[VHFcontesting] water damage

[k3dne at comcast.net]

John,

Sorry.

I have seen similar.  My elmer (K2CBA) would use a solvent and soap/water to clean dirty electronics stuff but alow it to dry completely - days worth of drying or longer (I don't remember if he used an oven or other to aid in the drying process).  I always thought it unusual to see electronic gear waiting to be washed next to the kitchen sink...

Good luck!

73,
Ed K3DNE

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: George Sintchak/WA2VNV <wa2vnv at optonline.net> 

> John, Sorry to hear about your flood. 
> 
> Re: water damage. Back some years ago, at BNL, I/we used to wash electronic 
> equipment, specifically tektronix scopes(tube types & solid state & others) 
> in a vented hood with mild detergent/degreaser (Zep) diluted ~10:1 sprayed 
> on the guts & exterior followed by a hot water complete rinse. Then put the 
> item an a warm ~125 def F oven with an air exhaust to dry for ~24 hrs. 
> 
> They would come out like brand new. Just avoid over wetting meter faces, 
> anything paper (old capacitor tube covers), inked legends on front, and into 
> transformer windings. Otherwise the key was to do a clean hot water wash to 
> remove any conductive gunk and get it in the vented oven to dry. The key is 
> to try to get the stuff washed before corossion sets in - time is the 
> killer. 
> The military was so impressed with the process, that there was an added spec 
> the make equipment washable. Thus, we eventually saw the electrolytic caps 
> (and other parts) in equipment covered with plastic tube insulator covers 
> instead of paper. 
> 
> I can't claim any credit for the proceedure - it goes to Frank Rizzo, W2OCM, 
> now an Silent Key for developing the method. When I first saw it done, I 
> thought he was crazy, but the results were amazing. Especially the really 
> dusty inside of equipment would be put through the wash cycle before even 
> fixing/calibrating the unit, and in many cases it got "fixed" by removing 
> the dirt. Also, nice to work on clean equipment. So, after the insurance co, 
> sees your damage, try the wash method to salvage some of what you want to 
> try to save, you have nothing to lose. 
> 
> George, WA2VNV 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John D'Ausilio" 
> To: ; "qrp-l at qth.net" 
> Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 8:45 AM 
> Subject: [VHFcontesting] water damage 
> 
> 
> We experienced a flood Thursday night here in southwestern CT .. 
> almost 3 feet of water in the basement by the time it stopped rising. 
> Unfortunately, just about all of my electronics stuff ended up 
> submerged. 
> 
> I'm assuming I'm going to end up tossing much stuff into the dumpster. 
> All of the nice heliax jumpers and other cable assemblies, most of my 
> junkbox, computers, test equipment. I'm curious as to whether others 
> on the list have had the flooding experience, and what they found they 
> were able to rehabilitate. I really don't want to toss the General 
> Microwave power meter .. 
> 
> de w1rt/john 
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