Fixing Wet Pedals, Tips Please

[Bassmanfox]

As some of you may know the midwest has been getting walloped with rain the past few weeks.  Unfortunately a good friend of mine had all his pedals(20+++) soaked in water 4 inches or so deep.  I am no the man who has to figure out if they are salvageable or not.  I am just wondering if any folks have any tips on what to do.  Does rusting occur quickly?  How bad will the potentiometers be?  Will the switches be worthless?  I dunno I've never dealt with water damaged pedals before.  He has got a gig tomorrow too, so it looks like it will be a long night for me.  I figure I am going to bathe them in some alcohol and scrub them down and then just plug them in with a inline fuse to make sure they don't draw too much current.  Any help is greatly appreciated. 

[Mark Hammer]

Somewhere in there are chips, and somewhere under the chips is water trapped by capillary action.  Seems to me that a very practical strategy would be to go to a computer-supply store, or even Rat Shack, and get yourself a spray can of compressed air, the kind that is used for cleaning the inside of computers.  Point the spray nozzle under each chip as best as you can and give it a blast.  You'll want to do the same for any pots as well.

Stomp-switches are another matter.  I doubt those are entirely waterproof, and they don't lend themselves to air-cleaning, so they may need to be (gently) pried open and cleaned.

Just out of curiosity, a question for the rest of the gang:  What would happen if you sat a damp stompbox on a rack in an oven and very gently baked it for a while at, say, 220F or some other temperature intended to jiggle those water molecules without imposing too much on the paint and plastics?

[theundeadelvis]

Maybe go to Lowes or Home Depot and get some of this too: http://www.damprid.dsiwebbuilder.com/index.asp?cat=56350
Fill a box and put the pedals in it. Never tried it but maybe it would help.

[tranceracer]

Most electronics i.e. ckt boards are water resistant.  FIRST DISCO any batteries.  If your friends pedals were soaked from flood water I recommend that he immediately take them apart and rinse with distilled water to remove dirt and corrosive/conductive contaminants.  Let them air dry thoroughly and sweep the pots.  Reassemble and PRAY.

I've had a similar disaster: spilled a bowl cereal w/ milk and sugar all over my open PC while it was on.  Believe me I was cursin' like a Sailor!  Milk, sugar and cereal was all over the guts, PCI cards, AGP card, and MOBO.  I immediately shut down my PC.  Disconnected the power and proceeded to clean it up.  Wiped up as much milk and cereal as I could.  Removed all the cards, hard drives (4) and memory and one by one washed them down with water, the HDs were wiped down did not submerge them.  Washed the Motherboard off and let all the components dry for a day.  Reassembled the PC and to my surprise everything worked!

The key is expedience.

I hope this helps your friend recover some or all of his pedals.
-tR

[petemoore]

  Like when the cordless or cellphone drops into the dog water bowl.
  Instantly take it out and remove the battery.
  Had stuff like this happen more than once, recently a phone did this and was tested to see if it worked as before the water on the outside had dripped off...nope...and nope...didn't work later either.
  Most of the time if you can get the power lifted before it does damage, the other damage will be anything from 'none, to done'.
  I would bet the circuits have a good chance of having all components [except the mechanical ones] in working order, resistors and opamps, transistors and diodes at least, I guess and guess caps would be ok too, but, don't quote me.
  I'd try working with the pots if they don't work right off, use tuner cleaner type spray and rotate while wet with it.

[Paul Marossy]

Whenever my boy puts any kind of electronic toy in the bath with him, even if it's turned off, it usually gets ruined. I hope that is not the case with all those pedals!

I would try to get them totally dried out before attempting to do any kind of testing on them. I don't think you'll have to worry about rust too much since they haven't been sitting in water for an extended period of time. The electronics part is my first concern.

[GREEN FUZ]

You`d be surprised how resilient some electronic devices can be. As has already been stated a big issue is any contaminants that may be in the water. Amount of time spent in the water is also an issue. The longer it`s been immersed the longer the liquid has to cause any possible damage. That is just stating the obvious though.
It is essential to ensure it is completely dried out before any attempt is made to power up.

[GonzoFonts]

Removed all the cards, hard drives (4) and memory and one by one washed them down with water, the HDs were wiped down did not submerge them.  Washed the Motherboard off and let all the components dry for a day.  Reassembled the PC and to my surprise everything worked!

