What Now? Assessing Damage Due To Floods
Power Distribution, Switches and Electronic Equipment

By Timothy J. Smith

Floods in the Midwest, Canada and the South…the current threats of El Niño…fire sprinklers in your own facility—most of us could experience significant business disruption from water damage to electrical equipment and switches.

Do you know the potential impact on your organization from water damage?
The Dilemma…
Critical Equipment Located
Primarily in Basements!

Typical construction has a tendency to put critical but "ugly" items such as electrical control panels, junction boxes, environmental controls, main telephone switches and other electrical equipment in out of the way places—primarily in basements. The result is a foregone conclusion. Since most companies and organizations cannot, or will not, relocate these critical and sensitive items, it is important to be prepared for a water-damage situation, no matter where you live.

INITIAL EQUIPMENT RECOVERY EFFORTS
Clean-Up/Corrosion Inhibiting Protocol
As soon as possible after the water damage, water must be removed from the affected area and a Phase I "Corrosion Inhibiting Protocol" performed. This initial phase will remove gross contaminants and stabilize the sensitive surfaces and prevent future damage. The silt and mud deposits must be removed from the equipment surfaces. Hot air guns, portable dehumidifiers and large portable heaters and fans are employed to hasten the dry-out process. Since time is often critical, little or no disassembly of the equipment should be attempted during this phase.

To complete Phase I, all affected equipment surfaces should be sprayed with a petroleum-based surface preservative that is specially formulated with rust and corrosion-inhibiting properties to stabilize metal surfaces.

Application of Phase I Efforts
The full Phase I stabilization is directed at equipment sections directly exposed to flood water, while those sections above the high water mark are minimally treated with the oil based surface preservative.

The dehumidification and hot air dry-out of equipment below the water line helps to remove trapped water and promote surface diffusion of the preservative into even tighter interfaces. This coating will retain its corrosive protection properties for several months in a basement area environment, where relative humidity is below 60% and temperature below 70°F (+/-10°F). Actual on-site readings should be taken periodically to maintain control of the environment.

VISUAL INSPECTION GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
Metal Surfaces
Generally, metal surfaces that are painted, plated, anodized, soldered, lubricated and otherwise protected, are found free of visible corrosion. The significant exception to this is found in equipment that was electrically energized during the flood water exposure. Metal plated bus bars, fuse holders, breaker contacts and transformer windings become discolored and corroded because of thermal effects and electrolytic reaction with the dirty water. Solder joints on circuit modules become dulled because of surface oxidation, and electrical edge connector contact surfaces show some discoloration.

These signs of metal deterioration on wet energized equipment indicate damage to sensitive electrical components within the equipment unit. Non-critical, unprotected base metal surfaces, i.e. mild steel and aluminum fixtures, etc. may show varying degrees of cosmetic flash rust which is removable with minimal residual damage.

Non-Metal Materials
Dense ceramic insulators, insulated transformer and motor windings, fuse casings, etc. can be cleaned, dried and tested for insulation resistance to determine effectiveness of moisture removal. Hard plastic enclosures, glass surfaces, etc. need only to be wiped clean for reuse.

Electromechanical Assemblies
• Coil-activated relays, breaker trip assemblies, switches, rheostats and potentiometers, etc. may be replaced for less than the restoration cost.

• Small signal relays, switches and variable resistance devices that have been submerged in the flood water should be replaced.

• Large capacity breakers can be cleaned and tested if not energized during water submersion.

• Removal of cosmetic discoloration on breaker racking gears and other non-working parts and contact relubrication where required is part of the clean-up process.

• All energized devices having direct water exposure need to be replaced, but devices above the water line can usually be restored. However, the presence of residual moisture inside small signal relays is generally the reason for replacement.

• Variable resistance devices and tripping breakers are easily treated with contact cleaners/preservatives to remove any traces of residual moisture from the short term high humidity environment existing at the time of the loss.

Electrical Motors
It is common practice in the industry to restore motors that have been submerged in water for several hours. The procedure involves disassembly clean-up to remove silt and mud, bake-out to restore field and armature insulation resistance and replacement of armature shaft bearings and brush holders as required. Certification to the manufacturer’s specifications completes the restoration project. However, it is usually more cost effective to replace small/fractional HP motors, fans and flower assemblies after water submersion.

