My son got home and plugged in my beloved Motif 8 Classic, and noticed it was wet. He looked up and saw a drip drip drip from the ceiling.

Turns out our water on the 2nd floor heater had burst. There was one 2 inch square piece of ceiling on the first floor that leaked, and of all the places my Motif could have been set up ... yup, there it was.

No telling how much water landed on it. My son did a 14-year old version of drying it off, so I could still see where the water was ... and some definitely had run down into the innards of the device.

Everything is functional - at the moment. We got some leak specialists out, and they put an industrial dehumidifier in the lower room, it is right next to the Motif, so it should be drying out as much as humanly possible.

What I worry about is that, even though it works now, the inside parts the water touched might rust out in a few weeks (like right during a gig?). And, the way finances are lately, there’s no way I can buy a replacement, even a used ES like I had begun thinking about.

So, I just practice, play, and wait. Uggh!

Re: Water torture tale of woe

Open the unit up and break out a hair dryer.
Working on a cruise ship, I once helped one of my friends tear down his 3 keyboards during a hurricane [They were performing on Lido Deck for the Deck Party].  We promptly took the ‘boards to an empty lounge, opened them up, and spent the better part of the night blow-drying his keyboards.  To this day, his boards are still in use.....

Re: Water torture tale of woe

Thanks, mo - drying as we speak!

Re: Water torture tale of woe

In the ‘old’ days, when electronics were seperate components, I once drove home from a gig for 1 hour, in a pouring rainstorm.  Of course I did not have cases back then.  Those were the days I would go to the gas station and get whatever I gas I had money for in my pocket, so I definitely could not afford cases for the equipment, I really couldn’t afford!! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt=

Anyway, I let the equipment dry out for a couple of weeks, before I powered it back up, and everything worked, with no problems.  The trick with electronics, is get it dry before applying power.  This has also worked with a few cell phone misadventures.

Good luck!!

Re: Water torture tale of woe

Thanks for the good wishes. I guess I really really got lucky, as my son powered it up right away, and it all seems to still work.

Just waiting to get past the rust-killer period, I guess that might be up to 4 weeks ...

Re: Water torture tale of woe

Most people don’t realise that, after circuit boards are soldered, they are usually washed.  With water (usually deionzied water, but that’s a longer story.)

Clean water isn’t necessarily bad for a circuit board, unless it’s left long enough to corrode or if it’s dirty enough to leave schmutz behind....

ELECTRICITY+WATER is VERY bad for a circuit board.  /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt=

MECHANICALLY, though, water can still do damage (swollen fiber board, key actions, etc. etc)