I need advice.

There was a water leak above my basement, and of course the water penetrated the basement ceiling through the PJ mount and through the in-ceiling electrical outlet. Much of this water went into and through the PJ (while off). The water leak was not identified for over 24hrs once it had already ceased, when my wife went to use the PJ. It turned on but gave an intermittent and poor image (the picture alternated between the initial start blue screen and the movie). I have disconnected it and not used it since, but clearly there is alot of dried water on the outer housing. This is an 18mo old Infocus Screenplay 7210 that had worked beautifully to this point. Is there any chance this was survival event for the PJ? Is it worth considering any inspection or repair if there is an image? Are there any safety issues if it does work? If it needs to be discarded, are there any components within it that anyone could want? Any insight would be appreciated.

I would think that it is a total loss other than lens and case. Insurance should pick up the tab minus deductible. Sorry about your loss, good projector.

Most electronics will survive water damage IF you've completely air dried all the parts before turning it on.

I would not give up the ship just yet.I had an almost identical thing happen to a hitachi rear projection crt.It would not turn on for approx. 24hrs after getting wet but after that period it turned on and worked flawless and is still a fine tv today-6yrs. later. :) Ron

I need advice.

Is there any chance this was survival event for the PJ? Is it worth considering any inspection or repair if there is an image? Are there any safety issues if it does work? If it needs to be discarded, are there any components within it that anyone could want? Any insight would be appreciated.

Monju,

At 18 months the pj is probably out of warranty so you do nt risk voiding the warranty with your actions.

I would take it to a local electronics shop and explain what happened. They can disassemble it and insure that there is no water remaining. What they shoud do next is to bathe the components in alcohol and dry completly with forced air. Then reassemble the pj. Only then can you be sure that the water is gone and that when you power it up that there will be no additional damage.

Good luck!

jk

Dependng on your policy, your insurance company adjuster will replace your projector OR you can get the cash. Some companies will even give you the MSRP ( lucky you, get something newer for the old price you paid ). Check on the options they quote to you. If they pay you for it, they may even allow you to buy it back from them at "salvage" price after they take it out of your home.

I need advice.

Any insight would be appreciated.

The exact thing happened to my InFocus projector in my basement theater. :eek: Water was pouring around and through the case. :confused:

I unplugged the unit, let it completely dry out for over a week, plugged it back in and it worked perfectly. :D I'm still enjoying it almost 2 years later.

Lesson learned is to make sure it is completely dried before turning it on.

I used to be an analytical laboratory technician in the power industry. I ran into very similar situations many times during my career.

The problem with leaking, dripping water is that it likely has "washed off" several dirty things before it lands inside the projector. When the water dries, it will leave behind anything (salts, for example) that was dissolved in it, and likely those things will be ionic and conduct electricity.

If this had happened to my projector, I'd first unplug the projector and then wait long enough to be certain that there was no static charge (or full capacitors) left in it. If there were small batteries in there that preserve memory, etc., I'd remove them, too.

Then I'd remove as much of the case as practical and try to ascertain the exact areas of the unit that had been soaked in the leaked water. After I'd identified those areas, I'd literally rinse any film or deposits away from those areas using a sqeeze-bottle that is filled with distilled, deminieralized, or deionized water. This includes the lens assembly and even the panels, but I'm not exactly sure if the "mechanical" dlp panels could be wetted without dissolving something on them that is vital to their proper function. A dlp-panel expert should be able to address that issue.

After rinsing, if there were still some deposit remaining, I'd make a very mild detergent solution by adding ONE DROP of liquid dishwashER detergent (not dishwashING detergent) to 1 quart of demineralized water. (If you can find it, use some detergent that is used in ultra-clean laboratories to clean glassware.) Use the resulting solution to wash the deposit from the surface and then rise PROFUSELY with pure demineralized water.

Of course the final step would be to absolutely and completely dry the entire projector in a dust-free area. I'd use a hair dryer to dry the big stuff fast and then leave the projector in a very-warm place for a couple of days to dry the rest. (Depending on its temperature, a food de-hydrating oven may be a good device to use for this purpose. I'd set the temperature of the drying device a few degrees below the highest allowable manufacturer-recommended ambient operating temparature for the projector.)

Because demineralized water has nothing dissolved in it (hence it's name), after it drries, NOTHING conductive will be left behind to short any circuits.

In the "good old days", chemistry profs would stick their hands in demineralized water as live electrodes were also placed in it. Lo and behold, the prof was not shocked by any new discoveries. Nowadays the point is made using light bulbs or multi-meters and they all confirm the same thing.

So "don't try this at home", but at least theoretically, an immaculately-clean circuit board could be completely immersed in 19 megohm water, WHILE IT IS IN USE, and it SHOULD continue to function normally. However, to repeat, I would not try try to prove or disprove this theory on an expensive circuit board.