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Vintage Computer and possible water damage

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bettablue

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2011
Messages
1,647
Location
Eugene, OR
While unloading the truck with all of our stuff, we found that of the 10 boxes containing my majority of my vintage computer collection 8 have been damaged by water. It's going to take at least a week or two before I can get to those boxes. We did plan for that possibility by pre-wrapping all of the equipment in plastic bags, before wrapping them again in blankets, older sheets, and towels.

Some of the boxes appear to have gotten somewhat soaked; mostly on the bottom, so I hope the additional plastic wrap protected the computers, and expansion cards packed in those boxes. Since it will take me a couple of weeks to get everything to where I can unpack them, I think it would be prudent to open all of the computers to check for moisture and blow dry any of them that may have leaked to make sure most of the moisture is taken care of.

Is there another process you would recommend to completely eliminate any moisture?:confused:
 
Yup, leave water pooled and you'll get rust and then mold. The latter can be far worse in the case of media than the former. You can use isopropanol (91% isopropyl alcohol) squirted into tight spaces that you can't easily access to hasten evaporation.

(water+alcohol) evaporates faster than water alone.
 
At least rip the boxes open and remove the blankets. If they are soaked the humidity inside the box will decimate just about everything.
 
Appropriate application of dry rice may be in order. I would recommend putting the individual expansion cards directly in bags of rice to soak up the moisture. The faster you can get this stuff dried out, the better chance of saving your hardware.
 
All of the boxes have been opened. Only one had any water inside. It was the box containing my IBM 5160 XT. Luckilly, water didn't make it too far into the blanket, and the plastic wrapping was dry. Still, I've gotten several small bags of rice, and packed them into the computer. I've also placed the expansion cards their own rice pack. From what I can see, there is no water inside the computer, but I still didn't want to take too many chances.

The main computers, the 5150 with their associated 5161 expansion units systems, and the rest of the vintage equipment are all as dry as a bone. 1 box out of 10 with water damage is all I had to really do anything about. I definitely got lucky!

Thanks for the advice. I guess with the extra rice, we'll have to start finding a few recipes. LOL!
 
Given that you're in Las Vegas, I wouldn't worry about rice too much. Just let the thing dry out in the low humidity.

Silica gel is similar in action, but unlike rice, mice and rats don't eat it. Don't get me started on mice!
 
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