, you really have to work to get them dried out.

[lancebug]

i have heard that for circuit boards, it is good to flush them with distilled water before letting them dry, as the flood water has lots of particulate matter that can cause shorts on printed circuits when it dries. I would definitely confirm or refute this with an expert before I actually tried it on anything worth more than $25.

[frank]

thanks for the kind words fellows...

yeah, insurance would have been a good idea. then again, my space is, like, below sea level and kind of illegal. as for the actual wet items: a small tube head (2 6v6s, one vol knob, type thing), an old soild-state bass head, and a rack mount analog spring reverb. nothing that couldn't be replaced, but shit, I ain't made of money. oh, and a whole bunch of mic cables(!?!). the room I have everything in know is really dry and has decent circulation.

recomended cleaners?

thanks again,

ff

[asmara]

I was storing some gear in the garage while I repainted the tracking room and due to a 3rd floor water leak (thanks to my 2 year old's facsination with the faucet) some water apparently dripped onto my tiny terror and Eden WT550 head. I didn't even notice it until I was moving the gear back and around and water was literally sloshing around in the Orange head!! I didn't notice that the eden head had much water but when I fired it up the output limiter light was on and it will not amplify to max volume. I didn't even try to fire up the tiny terror. So if I send both back for service - can these even be repaired?? So now I am going to invest in some plastic covers for everything. Thank god my dc-30 was spared- but it was just a few feet away.

[chovie d]

please say you have been through this and that everything fires up in good working order...

I have been thru this and everything fired up in good working order. Im not b.s.ing you either. Somehow the toilet in our basement studio just kept filling up all night. Next day I came in to find about a foot and a half of standing water. My entire pedalboard was submerged...everything still works and I am still using it all. There is a water line on my strat. The only thing that didnt make it so well was a bass drum which warped eventually.

sorry bout your loss....best of luck

[mwingerski]

Those silica packets (the ones that say "do not eat" and come in virtually everything manufactured in china) are really good for helping get rid of moisture. Keep several of those near (or in the) a unit that is drying out and put the packets in the microwave from time to time to dry them out.

I dunked my digital camera in a wet suit dunk tank last summer. After doing the silica pack thing for two days it worked fine...