Water damage

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I finally started to haul my stuff out from under the storage area below the porch. The area has not been treated like the rest of the basement and can take on water. I had everything sitting on pallets as a precaution. Well, apparently the water came in from above because one of the plastic bag lined cardboard boxes had an inch of standing water in it.

The box (what was left of it) was a mold/mildew mess and contained about $3000 worth of rolling stock. I spent about 6 hours last night opening each jewel case, cleaning it and the car with Clorox wipes and tossing the wet and mildewed cardboard inserts. The freight cars look to be OK. One custom C30-7A looks like it may need a new motor. I'm unsure of the Atlas C40-8W, and IM SD40-s and SD45-2s, but they look like they escaped major damage. I also had a 44 tonner and HHP-8 that looked to be OK, but since both are DCC, I don't know if their electronics are toast. My Bachmann mallet got the brunt of it as the box itself was sitting on the bottom and the engine was partially submerged. I didn't see any corrosion, and placed it near my radiator to dry out. Since that was also DCC, I am pretty sure this will now live on as a display piece.

Some items were in cardboard boxes (rotary play, CC and Walthers stack cars)... I'm just going to toss them. the boxes had so much mold they were literally gelatinous.

Also ruined was a Tech II 2800 throttle, about 150 magazines and some tools.

Could have been a lot worse, but still a pain in the a$$ to clean.

I am in process of converting to large 30 gallon totes that will be waterproof if the basement ever does flood things will be protected. Should have done this years ago.

[peteski]

Oy, that sucks!  At least you were able to salvage quite a bit (even if it was a long and painful process). IIRC, Kiz wasn't as lucky when Katrina hit.

[Kisatchie]

Oy, that sucks!  At least you were able to salvage quite a bit (even if it was a long and painful process). IIRC, Kiz wasn't as lucky when Katrina hit.

Yeah! I lost about $7000 worth of locos and about $500 worth of freight cars. I did manage to save about 95% of my rolling stock by taking it with me when we evacuated. Stupid me, I overlooked the 2 boxes of locos when I was filling up the car with freight cars. If I had at least put the locos upstairs, they would have been fine. I figured the roof would blow off before the levees would fail... 

I was then, and still am, taking some very powerful mood-altering drugs. Helped immensely.


Hmm... bananas are
mood-altering food...

[Dave V]

Welcome to the water damage club...   

[wm3798]

[thread drift] Kis, I'm presently reading Douglas Brinkley's exhaustive history of the run up and aftermath of Katrina.  I visited New Orleans in 2013, and was startled to still see homes with the FEMA spray paint marks on them.  We've experienced the occasional storm surge here on Delmarva, but I can only imagine what you and your neighbors experienced in 2005.  I still have one of the Atlas hoppers I bought from you that survived. /[thread drift].

Daniel, I bet you'll never store that kind of stuff like that again!

Lee

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Lee it took me exactly one hour to return home with seven 30 gallon totes from the Container Company. Weatherproof, anti-microbial and stackable. I should have done this long ago. I still need a lot more. My vehicle collection alone took up 90 gallons of storage.

[C855B]

30-gallon totes full of locos are going to be heavy. I use hinged-lid 12-gallon totes similar to this. I have one tote not quite half full of motive power in jewel cases, and...

[insert "Jeopardy" wait music here]

...according to the bathroom scale it weighs 27 pounds. Again, that's less than half full. Full (12-gallon) totes of rolling stock weigh about the same. Something to ponder with those larger totes unless you're just planning to use them as trunks and not lifting or moving them much.

We're container and organization store junkies - certainly can't tell by our house - and I think those 30-gallon jobbies are intended for clothes, linens and other lightweight stuff. Start filling 'em up with books and other normal life detritus and you'll get a nasty surprise when trying to move one.

[Hamaker]

How very very true !  30 gallon totes are great for storing feathers.  I too use nothing bigger than a 12 gallon tote. 

[up1950s]

You could , on threatening days , hang the containers on pre-located screw hooks in the ceiling , but not below a bathroom or kitchen sink . A filled 30 gallon container might require an assist from a come-along .

[nkalanaga]

As long as it was fresh water I doubt that the electronics are damaged.  With no moving parts, a DCC decoder is virtually immune to water damage, except for possible corroded contacts.  Those can be cleaned easily, and the rest of the chips etc should be fine.  If it had been powered up when it got wet, that would be another matter, but off it should be safe.

The biggest problem in your Tech II is probably dirt in the pots and switches, and that may be repairable with contact cleaner.  Again, the solid state components should be fine.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

They do weigh a bit. My loaded 30 gallon totes clock in around 50 pounds. That is more than manageable for me. O rather have few bulk containers than many little ones. These will find a gone under the layout. When my rolling stock is wreathed, converted and modified, it will be moved to the large cardboard storage system I use for watered models. (yes these week be protected from water insert the layout). The free yours will then be used for household storage under the layout.

Since I'm using one style tote, anything I throw under the layout will match... Clothes, tools, etc.

Just found out a few parts are missing from my mallet :/  Anyone have a spare front right compressor?

[tom mann]

I always bought the 18 gallon ones because there were easier to carry up stairs (especially attic stairs). 

[JMaurer1]

I was about to say what nkalanaga already said. Water only damages electronics if the electronics have power (including a battery sometimes used to remember settings) but DCC decoders (and most current electronics) use a PIC (programmable integrated circuit) instead of a battery. To really do the job right, you can submerge the locomotives in distilled water or alcohol to try and remove any impurities and grime that may be still on the circuit boards...or you can just box them up and send them to me 

[nkalanaga]

Before submerging them in alcohol take the shells off, or it may remove the paint as well as the dirt!  It shouldn't hurt the mechanisms, as we used straight "isopropanol anhydrous" for cleaning computer equipment, including motors and tape drive read heads, at my last job.

[nscaler711]

The is a rule of thumb for "water damaged" smartphones, is use Rice, stick the mech in a Bag of rice and the rice will take out any moisture that may be on the board, I have done this once with a phone and it worked fine for a while... so you can always try Rice.