I’ve had a situation where the carpet under my system and speakers got soaked from a leak somewhere because of the heavy rain. The components are on a table removed from the floor. But the speakers are on spikes. Is there any danger of shock or other malady that could befall the equipment?
@rvpiano,Walking on a wet carpet with cables lying around is a concern. More than that, it is the moisture that would get your equipment. Is there a way to take out that moisture quickly? But this is my concern. Wondering what others think about your situation.
Water damage repairs should be available with your insurance policy. Even if it's not covered, they can recommend a specialist who could help out or give some expert advice.
Like already mentioned, wet/dry vacs and large fans positioned correctly on the floor will help speed up the removal of water. But it must be done safely and quickly. Good luck and I'm sorry to hear this.
Unfortunately, my experience with large areas of wet carpet requires the carpet and padding to be removed so the floor can completely dry out. Padding most likely needs to be thrown out. Sometimes the carpet can be saved and other times its best to throughout and purchase new. Regardless of what method you use, you are not going to dry out the carpet and floor without removing the carpet and padding. I would not be more concerned with water damage to the floor, carpet, and components than electrical schock.
The pad needs to go the carpet might be salvaged. Call your insurance my mother’s paid for all new flooring after a water leak ruined some carpet and hardwood flooring. They also paid for a damage specialist company come suck the water up and fix the leak , minus deductable of course.
Oh sorry you said leak from rain the insurance company might call it flood damage , that happened to me once during a hard rain, insurance wouldn't pay squat.
Pull up all of the carpet and underpad that got wet, even if only damp. Open up any drywall and structure that got wet and replace anything that could not be dried out immediately. Anything that needs to be salvaged should be treated with an anti-fungal solution to prevent growth of mold.
Thanks again to all for your responses. Two industrial fans are now in operation. Carpet is drying nicely. Only a part of the room was affected. Turns out, it didn’t get wet under the gear after all, only adjacent to it.
I'm glad none of your equipment was ruined or anyone hurt from any electrical shock. Hopefully you can salvage the carpet and find where the water came in to prevent any future problems. I had a whole finished basement ruined because of water coming in during a hard rainstorm. Good luck in getting everything cleaned up and back to normal.
If its rain from leaking into your house because of rising water around your foundation, only flood insurance will cover that. Any pipe leak or roof leak your home owners insurance will cover that. call a pro in to fix it. They will know exactly what to do and they will tell you what needs to be replaced
Hope you don't have LP's near that area. The longterm problem is going to be mold. Decades ago part of my record collection was on carpeting that was soaked from an air conditioner that leaked while I was on vacation. 90% of the LP's were ruined within a few weeks (that was before record cleaners).
You may have to keep an eye on mold in your gear as well, for a while.
A concern you might consider is that as the carpet drys under the speakers moisture goes into the enclosures from the air...think humidity. This promotes an increase of oxidation on metal parts. The effect is increased where electricity moves across connections. Areas of concern are where wires connect via lugs or plugs not soldered connections. Some speakers connect the drivers to the crossovers with plugs and lugs to make service easier some solder direct. In general you do not want moisture getting into the enclosures. General humidity is normal but this is like putting a pot of water under the speakers...not normal.
Drying out the subfloor is critical and that can’t happen with pad and carpet in place
adhesives used in plywood and OSB manufacturing can release when damp for extended periods causing subfloor panels to warp and delaminate; staples holding down the pad will rust, mold can occur in pad, carpet and subfloor materials
first and foremost, the cause of the wet floor needs remedied or it will happen again; then dry everything out thoroughly before replacing carpet and pad
if the drywall behind the baseboard got wet, the baseboards need to come off to allow the gypsum board to dry completely as well
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