[VHFcontesting] water damage

[Buck Calabro]

John D'Ausilio wrote:
> 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.

In the days when computers weighed thousands of pounds, my company had
a flood that inundated the machine room about 3 feet deep.  Silty
river water with oil, gasoline and all that sort of stuff that washes
up off the street.

Used a garden hose to clean the worst out, then bottled water, then an
alcohol (I can't remember which one) to help dry it quickly.  Lots of
fans and about a week worth of drying time.  Aside from a couple of
popped breakers when the water initially hit the powered on equipment,
it all came up again.

I don't know about baking.  Today I'd probably use a portable hair
dryer and canned compressed air for drying the boards off faster.
Especially blow under big capacitors and anything that might trap
water by capillary action.  Use toilet paper to see how damp they are
- it'll show you moisture you can't feel with your fingers.  I'd stay
away from industrial compressed air (like for powering a nail gun)  I
think they inject a bit of oil in that air, but not sure I want to use
that much force on a PC board anyway.  Be aware of sediment in lamp
bulb sockets and the like.  It's amazing where water will go.  Remove
and re-seat every board and every connector you can.

Good luck,
  --buck KC2HIZ