The fact that you were able to clean it up quick and have everything working is not surprising.

Computer components (motherboards, etc., not to mention 99.99% of all SMT printed circuit boards currently being manufactured) have a conformal coating on them. You really can't tell that it is there, but it is there. The purpose of the conformal coating is to prevent corrosion not from spills, but from the environment (i.e. you live near salt water, high humidity, etc.).

I have very little hope that pedals would work correctly after being submerged in water, even for a brief period of time. Most film capacitors will absorb some water. As someone else mentioned, the ICs will absorb some water into its package due to capillary action. The pots are more than likely permanently damaged.

You may be able to power them up and get some signal to pass, but I really doubt that the pedals will sound like the did before the incident. Also, I think over time, he will start to see more signs of water damage (example, no corrosion on power jack today, but six months from now...?).

Bottom like is that it would be very expensive and time consuming to restore his pedals.

Does he have renters and/or home owners insurance? If he does, that would be the best route to take.

Good luck.

GF

[Ed G.]

Use an air compressor to blow all the water out. I have one of those 'pancake' jobs that can power nail guns and such, and around every 6 months, crack open my computer to blow dust out with it. Much more powerful than the little cans and you probably know someone with it.

Now this might be bad advice, because I don't know how conductive this stuff is, but the "WD" in WD-40 stands for "water displacer"

[R.G.]

Electronics as a rule is forgiving of immersion

IF YOU THEN QUICKLY GET ALL THE WATER AND ANY CONTAMINANTS OUT!!!

It was common at several places I've heard of to clean PCBs by putting them in a kitchen dishwasher.

There are a few tricks. Wash the whole mess in clean, clear tap water, being sure to get mud other gook off as completely as possible. Compressed air drying is a good idea, but there is another trick that's even better. Get all the obvious water off that you can by draining, then blowing, etc. and once that's done, dunk the whole thing in alcohol. Ideally use denatured ethanol from the hardware store, but isopropyl works too,

Alcohol is miscible with water in all proportions. The alcohol mixes with any water left in any crevice it can get into, and replaces the water with a mixture of mostly alcohol and a little water. The mixture dries very quickly indeed. An alcohol rinse is how a lot of chemistry lab glassware is dried. Do this outdoors and away from any possible source of combustion, because alcohol vapor is quite flammable.

If the thing then does not work, it's probably contamination in switches or pots. Replace those.

[Bassmanfox]

Hey guys thanks for the tips.  I spent all day today with them and well, they all seem to work, its mind blowing really.  I used contact cleaner and sprayed/scrubbed them all with a horse hair brush.  Then opened every switch and cleaned them out and then used contact lubricant on the switches and pots.  So far I've saved, Z.vex fuzz factory, keeley comp, Tc electronics delay, heavily modded vox wah, Boss Dm-2, holy grail reverb, boss tuner, and I think thats its so far.  I am really scared about his boss chorus ensemble and moog ring mod, but so far its good.  Thanks again and let this be a lesson that there is always hope for a pedal.

[Paul Marossy]

Wow, great news! Hopefully they will all have survived this ordeal when all is said and done. 

[the_random_hero]

Hey guys thanks for the tips.  I spent all day today with them and well, they all seem to work, its mind blowing really.  I used contact cleaner and sprayed/scrubbed them all with a horse hair brush.  Then opened every switch and cleaned them out and then used contact lubricant on the switches and pots.  So far I've saved, Z.vex fuzz factory, keeley comp, Tc electronics delay, heavily modded vox wah, Boss Dm-2, holy grail reverb, boss tuner, and I think thats its so far.  I am really scared about his boss chorus ensemble and moog ring mod, but so far its good.  Thanks again and let this be a lesson that there is always hope for a pedal.

That's excellent news! I think your friend might owe you a beer or two

[choklitlove]

Whenever my boy puts any kind of electronic toy in the bath with him

anybody else see something wrong here?

[R O Tiree]

Cat pee kills pedals, though. I had an old Zoom 707 II that our oldest cat decided needed territory-marking. Although I got to it in only a couple of hours, the damage to all the little SMT micro-switches was done. It was just not economical to fix, so it went in the bin.

The cat re-learned a valuable lesson about the acceptable limits of marking...