Yeah. My apartment is completely flooded. It's probably halfway between my ankle and knee.
It's really late Brian or I might have called you. When I left my apartment, the DDR Pad was completely submerged. I cut all electricity to it, but God only knows how bad it is now.
I'm having the sinking feeling that it might be completely screwed.
What's the best measures I can take once the water clears out? Do you think it will still work when the water clears out?
So, my DDR machine is under water....
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Either use a hair dryer and dry it all quickly (as soon as the water is gone) or wipe all the steel down, especially unpainted steel and edges, with a paper towel sprayed LIGHTLY with WD-40. Your biggest concern will be rust of the structure. If you use WD-40, wipe it back down with a dry paper towel after a few minutes to remove residue. Don't use any heavy oils or anything for this purpose.
The electronics in the stage (just some bare boards) will be fine, in all likelyhood, as long as you let them dry out COMPLETELY before you power it up again you may want to take the opportinuty to clean out any corrosion that has appeared as it can harbor water. Remeber that any IC sockets (are there any in the stage?) can hold water for a while, as well.
If the cabinet is also underwater, you are going to have problems with the wood getting wet and expanding. That's not quite so fixable. MDF really hates getting wet, as does particle board and plywood (to a lesser extent). If the monitor gets wet, let me know. There's some things you should definately look at before powering it back up again. Same goes for the electronics in the cabinet. For those, yank the top, dry it out (towel, hair dryer on low), let it sit for a couple days, then try powering it up. The speakers will be ruined if they get wet, and you'll have to replace them, probably. You may also want to concern yourself with rust of any metal casings inside the cabinet. Your coin door is also probably steel and will rust. Your coin mech may just need to be replaced if it's a metal coin controls type (Imonex are plastic and won't rust).
The electronics in the stage (just some bare boards) will be fine, in all likelyhood, as long as you let them dry out COMPLETELY before you power it up again you may want to take the opportinuty to clean out any corrosion that has appeared as it can harbor water. Remeber that any IC sockets (are there any in the stage?) can hold water for a while, as well.
If the cabinet is also underwater, you are going to have problems with the wood getting wet and expanding. That's not quite so fixable. MDF really hates getting wet, as does particle board and plywood (to a lesser extent). If the monitor gets wet, let me know. There's some things you should definately look at before powering it back up again. Same goes for the electronics in the cabinet. For those, yank the top, dry it out (towel, hair dryer on low), let it sit for a couple days, then try powering it up. The speakers will be ruined if they get wet, and you'll have to replace them, probably. You may also want to concern yourself with rust of any metal casings inside the cabinet. Your coin door is also probably steel and will rust. Your coin mech may just need to be replaced if it's a metal coin controls type (Imonex are plastic and won't rust).
A normality test:
+++ATH
If you are no longer connected to the internet, you need to apply more wax to your modem: it'll make it go faster.
If you find this funny, you're a nerd.
If neither of the above apply, you are normal. Congratulations.
+++ATH
If you are no longer connected to the internet, you need to apply more wax to your modem: it'll make it go faster.
If you find this funny, you're a nerd.
If neither of the above apply, you are normal. Congratulations.
The subwoofers will definetely be wet. I'll let everything dry out as best as I can and then clean the pad and the insides ot as much as I can. I know the bottom of the cabinet is underwater so there isn't really anything we can do about that. We are going to go over as soon as possible so I'll assess what's happening and probably take a couple of pictures if possible. I don't even know if the water has receeded yet.
Aww, man! That sucks.
How does an apartment flood? I'm not sure I've even heard of flooding on a ground level unless there's just crazy flooding outside, too. I know it rained a lot in this region the other day, but I hadn't heard that it was flood-level anywhere.
I've seen electronics survive things that were seemingly catastrophic, so I'm hopeful for you. I know I once dropped a PDA in the washing machine. It worked after it dried out in about three days.
Also, there really aren't a lot of electronics down at that level in DDR, so I'd echo Brandon's thoughts being more worried about structural issues like rusting and wood damage. I really hope everything works itself out.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that your machine doesn't end up like this:
Although on the bright side, that particular machine was working...
