Question System swimmin with the fishes

[silversmithy]

Not sure if this is the exact area to post this, but here it goes. So many months ago a friend had a water leak in laundry room and it poured into the garage below. Unfortunately their PC was on the ground and I was told that you could see water in the case, (has a glass side panel.). Not sure why this beauty was not set on a cabinet or why it was out in the garage, but it was.

The PSU is mounted at the bottom, so almost certainly it had at least some water in or around it. I cannot give you more info than what I physically can see as I have not used it prior to the deluge. My concern is now after it is dry, and I've cleaned off dust, etc., is there any harm of at least seeing if it will post? Looking into the PSU, and motherboard, case, etc., I just see dust residue and maybe where water might have been, but really hard to tell. Also sounds like whatever water was in there was drained out relatively quickly.

Advice appreciated. Here are the specs that I can give you...

Some AMD CPU with I believe a wraith heatsink/fan

2 Corsair ram sticks

Antec NE 550 gold PSU

Asus prime B450M-A mobo

Samsung SSD drive.

I realize that this is no cutting edge gaming machine, but I sure would like to see it working again unless it's too late...

Thanks

 

[MrLitschel]

I have had a user ship me a laptop after his office flooded out. Let it sit for 1 month in the storeroom in the heat of the summer and it started up with no glitches

Depending on how long it was left to dry will play a factor. If it's only been a few days, take apart what you can and take a hair dryer on low heat over all the circuit boards to dry any the nooks and crannies (open PCI Slots, etc). The only way to know if it will work is to power it on.

 

[silversmithy]

Thanks. It's been drying out albeit in that same garage for about 4-5 months. I now have it at my place a safe distance from a radiator style heater.

I was thinking about pulling the PSU to get a better look at the internals with a flashlight, and then testing outside the case for indication of power. Overkill?

 

[MrLitschel]

Not really overkill - Cautious

That will tell you if the PSU is toast by unplugging the items attached to it. You could add each device separately after that if it starts up OK.

 

[CountMike]

Not sure if this is the exact area to post this, but here it goes. So many months ago a friend had a water leak in laundry room and it poured into the garage below. Unfortunately their PC was on the ground and I was told that you could see water in the case, (has a glass side panel.). Not sure why this beauty was not set on a cabinet or why it was out in the garage, but it was.

The PSU is mounted at the bottom, so almost certainly it had at least some water in or around it. I cannot give you more info than what I physically can see as I have not used it prior to the deluge. My concern is now after it is dry, and I've cleaned off dust, etc., is there any harm of at least seeing if it will post? Looking into the PSU, and motherboard, case, etc., I just see dust residue and maybe where water might have been, but really hard to tell. Also sounds like whatever water was in there was drained out relatively quickly.

Advice appreciated. Here are the specs that I can give you...

Some AMD CPU with I believe a wraith heatsink/fan

2 Corsair ram sticks

Antec NE 550 gold PSU

Asus prime B450M-A mobo

Samsung SSD drive.

I realize that this is no cutting edge gaming machine, but I sure would like to see it working again unless it's too late...

Thanks

If it was under power (Plugged in and switch on, doesn't even need to be running) I would give PSU and parts that were wet 99% chance of being toast.
PSUs are nowhere close to be waterproof, big holes for fan and ventilation, Should be taken out, dried well and tried without connection to PC because ashort could send high voltage to PC parts and burn them.

 

[silversmithy]

Thanks very much for the info, advice. It was not plugged in at all so I guess that is a definite plus. I will remove the PSU hopefully in the next few days, and do the paperclip test anyway. I am pretty sure that there is no water left anywhere, but may borrow a hair dryer and give it a good once over the entire case, every corner, etc. Thanks again.

 

[Misgar]

If the flood water contained any salts leached from nearby concrete surfaces, the soaking may have deposited a thin coating of contaminants on all/most printed circuit boards in the computer These salts could lead to corrosion when they come into contact with the solder joints, component leads and computer metalwork. The motors in cooling fans may have been affected too.

