my entire shop was 6 ft underwater...

[Lynn Kasdorf]

Sep 23, our home in Leesburg Virginia was hit by a massive flood. 2ft in the living room, 6ft in my shop building. Imagine every drawer you open is full of muddy water. Every chisel, wrench, screwdriver, drill, router, you name it soaked in mud.

In the ongoing cleanup, my basic process is to pressure wash, then drench in a tank of diesel fuel and put back into drawers (the drawers receive the same treatment).

I've not tried to power up any motors that this was done to except for a chepa cordless drill, which amazingly works.

My main question relates to the motors on the TS, BS, sander, planer, jointer, RAS, etc. as well as portable power tools. I'm thinking that with enough rinsing and blowing out with compressed air, I should be able to bring things back to life. Maybe wd40 too. Brushes may be trouble. I worry about the grit in the mud geting in bearings.

Any advice on recovering from this debacle welcome.

[Von Bickley]

Lynn,

I don't have any advice for you. I just hope everything cleans up and works O.K.
Let us know how you come out.

Good Luck and take care...

[David Rose]

Lynn, that makes my termite problem seem small. I feel for you.

Keep in mind that while WD-40 is a good water dispacer, it does turn to varnish in a year or so. I wouldn't want it in any moving parts.

David

WD-40... gunsmith's nightmare

[Tony Laros]

Lynn, I hope Dominic Greco spots your post. He was in the same situation a few years ago, about the time I started reading posts on the Badger Pond. As I recall he spent a few months getting all his tools working again, and should have lots of advise for you. Sorry to hear about the mess you're in.

Tony.
(Glad my shop is about 200 feet above creek level)

[Bob Lasley]

Lynn,

What a bummer! I have dealt with flooded motors, thankfully not my own, several times. The best solution is to disassemble the motors, wash and blow them out, then bake the stators, and rotors if they are wound, at about 250 degrees for appx. 4 hours to drive all the moisture out. Be sure there are no plastic parts still attached that could melt. If you don't have a way to bake them, put a heat lamp directly over the stator for about the same time. Of course, you want to do this in an area with very little air movement. Use contact cleaner to clean the start winding switches, replace the bearings and reassemble.

On magnetic starters and start/stop switches use compressed air and contact cleaner. If the switches are small and cheap, I would just replace them.

Good luck,
Bob

[David Blangger]

Sorry to hear of your dilemma. If at all possible to collect with homeowners insurance be certain to take many pictures before you attempt the clean up process.

That situation has to be sickening. Sounds like you are getting good advice...I hope more advice will come your way.

[John Piwaron]

If you've got insurance (or even if not) I'd be thinking about taking the big motors to a rebuilder, or even about replacing them. I arrive at this solution because of my lack of experience with disassembling/reassembling big electric motors.

Taking apart a saw, jointer, ect. is different. This is bound to be a big PITA.

Hopefully you've got insurance to cover this.......

[Dominic Greco]

Check out my response to your questions on Wood Central. As soon as I get a chance, I'll post the entire article I wrote up here on Sawmill Creek.

Dominic

[Dominic Greco]

Hi Lynn
Sorry I took so long in getting a response put to you. I was writing up this article and tried to put as much as I could remember into it.

I tried posting the entire article here, but the forum software won't allow a document of that size to be posted here. I will mail the HTML code off to Keith so that he can place it int he article section of the forum.

I've attached some "before and after" photos that show the condition of my Craftsman tablesaw the day of the flood, and after I cleaned it.

Good luck,
Dominic