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WME_bill · 18th Jul 2018, 10:10 am

Smoke Damage.
We had a bad fire in the factory where I was working years ago. In the clean area for semiconductors with lots of PVC and Perspex on floors, walls and benches. Lots of hydrochloric acid produced.
All the electronic equipment was dumped or staff allowed to take it away.
I got a nice pulse generator, an audio generator and other test gear.
They seemed fine after cleaning the case and controls and the switches inside and worked well.
But the acid fumes had got inside the case, condensed on the cases of the TO18 transistors and corroded the leads immediately underneath.
A month later, the transistors fell off the circuit boards.
So I had a major repair job, replacing virtually every transistor.
I should have washed the whole unit and circuit board and switches immediately in lots of water.
wme_bill.

18th Jul 2018, 10:10 am	#12
WME_bill Octode Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK. Posts: 1,554	Re: Smoke damage Smoke Damage. We had a bad fire in the factory where I was working years ago. In the clean area for semiconductors with lots of PVC and Perspex on floors, walls and benches. Lots of hydrochloric acid produced. All the electronic equipment was dumped or staff allowed to take it away. I got a nice pulse generator, an audio generator and other test gear. They seemed fine after cleaning the case and controls and the switches inside and worked well. But the acid fumes had got inside the case, condensed on the cases of the TO18 transistors and corroded the leads immediately underneath. A month later, the transistors fell off the circuit boards. So I had a major repair job, replacing virtually every transistor. I should have washed the whole unit and circuit board and switches immediately in lots of water. wme_bill.