Although you can visually inspect both sides of the motherboard for white deposits and consider cleaning them off, it's not a good idea to open the PSU, unless you have a very good understanding of the hazards involved. That's why there's usually a Warning label on PSUs saying "DANGER. No user serviceable parts inside".

When you connect AC mains to an ATX PSU and set the rocker switch on the back to the 'On' position, the 400V DC electrolytic bulk capacitor immediately charges up to around 325V DC (if your mains supply is 230V AC). This high DC voltage is more than enough to cause fatal electric shocks if you come into contact with it.

If there are any stray conductive paths left over from water damage inside the PSU, leakage currents could bridge the isolation barriers between the High Voltage circuits and the SELV (safety extra low voltage) sections of the PSU. The normal PSU safety circuits might not function if they have been affected by contaminantion.

Power supply designers go to great lengths to ensure sufficient "Creepage and Clearance" distances between high voltage and low voltage circuits. If contaminants create a conductive path between the two sections, the PSU becomes a safety hazard.

https://resources.altium.com/p/high-voltage-pcb-design-creepage-and-clearance-distance

In practice, the PSU may not be affected by the soaking and might continue to work for several years.

Equally well, the PSU might emit a few sparks and die the instant you apply mains power.

Or it could give all the appearances of working and die a few hours later.

In addition, conductive paths and corrosion on the motherboard may render it useless.

If this was my computer, I'd test the motherboard with a different PSU to see if the mobo still works.

I might test the original PSU in isolation, standing at least 2m (6ft) away when applying mains power, just in case big fat sparks leap out of the case.

You might be lucky, you might not. Just be careful.

 

[silversmithy]

Thank you for all the great info, and advice. I definitely would not consider taking the PSU apart. I was thinking the same thing about trying the computer out with a different PSU. As far as testing the suspect PSU I will definitely test isolated and use extreme caution. Thanks again.

 

[punkncat]

IMO, even if the system was powered down the CMOS battery probably caused issue.

 

[silversmithy]

Thanks for the info. I think I have another battery to install. The water did not get up to the motherboard as far as I know, most likely just up to the bottom mounted PSU. I'll let the system sit for a few more days by the heater. It's been many months at least since the water issue.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Safety has a price. While airing out isn't wrong, I would get a dehumidifier and box it in with the PC to ensure every bit of water is gone. HOWEVER, I would still let it air dry slowly first so that the sudden removal of water (if the board are wet/soaked) don't warp.

 

[silversmithy]

So I went ahead and disconnected the PSU and did a basic power on test with a paperclip. There is what I describe as the normal click and the fan spins. I have not had any experience with this specific PSU, (Antec NE550 GOLD). When I removed the PSU from the case the fan was installed facing down which in this case is the only way it can go so it's not blocked. The Antec sticker in the center of the fan as well as the warranty sticker over one of the screws are completely intact so not sure how much water really was in the case as I figured they would have shown damage. Strange. Is it safe to hook everything back up and try it out?

 

[CountMike]

So I went ahead and disconnected the PSU and did a basic power on test with a paperclip. There is what I describe as the normal click and the fan spins. I have not had any experience with this specific PSU, (Antec NE550 GOLD). When I removed the PSU from the case the fan was installed facing down which in this case is the only way it can go so it's not blocked. The Antec sticker in the center of the fan as well as the warranty sticker over one of the screws are completely intact so not sure how much water really was in the case as I figured they would have shown damage. Strange. Is it safe to hook everything back up and try it out?

That test doesn't tell much beyond that fuse is intact and fan turns. It should be tested properly with PSU tester and under load. There are at least half dozen different voltage controllers and regulators inside. a short in any of them could send too high voltage to a part in the PC.
Outcome is difficult to predict. It ranges equally between not working, working partially, working normally or blowing something up.
It's only part in whole PC that everything depends on.