Nashville flood damage to MANY amps, any tips to save?

[passfan]

Guys, you'd better watch what you buy off ebay and other sources in the coming months. There are a lot of smaller items such as effects pedals and hardware items that may or may not get cleaned properly that may wind up on the market. It happens with cars and such all the time ; no reason to think it won't happen here.

[Richie]

Glen, thats some bad looking stuff. I guess if some things can't be saved, some parts may be. You can use alcohol in the pots too, then deoxit or some with relube after they are cleaned. I've cleaned some really old ones with mud caked in and out, and they worked fine after cleaning.

[Structo]

Man, that's worse than I thought.

An amp tech posted on Soundcheck's blog that compressed air should not be used to blow out an amp or transformer because it can force the moisture in where deeper than it was.

That is sickening to see those guitars and amps.

I hope they have dehumidifier machines at the warehouse to help dry the air and large fans.

[xtian]

Urgh. I feel really twisted inside, looking at these photos (thank you for posting). I'm such an old pro at ignoring global human tragedies, but the sight of these guitars and amps brings a tear. And then I feel terrible for feeling bad about gear and not people.

[Zippy]

An amp tech posted on Soundcheck's blog that compressed air should not be used to blow out an amp or transformer because it can force the moisture in where deeper than it was.

"Forcing the moisture deeper than it was" is unlikely for gear that was submerged. US Navy guidelines were to use air pressure not to exceed 25 psi. Higher pressures, coupled with a jet nozzle, may feel like they are doing more business but the result is to entrain particles that start acting like a grit blaster - that will peel the rubber/plastic insulation from the wire and flake varnish from core windings.

DI water flush - isopropyl to displace moisture - gentle air to remove residual water and evaporate the alcohol. Hi pot test for high voltage components to verify insulation values.

Good call regarding watching out for flood-damaged gear coming on the market. There was enough of that stuff after Katrina. This could be much more substantial. Cabinets will be useless, chassis may be the best opportunities. I would be wary of transformers that weren't properly salvaged.

[geetarpicker]

I was pretty careful with the compressed air and didn't use it much near the transformers, plus my blower nozzle isn't that small so the pressure is marginal. I'm mainly shooting for the food dehydrator to dry the transformers. The pots on these amps probably feel better than they did before the storm, with the alcohol wash and Deoxit.

I agree about damaged gear or potentially damaged gear coming to market. Hopefully folks won't try to hide things.

[selloutrr]

let me know if you come upon any damaged amps for sale i like a good restoration project!

[Zippy]

I'm mainly shooting for the food dehydrator to dry the transformers.

Glenn, I think the dehydrator is such a cool idea. Do you have access to a hi-pot tester (aka "megger")? I'm curious to learn how well your procedure works. Just air drying in such a humid region could take forever - if ever.

G'luck!

[66GTO]

I received a few amps from Katrina in my shop years ago. They were a disaster and by the time the amps got to my shop, corrosion had taken it's toll. Looking at the pics and the actions of people posting here and other places on the web, the best you can do is work very hard and very fast. Distilled water and denatured alcohol, along with the tranny dryer and lots of patience...

[Structo]

Yeah, you can only imagine the nasty stuff in that mud.

Flooding is pretty rare in my area so people think it's just water and when it recedes you just clean things up.
But they fail to recognize that sewage plants are overran and below ground oil and gasoline tanks are flooded, etc.
A very nasty cocktail that invades everything.

Most homes will have to have at least 4 ft of wallboard taken off, all under flooring insulation will need to be removed, most furniture and bedding is destroyed.
Furnace ducting will be full of that nasty mud, crawl space....
TV's, appliances, etc.
Not to mention all your photos and other keepsakes that are ruined.

Then to add injury to insult, most do not have flood insurance.

My heart really goes out to those people.

Then I guess Oklahoma got slammed by multiple tornadoes yesterday as well.
Pretty crazy weather.

[geetarpicker]

Yep dealing with a flooded ruined home has to be the worst. And to deal with it without flood insurance too, dang. We were lucky in our neighborhood, but many folks very nearby have big projects ahead of them rebuilding.

Luckily the amps I'm dealing with have little to no corrosion setting in. The only sign on any were perhaps on some of the washers and other hardware but even then only minor. Guess we got lucky and we did get on them quickly once they were pulled out.

[frequencycentral]

A little off topic. Synthfool restore vintage synths by showering the circuit boards, then using compressed air to dry them off. Removes the crud.

http://www.synthfool.com/

Here's a youtube of part of the process, the synth is a '73 ARP Odyssey, probably worth $2500 (I've got one too );

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwRlZyIG6rg

[Cliff Schecht]

Yup, that's a trick that my dad taught me when I was younger. There are very few components that can't actually deal with being washed off, the obvious one being unsealed pots.

[flood]

i'm having that same bad feeling about my username like i did during the bombay floods in '05, and the tsunami in thailand

...just to be clear, i'm a fan of mark ellis, who i first knew as flood (dunno if too many people actually know his real name): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_(producer)

[66GTO]

Amp carnage...I went to buy De-oxit the other day and it seemed the whole town was out!