Hello All ! im back again after a long time out but this time when I'm back to home, I discover some really bad... Here is the history.....

When I decide to collect old radios, and if you remember I post many advertisements soliciting old boomboxes, the people calls to me and my collection grows up faster, my wife saids "we don't have enought space in the attic room to store all your little monsters" and frequently she tries to convince me about the space-problem in the house. Well, I decide to stop buying boomboxes, all my ads was removed, no more phone calls, no more fleamarkets, no more until I have a new location for my collection. Nothing easy... A friend one day said he have a large room available for me, the room looks to me very nice to store all my boxes and perfect to still buying more, all my collection was moved to the new room, all carefully stacked (the big ones) and the minis in a row along the floor. Perfect...

I had to leave home one more time for my job, the rainy days starts two weeks ago, when I return..... OH MY .....

ALMOST ALL BOOMBOXES WET !!!!

The room where are stored has a wood roof without rainproof coating, and here are the results, taken with a cellular phone, here are the graphics of the desaster....



When I take this pictures, the rain stops few days ago.









Can you see the water falling from the boombox when i rise the units? Terrific, I think after the fire, it is the worse thing than it can happen...





Ok, at this time I have TOO MUCH work with all my boxes, be sure all will be dry soon.... I start yesterday and only five was repaired....

I am Soooooooo sorry.... you must be sick....

S--cks

Very sorry to hear this. I hope you'll be able to recover/restore them.

that sucks man ,i would get a de humidifier and just let them dry for a few weeks and hope for the best.

As long as they weren't plugged in, its only water, and they will dry out and be just fine. I'd put them in a warm room with no condensing humidity and let nature take its course.

Once they dry, it will be like it never happened minus any minor water stains if you don't get the exteriors entirely dry.

Its almost like a flash drive I washed.......let it dry for 48 hours......no problems whatsoever.....

The only other real concern is exposed metal.....and possible rust scaling.....

Good luck

quote:

,i would get a de humidifier and just let them dry for a few weeks and hope for the best.

Don't even try and turn them on for at least a month- but DO get a DeHumidifer for sure. Better water than fire though. Sorry for your pain amigo.

That does suck but I agree with others here that not all is lost. Leave them be in a dry environment for a while and don't turn them on. Dry the exteriors quickly and hope no water stains occur. As kitt mentioned you still may get some rust or corrosion here and there but the quicker you get them dried out the better and if your lucky any rust or corrosion will be minimal.

This happened to me a few months ago while having a new roof put on my house,the builder didnt make it water tight one night and in it poured.I know how you feel my friend,sick in the stomach,a lump in your throat and depressed.But the guys are right,leave em to dry for a month and use a dehumidifier,you'll be surprised at how many will survive.hope it works out for you

sorry --
but just assume these guys are right -(they usually are)
and plan on the best results.

Thanks to all for your explanations, I hope all my boxes still alive but the most thing I'm afraid is the corrosion on the cassette mechanisms, in this moment I have in use a hair-dryer from my wife to dry out the mechanism and potentiometers of the most damaged boxes. Please pray for my BBx,

I'm convinced this was a punishment, my fault to stop buying and collecting Boomboxes... Sorry God of the Boomboxery, it would never happen again... Promise....

Don't forget about the speakers as well. I would take the cones out, mark them and let them air dry face down. Especially those with white woofs.

They are right on the advice. And you you are right to force air in tight spaces like rheostats, sliders and potentinomenters.

Make sure you don't have the hairdryer on high heat. I would use low heat, if any....

OMG , this is an BB Collectors Nightmare .

Hope you can safe all of them .

My prayers are with you.

Really hope you can rescue them all Tranxmetal, sounds like they'll be salvageable though, good luck!



Rock On.

Im sorry to hear about this...maybe in the future for long term storage a plastic tarp like for painting would be a good idea...im sure they be ok like many have said to let them dry...hope all turns out well...

Everyone worst fear is having their collection damaged. Very sorry to hear. I have my boomboxes insured with my homeowners policy and a seperate clause that says my collection is insured for 8,000 bucks. Not that its any help now, but for future you may want to look into it. Yes, be patient and get the de-humidifier and good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, sorry to hear this. Like others suggested, run a dehumidifier 24/7...you will probably be ok. If it makes you feel any better, i took one of my Lasonic 920's and put it through the ultimate testing (un filmed of course lol). One of my tests was to soak it with a garden hose after i had thrown it across my yard and put it through a beating...and believe it or not...even after a soaking and beating...it still works and sounds fine...your boxes should be ok...i wouldn't worry so much.

Let us know how it works out! Good luck

-gsbadbmr

It will be OK...

I have been wet many times and I still work.

I just tell Betty not to turn me on till I'm really, really dry.

quote:

Originally posted by enskanker:
I have been wet many times and I still work.
...
I just tell Betty not to turn me on till I'm really, really dry...

Really sorry to read about this. Must be a nightmare! I've had a few similar problems with drips from my storage-room roof, and it is always a bit sickening when something you treasure gets wet.

BUT on the good side, what the others have been saying is true: if you get them completely dry before starting them up, the boomboxes should be fine. Dry them as well as you can, and take special care not to get the speaker cones wet, if they are not already; the paper type cones CAN be ruined by water(!).

If you have access to a dehumidifier, but it in the room with the boomboxes, too. Otherwise, any heat source like lamps may help (but not TOO hot, of course!).

Good luck with this; we hope you will get through it without any permanent damage.

quote:

Originally posted by kittmaster:
As long as they weren't plugged in, its only water, and they will dry out and be just fine. I'd put them in a warm room with no condensing humidity and let nature take its course.

Once they dry, it will be like it never happened minus any minor water stains if you don't get the exteriors entirely dry.

Its almost like a flash drive I washed.......let it dry for 48 hours......no problems whatsoever.....

The only other real concern is exposed metal.....and possible rust scaling.....

Good luck

Kitt's bang on the money with this. So long as you dry them all out completely, there shouldn't be much damage, apart from cosmetic damage to some speaker cones.

Back in the 80s, a mate of mine left my Hitachi 3D7 blasting too close to the waterline when we were on the beach. Incoming tide... a wave all but broke over it. I grabbed it out of the water (inches deep all round by then), quickly hit STOP & wrenched the batteries out.
I poured the water out of the vents at one end & then left it on top of the hot-water tank for 2 days. It was 100% fine, & stayed that way for years afterwards.

Good luck sorting your lot out...

Wow Tranxmetal sorry about your dilema but at least the guys here have eased your mind!

do not use them for awhile because the tiniest little speck of water could still hurt them.

Best of luck!