CT26E flood damage

[woodnerd]

Hurricane Irma surprised us with record flooding that put two feet of water into my shop. Luckily, most stuff was stored higher than that. However, my beloved CT26E spent about 24 hours under water.

Any tips on what to do before trying to power it up? Or is it a goner?

 

[mopo]

Sorry to hear that. If the flood water was salt water then it may be too late. If I were in your position I'd do as much of a tear down as possible and rinse the parts well in fresh water, then dry them off with a fan for a day or two, rotating the parts periodically to make sure all surfaces get some air movement.

You might also want to give Festool a call directly as they'll have had to field a lot of calls after Harvey and Irma and all of their reps should be up to speed on flood damage and will be able to offer qualified advice.

 

[nclemmons]

Had a CT22 that got wet in 18" of water and tipped over and Festool indicated parts and labor would be more than a replacement.  Good luck. 

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with Irma -

 

[AlexThePalex]

Any tips on what to do before trying to power it up? Or is it a goner?

Take it completely apart, clean it very thoroughly, let it dry, and then reassemble it part for part and see if it will start again. The vulnerable parts are the motor and the electronics board, so give those a lot of attention. I don't think there's much chance for succes, but you can always try.

 

[Holmz]

If is rinse, rinse, rinse with distilled or pretty mineral free and then let it dry.
The other post mentioned bearings getting an aioli of oil/water.

 

[escan]

Don't force the armature. Salt will solidify on the inner wall of the motor creating a stall and motor will smoke and eventually burn out if you give it power. So freshwater baths worked for me when with Sandy but the more sensitive electronic components may act buggy for a while and then fail or not. CRC spray for electrical may help. Bearings need to be repacked as well. I trekked through a slat water marsh to retrieve all my equipment and some tools are still working today, maybe you'll luck out.

 

[woodnerd]

So, the disassembly went well. The first part to come off was the front panel, which revealed a circuit board completely coated in what appears to be some kind of epoxy!

View attachment 1

So my hopes of recovery are much higher now. Beyond that, I think the only real danger will be the motor itself, which will be extremely easy to replace (typical Festool). Lots of drying and we'll see where we end up. Here it is all filleted open and drying

View attachment 2

If I do need to replace the motor, here's hoping that Festool will have a special Huge-Festool-Fan-And-Hurricane-Irma-Victim discount ... 

 

[woodnerd]

Well, I'm happy to report that, after 6 days of drying in front of a fan, I reassembled my CT26 and it fired right up! Of course, I don't know about long-term issues that will arise later (e.g. silt in the bearings) but for now it lives!

Thank you, Festool, for making high-quality products.

 

[Holmz]

Well, I'm happy to report that, after 6 days of drying in front of a fan, I reassembled my CT26 and it fired right up! Of course, I don't know about long-term issues that will arise later (e.g. silt in the bearings) but for now it lives!

Thank you, Festool, for making high-quality products.

Happy for you, but it works with all that sort of stuff... independent of manufacturer... (the PC-boards with a conformal coating are made to be abused with water and dust.)

The bearings were mentioned earlier, and different matter.

 

[Gregor]

The bearings were mentioned earlier, and different matter.

As long as they're the sealed type, havn't been in water that deep & long and were not being rotated while flooded... they have a fair chance to survive.

 

[antss]

Never looked at mine, but I think there's a good chance that the turbine has sealed bearings.