[Amps] SB-220 Submerged

Thu Aug 4 08:48:47 EDT 2005

I must add my comments that may prove helpful.  Back in late 80's I owned a 
couple of radio stations in Marysville-Yuba City, California that were 
struck by massive flooding that flooded the entire ground floor of our 
station.  We lost all our operating equipment including up to some rather 
sophisticated satillite receiving equipment.  It was all inundated totally 
and covered inside and outside with mud!  I found a commercial dishwasher. 
Ran it all thru the dishwasher, let it actually sun dry for 48 hours and it 
all went back into service including the satillite equipment.  I was 
astonished that it all worked.  Finally secured an SBA loan, replaced all 
the equipment and built a new facility and drove off into the sunset.  Point 
being, make sure you got it really clean.  And make sure it is completely 
dry and then turn it on.  Bet it works just fine.

PS.  Since then I have done exactly the same thing with everything from 
older Collins S line, Heathkit and other receivers and transmitters and it 
all work and looked great.  Just be sure you pull the cabinet off, check the 
front panel.  Lately because of the age found that paint will chip and break 
away on front panels and cabinets.  Especially heathkit stuff.  Take the 
meters out as well.  Main concern is water in the transformers.  Make sure 
everything is well dry or you will short out the transformers.  BTW, this 
process was used for years by Tektronics to clean their old tube type 
oscilloscopes and they even had a tech bulletin on the process.

Van, K7VS

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Will Matney" <craxd1 at verizon.net>
To: <amps at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 4:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Amps] SB-220 Submerged

> Pete,
>
> That's one of the safest ways to do it. Another way I've done if to turn 
> the amp up on it's side where the chassis is open, and set a 1500 watt 
> electric space heater about a foot away from it. Just let it set for a day 
> on each side and it'll be good and dry. Using a heat gun, you stand a 
> chance of melting insulation off hookup wire if you get too close. I had a 
> bunch of TV's come in once for repair that had been in a flood. First I 
> took a water hose and washed out the chassis using a small steam. Then 
> used a space heater on them. They played all right with no complaints or 
> any came back. That was back in the good old module days too.
>
> Best,
>
> Will
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 8/4/05 at 7:33 AM Pete Smith wrote:
>
>>Let me just add my encouragement.  12-13 years ago, a window well filled
>>up
>>and caused many gallons of water to pour down directly on the top of my
>>TS-930 in the basement shack.  The good news was that it did not stay
>>submerged for long.  Many hours with a hairdryer top and bottom, then
>>turned it on and ...  I'm still using it today.
>>
>>73, Pete
>>
>>At 07:56 PM 8/3/2005, Paul Whatton wrote:
>>>Hi Bill
>>>
>>>An amateur friend of mine has a business hiring out PMR radios. As you
>>>can imagine they sometimes come back from hire in a terrible mess having
>>>been dropped into everything you might imagine, the least of which is
>>>dirty water. His solution is to drop them into an industrial ultrasonic
>>>cleaning bath and then, as Gary suggested, oven bake them dry. Over the
>>>years he has "subjected" hundreds of radios to this treatment and,
>>>without fail, if it is done carefully, they work fine afterwards. The
>>>ultrasonic cleaning bath is filled with tap water and a splash of some
>>>commercial additive is added. I can find out what it is if you want.
>>>
>>>One day he suggested I might want to clean my transceivers by dropping
>>>them in the bath. I was very reluctant but, what the hell, I trusted
>>>this old friend. I did remove the mains transformers for reasons which
>>>will become clear but otherwise I dropped whole rigs in the bath and
>>>then oven dried them. Bingo! Not only did these radios work but they
>>>worked better because the ultrasonic cleaner had got to all the contact
>>>surfaces in the plugs, relays etc. The front panels sparkle like they
>>>are new.
>>>
>>>The only reason I removed the mains transformers was drying time. When
>>>water gets inside the windings it is difficult to dry out.
>>>
>>>What have I learnt from this? Water itself, even tap water, isn't a
>>>problem provided that the radio is FULLY dried out. Dirty water, the
>>>kind you have experienced is a problem because the impurities make it
>>>conductive. Even if it is dried out you may experience problems from
>>>conductive deposits and/or corrosion.
>>>
>>>What to do? In my opinion you should wash the SB-220 very thoroughy. I
>>>think that means taking it out into the yard and very thoroughly hosing
>>>it down. There is nothing to loose by doing this, it already has dirty
>>>water in it. If you can find someone with a big enough industrial
>>>ultrasonic cleaner then put the whole amp in it. Then dry it. And then
>>>dry it again. It will take hours and hours., days and days. By all means
>>>oven bake it or use the hot Sun. Total drying is vital. Last week I
>>>dropped a friend's 2m mast-head preamp which was badly corroded and, he
>>>thought, a write off, into the ultrasonic cleaner for 20 minutes. After
>>>3 hours oven baking there was still sufficient moisture inside the tuned
>>>circuits to de-tune it. After a week in the hot Sun in my shed it worked
>>>perfectly. Thorough drying is crucial.
>>>
>>>Good luck! With patience I am sure you can save the amp.
>>>
>>>Paul G4DCV
>>>
>>>Bill Smith wrote:
>>>
>>>Other than the obvious "dry it out" what should a guy
>>>do to get a SB-220 back on after having been submerged
>>>in a basement for over a week?
>>>
>>>A friend of mine was away when a very bad storm
>>>flooded his basement.  The water flowed up the stairs
>>>and out the front door!!  So much for living at the
>>>bottom of the hill and having no check valve on his
>>>sump pump connection to the city sewer!!  Against city
>>>rules many people had connected their sump pumps to
>>>the city sewer.  That in turn over loaded the system
>>>as well as the water coming down the street filled a
>>>lot of basements.
>>>73,
>>>Bill
>>>
>>>Bill Smith KO4NR
>>>
>>>
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
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>>
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