Flooded tools

[enutees]

I currently have three feet of water in my shop that will most likely take another week to recede completely.

What are the chances that any of my larger tools can survive?  Cabinet saw, 17" bandsaw, 12" jointer etc.

Anyone ever experience this?  Not sure if I have it in me to start over again regardless but I'm killing time waiting to see it.

[05 mustang]

I was flooded with 5' of water in 2011.

With my small power tools I got about 2/3 of them to operate again by taking them apart asap to let them dryout faster and to clean them out.

My tablesaw motor I didn't get to until about 2 months after the flood and the motor was still full of water and I had to replace the moter and had a lot of rust on the cast iron surface that I had to sand down and polish again.

I would say with the larger motors get them open asap to clean & dry them out. You might get them to work again.

[daddo]

Water doesn't really hurt it, it's the corrosion and the little elect components you can't get dry.

The people on the river here would just take fresh water from the hose and wash everything down well, take it apart and clean it up, re-oil and reuse it all. It is a good thing if the power was cut before the elect boards got wet.

The grime, silt, salts and so on wreaks havoc on bearings and bushings, so it must be disassembled and cleaned out well.

One man was washing his PC out with a hose. He got that thing working again after a thorough dry out.

[TGW]

I currently have three feet of water in my shop that will most likely take another week to recede completely.

What are the chances that any of my larger tools can survive?  Cabinet saw, 17" bandsaw, 12" jointer etc.

If you do your own part of the job properly chances are around 98%

If you wash everything out properly and let dry and shift all bearing and maybe a few electric components and lubricate everything properly there isn't much that can go wrong. Cleaning away all dirt and rust will be the toughest part.

Good luck!

[EricU]

my mom's commercial sewing machines went through the Nashville floods.  My daughter and I sat down with some oil an cleaned them out.  The motors weren't a problem.  She had quite a collection that we didn't get to, and those ended up at the scrappers.  It turns out that the sewing machine guy suggests cleaning with white gas instead of the oil, would have been lots cheaper. I would get to your machines as quickly as possible and get them cleaned out.  Of course, that might not be the most important thing.

They say to rip out the wet drywall and insulation first thing so that it doesn't develop mold.

Sorry you're going through this, it's a nightmare

[daddo]

I would NEVER advise to clean with gasoline or white gas which is basically the same flammable liquid that will burn the flesh right off of you in an instant when ignited.

[Bob Vaughan]

I've worked on lots of flood machines in the past.  Good advise is given above.
Ball Bearings:  They get the water-bourn grit in them so they all need to be replaced.  While they may work for the short term, that grit will take its toll and eventually seize up the bearing.  Corrosion on the switch contacts can keep things from working.  Take the switches apart and clean the contacts if you have good switches.  Asian switches often will simply need replacing if they don't work well.

Rust from residual dampness in the sawdust covered nooks and crannies can be a problem.  WD-40 beats nothing since it is a water displacement fluid.

Flooded shops are a pain to bring back, but it can be done with some elbow grease.  Those that have been paying flood insurance premiums will be better off than those that haven't.

[Delta007]

I've worked on lots of flood machines in the past.  Good advise is given above.
Ball Bearings:  They get the water-bourn grit in them so they all need to be replaced.  While they may work for the short term, that grit will take its toll and eventually seize up the bearing.  Corrosion on the switch contacts can keep things from working.  Take the switches apart and clean the contacts if you have good switches.  Asian switches often will simply need replacing if they don't work well.

Rust from residual dampness in the sawdust covered nooks and crannies can be a problem.  WD-40 beats nothing since it is a water displacement fluid.

Flooded shops are a pain to bring back, but it can be done with some elbow grease.  Those that have been paying flood insurance premiums will be better off than those that haven't.

Bob knows! Listen up.

[EricU]

I would NEVER advise to clean with gasoline or white gas which is basically the same flammable liquid that will burn the flesh right off of you in an instant when ignited.

thanks, I would never use gasoline but I didn't realize that white gas was just as flammable.  I actually have one of mom's machines that I want to clean up, it's a serger, so expensive and it doesn't seem to have any corrosion, just mud.  I guess the residual oil has kept it from rusting.  I like to clean with wd-40.  I used synthetic motor oil on mom's sewing machines.  Not sure it works better than any other oil of that viscosity, but it's nice and light and doesn't attract crud like 3 in 1 does.

[frigator]

My shop was flooded twice in 2004 from a hurricane. I had a foot of water each time. Fortunately none of my motors got wet. Most of my machines were on mobile basis also so they were higher up off the floor. This was salt water so I was really worried about corrosion so I rinsed it off as best I could with freshwater and tried to let it dry.

The insurance company came in and paid me 70% of the replacement value of the tools even though they worked fine. They were issuing checks right and left because of the hurricane damage and the guy didn't even hardly glance at the tools. So I made out like a bandit really.