Entire machine under water, anything able to be saved?

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Meety Peety

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Dec 2, 2011
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Hello all, about 2 years ago I had a house flood where my entire computer case was completely under water for over an hour. The water was not clean by any means, there was a HEAVY layer of "silt" or dirt left behind. I am not positive but I am pretty sure the system was running while the flood happened.

To be honest, I called it a total loss and put the computer into a storage unit where it has sat for the last two years and I am now looking at building a new machine and figured I could clean up the case and repopulate it with some new components. I started to wonder if anything might actually be salvageable in there.

I know the PSU is toast and likely took the mobo, hdd and gpu with it since the machine was running, but I'm wondering what the odds of case fans and CPU cooler being salvaged might be? Odds of the ram sticks and SSD surviving? The case itself should clean up, but what about the USB ports and power switch, fan speed controller, etc - is there a way to test those things without building it out and running it on a trial basis?

I figure some of the more universal components I will probably keep and test them later on once a new machine is built but things like processor, ram etc will likely not be tested because I plan to build a kaby lake/ddr4 system going forward. I wouldn't want to buy a new z97 mobo unless I could somehow function test these components before hand and be certain that they were working.

I guess the biggest question at this point is is there a way to reliably test the case electronics (power, fan controls, usbs) so I can determine if I can build into the same case?

Thanks for any advice you guys can give. If it's a total loss that's OK, I made my peace with that a long time ago. I just don't want to throw away money if there is value left in anything.
 
Solution
USAFRet
1. You were paid for it by insurance (or should have been)
2. It was probably running when this happened. Anything electronic is toast.
3. You'll be building a new system. Those old parts won't work, even if they did work.
4. Reuse the case? Why? A new one, without goop, it $50.
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R_1

R_1

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if it is solid metal, and has not corroded it can be cleaned and reused. the CPU heatsink, for instance, clean it replace the fan and it will still conduct heat.
anything with circuitry, boards, cards, drives, fans--RIP.

dirty water = conductive water
if it was plugged in, its gone
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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1. You were paid for it by insurance (or should have been)
2. It was probably running when this happened. Anything electronic is toast.
3. You'll be building a new system. Those old parts won't work, even if they did work.
4. Reuse the case? Why? A new one, without goop, it $50.
 
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Solution
M

Meety Peety

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Lol, thanks for assuming so much about my life but no, insurance did not cover a thing. This was a "natural disaster" flood in san diego during one of the worst droughts the region had seen in decades 2 years ago, I nor any of my neighbors had flood insurance. Most homeowners insurance will only cover burst pipes, not "acts of god". I lost around 100k in equity on my house and had to completely gut the entire interior, All furniture, beds, walls, appliances etc. Not a dime from the insurance company. But that is beside the point and really has nothing at all to do with my questions at all. Even if I HAD been paid, why would that matter? Also, my case was a lot more than $50 and i actually really liked it. So if the choice is between cleaning this one (let's assume it worked) and buying the same one again.. why would I spend the money?
Also there are things that could be useful in the build if they would still be functional such as the ssd and the cpu cooler. I don't know if anything would be salvageable (hence the question) but if it was, why throw components away? You are an idiot, seriously. Thanks for your super helpful post. Anything else you want to assume about me? Maybe you can tell me what my Healthcare plan looks like or what my investment portfolio looks like.
 
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cryoburner

cryoburner

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Oct 8, 2011
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It might not have been running if the water created a short somewhere that popped the circuit breaker prior to the components getting flooded. For example, if the computer was plugged into a power strip that was sitting on the floor, I would suspect that as soon as the power strip got covered with water the breaker would have tripped. Or if the PSU is located at the bottom of the case, again, I would expect something to short out there before the water got to other components. Even other unrelated wires or outlets on that household circuit might have tripped the breaker prior to the computer even getting wet. That still could have potentially damaged something, and of course the sediments and potential corrosion could have caused damage as well.

I would say the motherboard, PSU, and probably graphics card and anything else with complex circuit boards and high amperage running through them might not be worth testing. Lower-power devices like SSDs, RAM and hard drives might be safer to test, so long as they are cleaned thoroughly beforehand. This could be done by removing any casing from the SSDs or heat sinks from the RAM and dunking them entirely in a bath of (high percentage) isopropyl alcohol and scrubbing them down to remove the sediments. Let them dry thoroughly, and maybe test them in an external enclosure or on an old computer first. I would actually suspect that the CPU might be okay too, particularly if the computer lost power, and it could be worth cleaning up. The fans are probably no good though, as their motors are probably full of sediments, and maybe corroded from the water that would have been stuck inside them. They might work, but could be noisy and prone to failure. The case would probably be okay, but again, would require a thorough cleaning.

The case's USB ports are likely just cables to the motherboard header, and would probably be okay. The power switch might also be fine, if sediment didn't get inside.
 
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aldan

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you really have nothing to lose here.take it into the shower and rinse the hell out of it.let it dry for a few days,and when its dry reapply the thermo paste to the cpu heatsink and fire it up.the worst that can happen is it wont work and your out a few bucks for the thermo paste.
 
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M

Meety Peety

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Thanks for the replies so far. The computer was in a desk just barely off the ground (one of those side car style compartments seen on many desks) and the PSU is indeed on the bottom with the surge protector it was plugged into likely sitting on the floor and would likely have been the first thing to get wet. Not entirely sure the sequence of things as I actually was not home at the time that this all happened but when I got home shortly after, the power was out throughout the house.

Maybe this is a stupid question but is there anything that could go wrong by just plugging the SSD into my new build once it is up and running (after cleaning of course).. meaning if it is indeed fried and I plug it into an otherwise good mobo.. any weird reaction that might cause permanent problems on the new build? I wouldn't think so but never hurts to ask the question...
 
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