Flooded

[bodgy]

The rain on Saturday was disastrous for us, well moderately so.

I had a section of swimming pool fence panel leaning against the shed, which is next to the creek. The creek broke its banks and washed all sorts of detritus onto the fence panel which eventually offered enough resistance to the water to move. It moved athwart the creek and effectively dammed it.

The water rose about 3 feet above its max and flooded both the metal shop and the garden shed, to a depth of about 18 inches.

Consequently all the tools stored below that level have been drenched. They would have been under for 2 hours and only today did I start to dry things out.

Tools that went swimming are (electric) 3 x 4" angle grinders, ARC Welder (2nd time for this) rotary table, 13" cut off saw. Also lost most of my cutting fluid and have mud from arsehole to breakfast in both sheds.

In the garden shed, the Stihl whipper snipper and a petrol hedge clipper took the dive. The forge and foundry stuff got washed away, along with the coal (V hard to get). Even the anvil moved a few feet.

At about 8PM on Saturday, the Young Prince and I were waist deep in fast flowing water trying to free the blockage across the creek, whilst Her Indoors and the Idiot Child watched to see if we would get swept away. One of them probably rooting for the affirmative! Our Sat night BBQ was rudely interrupted, and the guests very sensibly left quietly.

We have lived here for 20 years and I have only seen one storm that came close to this, although if the creek had run free, the damage would have been minor.

Enough of the gossip. Any hints on getting this equipment working again?

[silentC]

Sounds like you'll be needing a can of WD-40, Bodgy old son.

[Ray]

Hair dryers to the rescue.
A mate who is a technician was on a boat doing lots of research work out at sea. Unfortunately, their captain went mad and in a fit of rage threw stacks of electrical equipment overboard whilst in dock.
They retrieved most of it all, opened it up, washed with clean water (to get the salt out) and dried it out using hair dryers. They got all of it working again. He reckons electrical equipment can survive getting wet if it is dried out before corrosion can set in.
I did the same when I dropped my MP3 player in the pond. Works just like new.

[Wongo]

We took these pictures at the Lane Cove National Park yesterday. The water must be at least 1m higher the night before.

[Horse]

why didnt you call me? I'da come and helped move crap... you poor bastard.

hair dryers are the go but in your case the mud may be against you.

[Shy Ted]

Yep, wash 'em in clean fresh water then dry them. May be worth getting some CRC contact cleaner to dry it properly.

[Shy Ted]

I had a bit of water come through the workshop, but fortunately it didn't get the WIP coffee table sitting on the floor. Soaked a carton of Aussie cedar though.

[MurrayD99]

[quote=Shy Ted;163044..........Soaked a carton of Aussie cedar though.[/quote]


So, Ted, is that a good drop?

Bodgy, sorry to hear about the flood. I guess the clean water advice is the story - what about renting a de-humidifier... Insurance?

[bodgy]

Thanks for advice and condolences.

Unfortunately insurance is out - only water that comes down NOT up is covered.

I'm starting the restoration today, now the rain's finsihed. I'll wash with clean water plus metho, then dry with hot air gun. After a couple of hours in the sun I'll turn on and stand back.

[Bleedin Thumb]

Bad luck Bodgy, from my experience you will be able to rescue a bit of stuff, but even then you have to be bloody luck for them to keep working for any length of time....you may be lucky though.

I havent got TV on yet...anyone know how much rain we got over the weekend.....

Bloody rain has started again....I also don't have a cloths dryer. At this rate I will be getting around starkers!

[journeyman Mick]

...................Bloody rain has started again....I also don't have a cloths dryer. At this rate I will be getting around starkers!

I'm sure I speak for all of us, that in the unfortunate event that this does occur, we are quite willing to take your word for it and that we do not require you to post pictures of your enforced nudity.

Mick

[bodgy]

100% success so far. After washing and drying, all machines started and ran without incident. Only problem was the hedge trimmer where I think there was still some water in the air cleaner, however this started too after half a can of ether.

Most suprised with the stick welder. This is the second time its gone swimming, last time about 12 years ago. It just keeps on going.

Be interesting to see how long the elctrics last, whether I got to them before corrosion started.

[dentuso]

I got to this one a bit late. My workshop had 400mm through it a few years ago. Loads of my gear was under water for hours before I could get it up on the bench.

As previous members suggest pile on the CRC or WD 40. Actually I have discovered a really good one CRC MARINE good shit seems to hang on better.

I just gave them all a shake sprayed liberal amounts of CRC ,let them drain for a while and put the ""orange box'' ( portable elcb ) on the bench and gave them a run ,some tripped the box..reset run again ..run longer trip box etc. Did not lose a single tool ,except for the electric mulcher ,which I just forgot about. Insurance replaced eveything anyhow cause they reckon they would die eventually....nothing has.

Bad luck mate.It is a terrible feeling.

I said to myself after the second flood.."""give me flood ,give me cyclone but god ,please ,never give me fire""

[Harry72]

Fuckkkkkkkk, it would be very disheartening to have flooding through yer shed like that.
Did you recover any of the flooded tools?