Mechanical Assemblies
Gauges, valves, pumps, conduits, piping, etc. are typically cleaned for reuse after water exposure. Exceptions are gauges and valves that leak water into the enclosure, and piping that leaks water into inaccessible sections causing long term rust and unacceptable cosmetic damage. In these cases, replacement is advisable. Also, shaft bearings and seals in pumps are typically replaced after water submersion, because of the possibility of internal rusting of bearing surfaces (usually a low probability occurrence).

Electronic Devices/Control Panels Assemblies
A major concern expressed by the various equipment manufacturers relates to the effect of direct water on electronic devices and assemblies. There is no argument that electrically energized devices and assemblies are incompatible with water exposure. The critical part of most of the control panel assemblies and electronic devices in the basement equipment inventory are the printed circuit board modules. Application of electrical bias on any wet component on these boards can lead to galvanic corrosion and spurious voltage spikes that can destroy adjacent electronic devices.

Identification of electronic equipment sections that were energized during water exposure allows replacement of suspect components, devices and modules as a first step in the restoration process. Therefore, considerable attention should be given to those equipment sections that were either above the water line or submerged with no electrical bias.

Once this assessment is completed and all high voltage equipment lock out has been verified by customer’s electrician, preservation and clean-up can be initiated immediately. As a general consideration, electronic equipment can be briefly exposed to water without permanent damage if not in an energized state. Water exposed equipment cleaned using these modern restoration protocols can be returned to a better than pre-loss condition. Barring actual physical damage to the equipment, pre-loss operational reliability can also be restored to at least the same pre-loss level. In the case of equipment having significant pre-loss background surface contamination, restoration will even improve operational reliability!

COSTS AND MITIGATION SUGGESTIONS
A basement area can take 3 to 7 days to dry using dryer equipment. While restoration costs can average 10% to 25% of replacement value, the time to replace and the business interruption costs of the delay could preclude replacement as an option. Consider these mitigation ideas:

• Survey possible problems and develop a plan.
• Have a Business Contingency Plan in place prior to a catastrophe.
• Pre-qualify vendors necessary for restoration and rebuilding so work can begin immediately after a loss.
• During a remodel, place equipment in non-flooding locations.
• Consider fire suppression systems with minimum impact on electrical equipment.

What is vital to a successful recovery is the identification of critical equipment and components and the establishing of procedures, through the use of BIA analytical tools, to maximize the probability of a timely recovery and the resumption of operations. Once an event occurs, the implementation of these procedures will minimize the impact on the operation of the facility and insure the continued prosperity of the organization.

ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT CHECK-LIST

TYPE OF EQUIPMENT FOUND AT BASEMENT LOCATIONS-TYPICAL INVENTORY

HVAC/CHILLER SYSTEMS
Blowers/motors/fans
Controllers
Compressor motors
Pumps
Gauges
Computer controller energy mgmt system

BOILERS PACKAGE UNIT
Condensers
Gauges/pumps/motors
Controller (electric/pneumatic)
Heaters

ELECTRICAL VAULTS
Breaker panels
Bus work
Terminal boards
Meters
Transformers

TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT
MDF (main distribution frame)
UPS (uninterrupted power supplies)
Cable vault
CKT breaker boards
Switch equipment-line card cabinets-trunk lines
Computer upgrades-paging systems-alarms

ELEVATOR SHAFTS
Lift motors/brakes
Controller cabinets

FIRE ALARM
Pumps
Controls/sensors

FREIGHT ELEVATORS
Lift motors
Controllers

SUMP PUMP STATIONS
Pump motors
Level controls

About the author:
Tim Smith, National Director of Marketing for Restoration Technologies, has over 13 years in the restoration industry. The author wishes to acknowledge Ken Greenough, PhD, Chief Scientist for RTI for his valuable assistance in the preparation of this article. For additional information call RTI at (800) 421-9290.

The photo on page 59 originally appeared in Disaster Recovery Journal and is used with their permission.