hy-flo pumps

Assuming power has not been applied to the pump while it was flooded or later its quite likely the electrics are salvageable. Wash everything very thoroughly with lots of clean warm water, use a soft paintbrush and a trigger spray to help shift any muck. Where possible remove covers, connectors and PCB's to clean behind them. Once everything is very clean leave it no more than an hour to drip dry and then spray Hellermans Fospro

_very_ liberally over everything. Repeat about an hour later. Leave a day to drain and test for continuity and insulation as appropriate.

With any luck it will work.

I once helped a friend recover four large electric motors and control gear that had been underwater in mud for a month when the trailer carrying them overturned and they went into a river. We used low pressure washers and took two days to wash out the mud from the electronics and windings. We then applied about 5 gallons of Fospro in all - but after cleaning and spraying all four motors and their electronics worked perfectly.

Washing the pump is a good suggestion. Just make sure it's fully dried out afterwards, which at room temperature might take weeks. I'd suggest that you remove the coils from the pump, to allow the air to circulate more freely, then put the coils in a warm environment, perhaps on top of a boiler, for a week or so. You could instead put them in an oven, but I'd suggest a temperature no hotter than 70 deg. C. Once they're dry and cool, you can either reassemble the pump and test it, or for added protection you can paint the covering of the coils with insulating varnish (Farnell and RS stock it). I think this is a safer choice than spraying them with Fospro, which sounds like an equivalent to WD-40. Oily substances like this attract dust, which isn't good for coils as the thermal insulation provided by a layer of grime can make the coils run at a higher temperature.

If that doesn't fix the pump, check the fuse in the plug and look for loose connections. If it still doesn't work, you may need to get the coils rewound. If it needs a rewind, it'll probably make a buzzing sound, but the rotor won't spin, even if you try to start it by hand (I forget if these pumps are self-starting or not). Depending on the design of the coils, a rewind could be straightforward or it could be difficult. And once you get the pump running, check the manual to see if the pump requires lubrication (I've seen a copy of the manual on the Internet; let me know if you can't find it).

Lastly, if you decide not to fix the pump, I might be interested in it. You can reach me at chris AT ruggedmachines DOT com.

Best wishes,

Chris

That's where the Fospro comes in, it is a remarkably effective dewatering agent and can be used to good effect before you dry everything out - which often leads to surface corrosion forming. It also extract water from within windings whereas warm air drying, even for some weeks, will often leave moisture. It does leave a slight oily residue (less than WD40) which evaporates within a few weeks. It is a very well regarded substance in the salvage industry.