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[Gustav]

My place got flooded last night !

I have to break down all acoustic treatment/extra walls etc I have made in order to get the carpeting removed and the floors fixed.

Covered in water and broken for sure.
Fender telecaster:Cracked in body...broken.
Sub kick mic:Broken.
walls
floor.
Sockets on a pair of large wooden Dynaudios are also completely ruined

Now that was just me moaning. Here comes the actual question.
The lower half of my mic cabinet was covered in water. The lowe half contained
1 U87
2 AKG c414 BULS
1 Beyerdynamic M99

My multicable between rooms was also on the floor

Are these things broken ? The water had retrieved a bit when I came down there today, and left mud all over the walls, so - Muddy water. Even if I let the stuff dry it will be dirty inside.
My biggest concern is the multicable. The U87 and the 414s. PLEASE tell me they can be saved somehow !

Furthermore I had completely lost power in the building, and Im a little worried about electricity damage to gear that didnt get ruined by water. Water didnt go high enough to get most rack gear/speakers/computer monitor etc, but should I let that stuff alone for a while before trying to power up just to make sure theres no water in it anyway ?

Gustav

 

[gyraf]

- If you have any gear with internal powersupply like batteries or back-up batteries, remove the batteries as the first thing.

- Use plenty of distilled water to clean electronics - preferably before it dries up in the first place. Demineralized water from your local gas station will work also. If you will take too long on getting the demineralized/distilled water, keep dirty electronics packed in plastic bags so it will not dry in too soon.

- take apart all units that you have a suspicion could have had water. Check and doublecheck.

- electronics can be dried by placing it in an oven at 50-60 degrees C for 3-4 Hours. Please ensure that the temperature dosen't go over 80degrees.

Things that has been very dirty can often be cleaned ultrasonically. Somewhere I have the name of a company that we use for that.

Jakob E.

 

[Gustav]

Thanks.
Heading down there now to get started on it...

Gustav

 

[Flatpicker]

[quote author="Gustav"]...The lower half of my mic cabinet was covered in water. The lower half contained
1 U87
2 AKG c414 BULS
1 Beyerdynamic M99...[/quote]AAaaarrrrggggghhhhh! Now that hurt! I feel your pain all the way down here in Tennessee!

 

[Peter Simonsen]

Hi Gustav,

I`m soo sorry to hear that..hope you get most of your wonderfull gear saved. Let me know if there´s anything I can do to help..;-)

Kind regards

Peter

 

[SonsOfThunder]

So sorry to hear!

 

[tony dB]

i feel your pain...

had water coming in too a few year ago,
stopped it before entering the studio

 

[Gustav]

Im lucky Im right next to a place where they have demineralized water on regular taps, and superaccurate industrial ovens.

The AKGs will be fine I think. The U87 will deffinetely be fine, seems like the water didnt really get into that. The M99 looks a little :sad: .

Most of the units that were covered in water were in my storage room just waiting to be sold or passed on to friends anyway. Now Ill just get insurance on those I guess

I have some bad cosmetic damage to the base of the Dynaudios, and I had a NAD amp, and a Thule amp on the floor becuase I was trying some new speakers, and checking the amps on them. I tried cleaning them up, but it doesnt look good.

The worst thing is all the time Ive spent building seperationwalls, and walls to bend waves in my CR. Those will have to be broken down now to gain access to the floor.

MAybe this is just a chance to start over and try not to make the same mistakes. :? Im a little afraid of setting up in a basement again though. Think Ill do it on ground floor this time around.

Gustav

 

[Gustav]

Oh btw..Cleaned off the tips of the multicable (I still havent set up patchbays, so they were on the floor in one end) This will be fine as long as its cleaned and dried as well right ?

Gustav

 

[gyraf]

[quote author="Gustav"]Oh btw..Cleaned off the tips of the multicable (I still havent set up patchbays, so they were on the floor in one end) This will be fine as long as its cleaned and dried as well right ?[/quote]

It should not be a problem. When you get around to mounting the connectors, clip off a small bit, just in case water has entered.

Jakob E.

 

[mcs]

[quote author="Gustav"]Oh btw..Cleaned off the tips of the multicable (I still havent set up patchbays, so they were on the floor in one end) This will be fine as long as its cleaned and dried as well right?[/quote]
Cable is VERY good at sucking in water. I have often seen coax cable where the first 5m were damaged just because there was an untight seal at the end of it... I don't know how long time the water has to be there for this to happen though.

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen

 

[Peter Simonsen]

[quote author="Gustav"]MAybe this is just a chance to start over and try not to make the same mistakes. :? Im a little afraid of setting up in a basement again though. Think Ill do it on ground floor this time around.

Gustav[/quote]

Gustav,

I know this might seem like a "little too late smart ass answer."; but I have always told people NEVER to build anything serious in a basement..never...never...never...Now you know why..*S*..

Kind regards

Peter

 

[Mark Burnley]

Hi Gustav,

I'm sorry to hear about your flood- I know from personal experience what a mess water makes- I had my workshop flooded about this time last year (posted about it on TT). It took a while to dry out, but I bought a dehumidifer and this helped a lot. Well worth investing in one of these.

And when you do your re-build you can bear in mind exactly what to do to make it more "flood proof" next time. I know (from my experience) that a lot of people have had flood problems here- Kruz had a flood about the same time as me.

A basement isn't ideal, but for me there is no other option. Maybe you could look around and find a better premises in a different area?

Anyway, hope you clear up okay and that all your gear is safe.

:thumb:

Mark

 

[Gustav]

It seems like nothing major went wrong. I have a few instruments that no insurance would be able to replace, but luckily nothing like that got ruined.

I actually have a really good recording room on the ground floor of the building I work in. The basement just seemed so nice when I was desciding where to set up, and had just been renovated due to a flooding ! (DOH) New back-up pumps were installed back then, and an alarm was mounted on some water level monitoring thing. All that obviously did no good.

Ill have to live with a less cozy CR, but when I get back from holiday Ill set up in groundlevel.

Gustav

 

[Guest]

One other thing to look out for are transformers. They are hard to clean when in a flood. Take extra care with any that may have been submerged.

Good luck with the cleanup.

 

[CJ]

Wow! this is the third flood I have seen here!
Sorry about this unexpected hassle.
I hope you get back to normal soon.
cj :sad:

 

[Consul]

That's it! I'm making sure my studio's on the second floor!

I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you, Gustav. Hopefully, things get back to normal soon, and you can start rocking again!

 

[Steve Jones]

Once you have flushed something with distilled water, if you then flush it with isopropyl alcohol the alcohol will remove the water and then evaporate away itself.

 

[Bjorn Zetterlund]

My condolances!

I lived in a basement flat in boston that got flooded when I was in college...luckily I had no gear and only myself to think about.

I'm thinking the multi should be fine, and that coax cable as mcs mentioned is probably a lot more sensitive than audio stuff. I know even a little air bubble can ruin RF cable. Then again, I know mcs plays with digital things, and he probably knows more than me. Good luck with the cleanup!

Bjorn

 

[adrianh]

Remember the printed circuit boards are washed with water to remove
water soluible flux on some production lines.
This is done before the pots are added.
Clean water with no ions is good.
Since your water was not that clean find clean deoionized
water and wash every thing very well
dry out the equipment. And power them up slowly.