My house decided my "amp Fluid" was low.

[flanagan0718]

So I had every intention of entering a new build this year. It's actually 75% done too! It was going to be the SS/BS Team Awesome Fuzz Machine clone that Effectslayouts did a while back. It can be found here http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2016/10/smallsoundbigsound-team-awesome-fuzz.html if anyone is wondering. But, this will not be happening for me. Christmas Eve I went down into my workshop and found a disaster. See pictures below.











It might be hard to see but My amp, pedal ICs, and all the gear around it was covered in water for days. This means that there was time for it to get on the boards and guts of everything. Including my pedals and my Gibson Les Paul that I just put new mini humbuckers in. If anyone has advice on what to do here that would be cool. I'm going to check with my home owners insurance covers it. Aside from taking everything apart and making sure its dry what else should I do? Thanks guys.

-Mike-

[midwayfair]

I'm assuming everything was powered off when the water damage happened, because guitarists are totally environmentally conscious and would never allow their devices to suck power for days on end without being used.

Amp: unplug everything (speaker, tubes, 3-prong plug if it isn't attached to the amp), drain the filter caps safely (there are tutorials for this! DO NOT HURT YOURSELF), and remove the chassis from the cabinet. You can hand dry any moisture you find. Then let the amp sit in a dry place for let's call it 48 hours. Inspect it after that time. If it's moist at all, just give it more time. You should be able to remove the pcb from the chassis as well to make sure that air can flow under it and dry it out.

Pedals: Open up the backs and let them dry out. If you have a giant bag of rice, you can stick them in there, but it might not be necessary.

Cables: unscrew the ends and let the tips dry. These should be fine pretty quickly.

You primarily want to get them dry ASAP to prevent corrosion. There's less danger to the electronic parts being destroyed than you might think. The amp could be physically dangerous, though (to the amp and you), so again just make sure it's .

[m-Kresol]

oh shi**, that looks bad indeed. I support Jon's suggestions. If you have some of the small silicate drying packages left from various purchases (you know the small bags that are often included in commercial products) you can also put those there.
I'd open all the pedals, dry them as good as possible and then let them sit in a dry, warm place for a few days before trying to apply power to them (maybe take ICs and transistors out of the sockets, so there's no water in there...). As long as they weren't powered when the water hit, they should be fine.

[flanagan0718]

Cool thanks for the suggestions guys. The only thing that was on was the power strip that the amp an tuner pedal was plugged into. The amp was off but I'm not sure about the pedal. I already pulled the power supply apart and that looks like nothing blew up. I also cleaned and inspected the cables (those are the least of my concern) those looked good. I'm going to open the pedals up and let them dry out today. I have a dehumidifier running in the room right now. I might bring the heat gun from work home (or just buy a cheap one from HFT) and see if that helps.

In the meantime I'll look for a good tutorial for draining the caps on the amp and start in on that tonight too. Thanks again guys.

[galaxiex]

Serious bummer...

If you have access to compressed air,
blowing as much moisture out of everything before drying with heat, esp circuit boards, would be a good idea.
Water has minerals and such impurities that when drying alone with heat or evaporation, leaves those things behind and can cause problems.
Get as much moisture out as possible before drying.

[bcalla]

Hi Mike -

That sucks. Period.

I see that your amp is on a wooden stand (good idea, I use one of these), but it still got wet.  Did you have a pipe burst?  It's pretty hard to protect against that.

A few years ago a friend convinced me to add a musical instrument rider to my homeowners insurance.  This is only good if you're not using the instruments professionally.  They're covered if damaged or stolen anywhere - at home, at a friend's home, in my car, etc. - except for use for a paid professional engagement.  I submit a schedule of each item I own with a specific value and they are covered up to that amount.  I pay $36 per year for about $12,000 in value.

Also, if you need ICs, transistors, diodes, etc., check with me before buying any.  I have lots of them.

[flanagan0718]

I checked with Geico (My Insurance company) and they said if it was a provable back up then my deductable is $500. I would just have to have a claims specialist come out and see if it is provable. Still I don't have $500 to throw at gear but that's a better pill to swallow than having to replace everything out of pocket. IDK, I'll run it but the wife and see what's feasible. Thanks for your input guys!

[wgc]

Total bummer, and awful timing.

Agree with all comments so far. It might be worth rinsing everything with some distilled water and/or isopropyl. Even though it seems counterproductive, it isn't.

The worst of it is probably the switches and pots. If you have contact cleaner spray it can't hurt to spray some in those and maybe you can displace any trapped water.

I think you will be in better shape gear wise than you might expect.

It would be worth having an adjuster come out anyway since there might be other things you'll want to do to your home, or damage you might not have noticed. 

You don't have to take the claim. But if you do take money for repairs to your house, but don't do them, you won't get the full amount you're due.

[lars]

I would also suggest renting a dehumidifier and running it like crazy in that room. In addition to salvaging your gear, you also don't want black mold to start to grow anywhere.

[flanagan0718]

I would also suggest renting a dehumidifier and running it like crazy in that room. In addition to salvaging your gear, you also don't want black mold to start to grow anywhere.

AGREED! I do currently have a de-humidifier running. It seems to be doing it's job.

[jimilee]

I checked with Geico (My Insurance company) and they said if it was a provable back up then my deductable is $500. I would just have to have a claims specialist come out and see if it is provable. Still I don't have $500 to throw at gear but that's a better pill to swallow than having to replace everything out of pocket. IDK, I'll run it but the wife and see what's feasible. Thanks for your input guys!

So in other words, they're going to try to not pay it? Bummer man. I hope it's covered, be worth beg borrowing or other means to get thousands of dollars worth replaced for that. Good luck sir.

[alanp]

They're insurance weasels. They always do their utter damndest to never, ever pay out.

[m-Kresol]

Agree with all comments so far. It might be worth rinsing everything with some distilled water and/or isopropyl. Even though it seems counterproductive, it isn't.

That depends on where the water came from. If it is a normal water supply line for household water, I don't think it will be necessary. most minerals are nearly insoluble in water and there won't be much to clean. Also I don't think that the tiny amounts would cause problems in an electronic circuit, they are generally insulaters, not conductors. Isopropyl will dissolve them even worse. The compressed air is a good idea though.

[wgc]

I tend to agree it may be unnecessary, but given the time and effort it probably won't hurt.  What minerals are in our water can vary quite a bit depending on where you live.  The Isopropyl isn't intended to dissolve minerals but rather displace water and then evaporate more quickly.  The best apppoach is to get things dry.

I certainly defer to your much better knowledge of chemistry and fluid dynamics so if my thinking is wrong, please advise.

Also, in my past life I worked on a project to recover damage to pcbs from dendritic growths. Quick and dirty description is these are conductive growths that happen when a device is powered and moisture is present.  Pretty interesting.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ogfV0qmvzGI

http://circuitsassembly.com/ca/magazine/24475-cover-story-1412.html

http://www.te.com/documentation/whitepapers/pdf/p313-89.pdf

[galaxiex]

I'm sure other know more than me...  re; the minerals in water...

I was simply regurgitating advice I had read/heard from somewhere...
It stuck with me because I had occasion to need the advice at the time...

So... racking brain cells further... aside from minerals, there surely may be other things in the flood water.
Salts, ions and crystals and other impurities that may become conductive if left to dry on the surface.

This (well meaning) advice comes from the old "water conducts electricity" thing... but *pure* water does not.

https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/do-you-think-that-water-conducts-electricity-if-you-do-then-youre-wrong.html

A quick google search of "wet electronics" will yield many such advice about getting the water out before drying...
... and we all know the internet is never wrong...