Help for a flood victim

I am one of those unfortunates that was at ground zero in the Houston flood event.  My trusty MD1510 was in my rack when the event started.  I shut down all my equipment in orderly fashion and began to stack things on ever decreasing available high ground in the house.  I caught the water lapping at the outside of the case (mounted rack horizontal) and took a few minutes to to get it pulled out and moved to dry ground.  I have to deal with other issues with house right now, but I know I will be bringing this back online in the next week.  I wanted to ask for the wisdom of the forum in how best to approach this.

 

Particulars:

Still running V4.7.

Most likely drives are good, but will move to new drives once alive.

Most likely will replace motherboard (USB key move??).

 

Would appreciate pros/cons, best way to sequence move, advice on biting the bullet and going to V5.

 

Thanks so much in advance.  And forgive as I can only occasional check back for your feedback.

Priorities, priorities, take care of yourself and your family first, then your house and valuables.

 

Upgrades are nice, but unimportant now.  That can be done any time, when the system is fully operational.

 

For the computer, I would open everything up that opens up, and spread it out or position it where it can get the most dry and moving air.  Probably in an interior air-conditioned room, as close as possible to the cold air.  If possible, you may want to position some items in front of the air duct outlets.  Stick fans on the rest.

 

One thing to remember, when you think it's dry, dry it some more.  There are places where moisture can hide from the air flow, under chips, behind the motherboard, and especially in the power supply and CD drives, and probably other places too.  That's why really dry air is best.  But I think you will be surprised at how many components will still work, once dry.

 

When you are ready to test, I'd test as few components as possible in each test, then if they work, try another one, and continue.  If one still has moisture, there could be shorts or sparks, and you don't want to hurt what you have already tested and passed.

 

This is all I can think of at the moment.  We have users with more direct experience, such as WeeboTech who went through Sandy, and lost almost everything.

The key advice Rob just gave you is "... when you think it's dry, dry it some more."

 

It sounds like you may have got the system moved to high ground before it was actually flooded ... just a bit "wet" ==> but the key thing is to NOT apply power until it is absolutely DRY.    I'd say when you think it's dry, set up a fan blowing directly at it and let it blow for ~ 24 more hours.

 

Then it will likely simply boot just fine.

 

This is clearly NOT very high priority => get your family taken care of first; then the major systems in the house; furnishings; etc. ... and THEN you can deal with your UnRAID box.    While you're doing those other things, the system will simply get that much drier 

Also once you think its dry, burry what you can (and what you can easily remove the rice from) in dry uncooked rice and let it sit for a day or two. It should soak up any excess moisture. There may be other alternative items to use, but you need more than just air drying.

Also once you think its dry, burry what you can (and what you can easily remove the rice from) in dry uncooked rice and let it sit for a day or two. It should soak up any excess moisture. There may be other alternative items to use, but you need more than just air drying.

Warm dry air is even better. Electronics can typically be comfortable in 150F conditions, so IF you have an oven or other device that you can regulate the temperature to a fine degree, I'd bake everything for several hours at something less than 150F. If you have access to dry lumber scraps from all the construction that will be happening in the area, you could slap together a plywood box big enough to hold everything, put a ceramic heater in there with a remote read thermometer, and let it bake. Just be sure you monitor the temperature closely, I wouldn't let it get too high for extended periods of time. Some plastics get a little soft closer to 180F.

I think WeeboTech went through that with Sandy. Maybe he will chime in as I seem to remember him salvaging drives and hardware for months.

Agree -- none of us have the real-life experience WeeboTech does.  [At least not vis-à-vis computer gear => I was living in Biloxi, MS when Camille hit in 1969 and lost a LOT of stuff in my apartment, which was destroyed by the hurricane.    But at that point in my life that "stuff" was just a bunch of clothes; some inexpensive furniture; and some nice stereo equipment.]    I wouldn't wish the hurricane experience on anyone.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been swamped managing the various trades and doing the poodle dance for FEMA.

 

I like the oven idea. Might could reheat some pizza at same time.