How does an apartment flood? I'm not sure I've even heard of flooding on a ground level unless there's just crazy flooding outside, too. I know it rained a lot in this region the other day, but I hadn't heard that it was flood-level anywhere.
I've seen electronics survive things that were seemingly catastrophic, so I'm hopeful for you. I know I once dropped a PDA in the washing machine. It worked after it dried out in about three days.
Also, there really aren't a lot of electronics down at that level in DDR, so I'd echo Brandon's thoughts being more worried about structural issues like rusting and wood damage. I really hope everything works itself out.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that your machine doesn't end up like this:
Although on the bright side, that particular machine was working...
http://ww1.pureupload.com/pupload/view/18562
Take these pictures and spread them. I need to be sure that I have before and after pictures of what has happened to this.
The first three pictures are before the flood. I thought there was a prayer for it. Before we had left we opened up an arrow to take a picture of the insides to show what had happened inside the pad. Well we made sure to tell them that they werent allowed to do anything in the apartment including doing the insurance and ripping up the carpet without us being there.
The next three pictures it what happened next. We went in and saw that our place had been completely trashed. They ripped up the carpet, destroyed part of the inside of my pad, and damn near ripped the connector wires off of it before they thought to disconnect it. Jon, my friend has a lot more pictures, but this is basically what happened.
Anyway, keep these pictures to keep them safe.
Here are some of my pics when the machine worked as well. Please save these and spread them out
http://ww1.pureupload.com/pupload/view/18563
Take these pictures and spread them. I need to be sure that I have before and after pictures of what has happened to this.
The first three pictures are before the flood. I thought there was a prayer for it. Before we had left we opened up an arrow to take a picture of the insides to show what had happened inside the pad. Well we made sure to tell them that they werent allowed to do anything in the apartment including doing the insurance and ripping up the carpet without us being there.
The next three pictures it what happened next. We went in and saw that our place had been completely trashed. They ripped up the carpet, destroyed part of the inside of my pad, and damn near ripped the connector wires off of it before they thought to disconnect it. Jon, my friend has a lot more pictures, but this is basically what happened.
Anyway, keep these pictures to keep them safe.
Here are some of my pics when the machine worked as well. Please save these and spread them out
http://ww1.pureupload.com/pupload/view/18563
Ok, I got with the insurance adjuster toda and we went over all of my stuff.
After looking at the machine and talking with me I was able to convince him that the machine was unsalvagable and he will end up giving me 9.5K for the machine based on the price I was able to find for a refurbished Extreme machine on eBay. In return I have to forgo 12% of the costs to keep the machine for "sentimental value". I'll basically make 8K on it and get to keep the machine. We are (hopefully) moving it out tomorrow and putting it at a friends garage to shop out and see what can be done with it.
Not only that, but according to amazon.com my games are worth a crapload of money. My SNES and NES combined are worth about 1.5K. Pretty amazing stuff. We'll probably top out at the limit of 25K no problem.
After looking at the machine and talking with me I was able to convince him that the machine was unsalvagable and he will end up giving me 9.5K for the machine based on the price I was able to find for a refurbished Extreme machine on eBay. In return I have to forgo 12% of the costs to keep the machine for "sentimental value". I'll basically make 8K on it and get to keep the machine. We are (hopefully) moving it out tomorrow and putting it at a friends garage to shop out and see what can be done with it.
Not only that, but according to amazon.com my games are worth a crapload of money. My SNES and NES combined are worth about 1.5K. Pretty amazing stuff. We'll probably top out at the limit of 25K no problem.
It sounds like the insurance folks are being generous. That's good...surprising, but good. I guess it probably helps that you're part of a group of people who were affected. They probably want to avoid dissatisfaction as much as possible so as not to find themselves with a group of angry people rather than just an individual case.
At any rate, I'm glad it sounds like it may work out for you.
At any rate, I'm glad it sounds like it may work out for you.