Water damage to electrical appliances after flooding?

blue_monkey_2

At the weekend we had a burst pipe, it's a been a bit of a nightmare to be honest and still have no dehumidifiers, the insurance company is closed (my husband turned the water off so it is not an emergency), the housing association did not come out so we have to wait until today.

However, things keep on breaking even though the water is not on the floor anymore, there is still damp but we have the heating on to dry and dry things out. It is very humid and my asthma is bad as well. I've been really wheezy.

Can the water in the air affect the electricals though? I thought we got off lightly to be honest as most stuff was off the floor but this morning my daughters 3DS is not turning on. My laptop is playing up and will not connect to the internet (now connected by a wire) I thought I got lucky with mine as the power pack was in the water but it was still working. I realise now it was stupid and feel a bit sick about that now cos the powerpack was in the water and on and I just shook the water off carried on using it.

When it is drying out, does it affect things in this way? Should I squirrel away as much as possible so things do not get damaged further? I feel like I've been in limbo over the weekend with no-one to ask or tell us anything.

macman

blue_monkey wrote: »

At the weekend we had a burst pipe, it's a been a bit of a nightmare to be honest and still have no dehumidifiers, the insurance company is closed (my husband turned the water off so it is not an emergency), the housing association did not come out so we have to wait until today.

However, things keep on breaking even though the water is not on the floor anymore, there is still damp but we have the heating on to dry and dry things out. It is very humid and my asthma is bad as well. I've been really wheezy.

Can the water in the air affect the electricals though? I thought we got off lightly to be honest as most stuff was off the floor but this morning my daughters 3DS is not turning on. My laptop is playing up and will not connect to the internet (now connected by a wire) I thought I got lucky with mine as the power pack was in the water but it was still working. I realise now it was stupid and feel a bit sick about that now cos the powerpack was in the water and on and I just shook the water off carried on using it.

When it is drying out, does it affect things in this way? Should I squirrel away as much as possible so things do not get damaged further? I feel like I've been in limbo over the weekend with no-one to ask or tell us anything.

Is this as wind-up? If your flat was inches deep in water then of course the wiring will be full of water.
The power should be turned off at the CU and you should not be using any electrical items until the whole system has been checked over and declared safe.
Your insurers would have had an emergency 24/7 no. for such incidents. Why didn't you use it?

loracan1

If I drop anything in water or spill anything on it; ie phone/mp3 player, first port of call is to take what I can apart and NOT try to turn it on. Put in a warm place and resist any urges to see if it works (for at least a day at least, preferably longer).

So far I've managed to save a phone and psp. Could've saved another phone if son1 had followed my oft repeated mantra.

blue_monkey_2

We did use it, but they said as the water was not still flowing they did not need to come out to us. I called the HA and they said the same thing. I never gave the electrics a thought until this morning.

And I've just (while typing this) realised that there is a cupboard that runs 3ft into the ground under the stairs and the water was at the bottom of the stairs so I need to go and check whether the water got in under the bottom stair - this would explain why the water stopped there. I have to go empty that now.

No, it's not a wind up. I wish it was, it isn't.

At 4am in the morning when water is gushing in, my brain was not exactly working properly and nothing like this has happened before, we called the people we thought needed to and they said it was not an emergency so we just got on with doing what we had to do. We have children, we could not spend the day wading around in water so I just got some boots on and my husband and I started clearing it up ourselves.

I never gave it much thought to be honest, we have been using the washing machine, the fridge and freezer is still on - the TV is on the wall so electrics up up in the air. I have a loss adjuster contacting me within 24 hours now. Still have no idea where we go from here really. Waiting for HA to come out. Feels like it was a dream apart from the fact loads of stuff is still wet and we have a pile of wet crap in the garden.

Now I am off to check the cupboard under the stairs.

blue_monkey_2

Water has gone under the bottom stair into our cupboard which sit about 2ft under the ground level. I had boxes of stuff in there I put on eBay. That is what soaked the water up it seems. So for now I am leaving it there, there is a tide line that shows where the water went to and you can see where it has run down the walls into it.

Even my husband never gave it a 2nd thought, we were just pleased that the playroom with the kids consoles and the woodchip cupboards did not get ruined.

And my husband was complaining about the house being p!ssed last week as we had bought a cupboard on eBay for our new fishtank and he had to build it up on one side to get it level. Thank heavens right!!

macman

Turn off the power at the CU before you or someone else gets killed or injured.