[SOLVED] Water and PCs don't play well together

[clawrence111]

4 weeks ago today I came home to a flooded basement with a couple inches of water. My desktop PC was sitting in it. The power supply is at top of box and dry, but one edge of motherboard and part of hard drive were in water. the power strip the PC was plugged into had popped its circuit breaker so I was hoping for the best. I set machine out in hot sun for a day then in a room with a dehumidifier for the rest of the last 4 weeks. went to power up today but the power supply is toast (probably a blown internal fuse, but I will replace unit not the fuse). the motherboard is also likely shot too. I can always pop a spare power supply in to check. My main concern is the hard disk. I know they are sealed units and it is readable in an external drive dock, but I wonder about impact on the drive's long term viability. Part of the connector and circuit board were in water.

I am just curious if anyone has had similar experience and what to expect. I know the obvious response from most is to not risk anything and get a new drive. I will do that but am really interested in your experiences more than your logical advice.

thanks,
Craig

 

[drea.drechsler]

4 weeks ago today I came home to a flooded basement with a couple inches of water. My desktop PC was sitting in it. The power supply is at top of box and dry, but one edge of motherboard and part of hard drive were in water. the power strip the PC was plugged into had popped its circuit breaker so I was hoping for the best. I set machine out in hot sun for a day then in a room with a dehumidifier for the rest of the last 4 weeks. went to power up today but the power supply is toast (probably a blown internal fuse, but I will replace unit not the fuse). the motherboard is also likely shot too. I can always pop a spare power supply in to check. My main concern is the hard disk. I know they are sealed units and it is readable in an external drive dock, but I wonder about impact on the drive's long term viability. Part of the connector and circuit board were in water.

I am just curious if anyone has had similar experience and what to expect. I know the obvious response from most is to not risk anything and get a new drive. I will do that but am really interested in your experiences more than your logical advice.

thanks,
Craig

Drives aren't really sealed, to allow atmospheric pressure to equalize they have small ports with filters covering them to allow air to pass through. They're probably less than perfect at stopping moisture.

But water (especially ion-rich ground water) isn't good on electronics, as you've found, and is even harder on mechanical bits. If it were mine I'd recover the data and write the whole PC off... PSU, MoBo, Processor, drives and especially case as it will soon start rusting in tight spots you didn't know existed.

 

[clawrence111]

Thank you for the clarification on the drives not being completely sealed. with cost of drives it certainly makes sense to replace it along with the rest of stuff.