Work has been flooded today, the computers have been underwater, along with some audio recording stuff, mixing desk etc which I had stored there.
The question is, will stuff work after drying out and cleaning? I know that electrical cleaner is alcohol based so not really bothered about contamination. And yes, some stuff is backed up, some stuff isn’t. Any advice appreciated, thanks
Oh, in West yorks.

There’s a good chance it’ll work if was powered off before flooding and thoroughly dried before powering on. I mean really thoroughly dried for days in a warm place with some rice or similar drying agent in it.

I definitely don’t disagree with nickjb but how crappy was the water? One of the big problems we have had is with the silt afterwards. i.e. the kit might work for a while and then start to fall over. Basically don’t rely on anything you get working again to continue to work indefinitely.

Might need stripping and cleaning “professionally” (or at least very thoroughly, with the proper kit).
Anything that’s got moving parts or fiddly bits (hard drives for instance) will probably be toast.

Probably worth getting some proper desiccant packs, I assume it’ll be more effective than rice, otherwise you’d just get rice packs in your new stuff 🙂

Reckon it would all need a good flushing/hosepiping followed by a dip in some sort of cleaner, before drying and then sealing in zip lock bags with dessi’s.

Is is insured? if so scrap it and get new. Flood water is usually contaminated and has very fine silt particles in it that will get in everywhere.

Dunno about computery stuff but if its an analogue mixing desk I’ve chucked stuff in a clean dish washer with no detergent before.

Now, i’m not saying you do this yourself you understand but I’d rinse it at the very least while its still damp to get the nasties oot then dry it thoughoughly. Not with heat just somewhere very well ventilated with lots of siluca gel or dehumidifier.

It wint be as polluted as your typical recording studio mixing desk I can guarantee that!

I’d have thought that things like electrolytic capacitors would really not take kindly to being submerged in silty water. Potentiometers would also be unhappy I would think.

It wint be as polluted as your typical recording studio mixing desk I can guarantee that!

A friend of mine does a bit of sound engineering for gigs and a desk manufacturer sent him a preproduction model of their new super duper top of the range desk to trial live and give feedback on. He trialled it with one his livelier crowds. His feedback was ‘you need to drill some holes in the bottom so beer can find its way out’.

OP key factor is whether it was powered off, my work computer is left on 99% of the time and just “sleeps” that means it’s powered on – and thus more at risk of flooding. I suspect its new kit time for pretty much everything. You might try and get an external caddy for the hard disks and see if you can access them from a new machine, as its a business you’re hopefully fully jnsured so you can hire a specialist company to do this for you.

Thanks for the replies people, the drying process has begun