Electronics and electrical equipment can be an integral part of any business, industrial or otherwise, which is why it’s important to engage in electrical equipment waterproofing. But what happens if your equipment isn’t waterproof and some act of nature (like a hurricane or floods) ends up giving your electrical equipment some water damage? Is it possible to recover these lost appliances? Yes, there is, and let’s explore that today.
Products you need for water damage recovery
The following products are a couple that you’ll most likely need for water damage recovery. While most are pretty similar, there are key differences between each product that we will highlight throughout the following sections. Without further ado, here are the products you’ll most likely need for your water damage recovery.
Fast dry contact cleaner
This stuff is a residue free, fast drying, high powered spray that dissolves grease, light oils and rinses away other contaminants. It also increases performance, prolongs equipment life and prevents electrical failures.
- Trilike / Probe II – It’s safe for most plastics, flammable
- Probe – It’s safe for most plastics, Non-flammable
Heavy Duty Non-flammable Electrical & Electronic Equipment Cleaner and degreaser
- SafSolv – The SafSolv is a residue free, super fast drying, high power spray with powerful flushing action that dissolves grease, dirt & grime on electrical equipment even while in operation. Like the Probe, it can be used on live equipment. This stuff is generally used for heavy duty amounts of grease, dirt and grime.
Protector of your Live Electrical Devices from moisture
- 5 in 1 – It is an all purpose, non-flammable, non-conductive mechanical & electrical spray. It protects your electrical and metal products from future rust and corrosion issues, plus it also works as a lubricant. Furthermore, it displaces moisture and water in electrical systems. On the whole, this product does a lot. Check out the Live light socket in the fish-tank trick!
Steps to take for water damage recovery on your electronics and electrical equipment
Alright, so now that you’re familiar with the products themselves, it’s time to finally explore the How to portion of this article. So, this is how to recover your electrical equipment and electronics from water damage.
- The Two D’s. The next steps in the water cleaning process are what we like to call the two D’s of water damage cleaning: De-energize and Drain. First, you need to de-energize your equipment, to make sure that no accidents occur. Then, drain the water from your equipment. If you want to clean some of the debris off of your equipment, use the Trilike and the Probe II.
- Remove all remaining grease, oil, sludge and other disgusting residue. The next step is to remove all the excess grease, oil and sludge that you may have missed in the first round. For this step, you’ll most likely need the Probe. If the grease, oil and sludge is REALLY caked on there, this is where you use the SafSolv to make sure that all that stuff is dissolved. All contaminated areas should be sprayed and cleaned, then left to dry before returning them to regular use.
- Protect your metal. Once all the interior electrical equipment is cleaned, it’s probably best to clean and protect all the metal surrounding the electronics. This is where you’d use the 5 in 1, spray it generously over places that you think will need protection from oxidation and corrosion. These include areas of low voltage, some electrical contacts and metals.
- Test your equipment. For this step, it is imperative you make sure that all your equipment is dried out. If your equipment is still under performing, you may have to repeat steps 2 and 3. Make sure to take it easy on this equipment for a couple hours before returning it to it’s regular duties.
And there you have it! Four steps and five different types of products to make sure that not only is your product fixed after water damage, but also that it is maintained afterwards. So next time you have water damage in your equipment, make sure you think Brodi. You won’t regret it.