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Time to say goodbye :(


JimT

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Commiserations on your tragedy. A lesson for us all, I'm afraid.

I would take some decent photos of the damage and talk nicely to your insurance company.

Probably too late now, but plenty of strong, interior hooks will help far more than anything you can physically lift onto the obs. roof for ballast.

I wish you a full and speedy recovery and much better fortune in the coming year.

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Well tomorrow I will start to look at the observatory and start a rescue plan, fir I have to ensure the electrical distribution box is dry and then all the sockets are the same.  Any containers which has water in them will be moved out and then I will get on with drying surfaces, once that is okay I will turn the electrics on and will dry out the equipment on one side of the box, once done I will move to the next side until all sides are done and then move to the centre island and the pier, mount and telescopes.  It will be a slog and take a couple of weeks, I hope, but am prepared for it.  Thank you all for your kind thoughts, the black mist has gone and I am a lot calmer now, your a great bunch  :)

Jim

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Very pleased that you're feeling more positive about things now.  Hope it goes ok tomorrow.

As luck would have it we've managed our own small water-related disaster in the last few days.  A couple of days back our washing machine gave up the ghost.  Cue water all over the utility room floor and a stressed-out wife :)  Fortunately the mess was fairly easily cleaned up and even after my father-in-law had discovered that it is no longer possible to get spares for that model (he used to repair them for a living, but even he couldn't save this one after about twenty-five years of hard use) my wife managed to find a new one that she was happy with that we could get delivered next day.  Even better, the new one is far more economical to run and having plumbed it all in (and after a bit of a fight to get it properly level), it turns out to be astonishingly quiet and doesn't try to dance around the utility room during the spin cycle.  So with the exception of a bit of a dent in the credit card that I could have done without at Christmas, as my daughter regularly tells me, "it's all good" :D

James

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On 30/12/2017 at 17:43, ollypenrice said:

So take a step back. Nobody wants to see a RASA full of water but water is not that bad. We do use it for cleaning! Dealt with before living organisms have had a chance to start breeding it should come back to full working order with a strip down and clean up.

Disasters like this look insurmountable at first but in fact they are not. You just pick up the first bit and start to fix it...

Very best wishes,

Olly

I second Olly's thoughts on water. Clean water, dealt with in time is not that bad. I too had an observatory roof collapse on me some years ago, leaving all the kit soaked. The only write off for me was the computer and monitor, I has an Lx200 at the time, and after a strip down indoors it all dried out OK.

I'd just take everything indoors, open up what you can, and dry the worst with paper towels etc, then leave well alone in the warm and see what happens.

Best of luck

Huw

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Such a sad story but be even worst to hear that you had given up because of it..im sure getting the scope..mount or whatever in a airing cupboard for a good few days will sort it out..leaving it might start fungus/ bacterial growth so sooner dealt with the better.. good luck but hoping it's not the end..

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Well the first part cleaned up, two computers ok, one down, security system working.  Took the guide scope off the RASA and have emptied it and gave it a good dry and clean, now in the house getting it in better shape.  Strong winds today, dry and helping, emptied a number of boxes full of water, still a way to go  :)

Jim

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21 minutes ago, JimT said:

Well the first part cleaned up, two computers ok, one down, security system working.  Took the guide scope off the RASA and have emptied it and gave it a good dry and clean, now in the house getting it in better shape.  Strong winds today, dry and helping, emptied a number of boxes full of water, still a way to go  :)

Jim

Good to hear the positivity now Jim..... Well done for getting over the bump in the road :) 

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I'm not an imager Jim, but I came across this thread by accident and was really touched by your post, and also by all the supportive replies your imaging friends and others offered you.

We all love the night sky and you have a large wave of goodwill from round the country which I hope will carry you through this tough time and out the other side, so you can continue in this fabulous hobby of ours.

With best wishes to you.

Dave

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So sad to read this, but glad you are being more positive. When you get the strength... tackle the insurance. It will be a hassle but worth it. This is exactly why we have insurance. In time you may see an even better obsy arise from the ashes (or puddles)...

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My obs flooded a couple of weeks ago, roof open to pouring rain for at least 3 hours. I feared the worst as I tipped up the RC and emptied it like a bucket, but after drying everything out all I lost was one active USB lead!

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I've only just found this thread but it's not sounding like there's been to much damage or loss then Jim? I'm glad it held up after the recent winds we've had too.
Hopefully our little chat when I popped over to visit helped too? Stick at it & if you ever want to chat you know where I am :-)

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Thanks Tich, have been working on it today, the dry wind has helped, one PC down, have the electrics back on and security working. Stripped off the ED80 and cleaned that up but leaving the RASA till later, want to make sure all the water is out of it and no dampness.  Will wait a while before powering up, will go over the mount slowly, the hand controller took a hammering.  Moving all the kit boxes out and store them in the house, have already ordered new material from Wicks, that will get the roof sorted.

Jim 

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1 hour ago, JimT said:

Thanks Tich, have been working on it today, the dry wind has helped, one PC down, have the electrics back on and security working. Stripped off the ED80 and cleaned that up but leaving the RASA till later, want to make sure all the water is out of it and no dampness.  Will wait a while before powering up, will go over the mount slowly, the hand controller took a hammering.  Moving all the kit boxes out and store them in the house, have already ordered new material from Wicks, that will get the roof sorted.

Jim 

Nice one mate I think you'll be up & running again sooner than you think :-)

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3 minutes ago, tich said:

Nice one mate I think you'll be up & running again sooner than you think :-)

I have a feeling not to be honest, I think I will have problems with the mount, will know soon enough  :(

Jim

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Hi folks

Have to say I’ve been quite touched by Jim’s plight and the warm and sympathetic replies he has received , makes me feel glad to be part of such a thoughtful and pleasant community. Really hope all goes well with the obs recovery Jim .

cheers

Steve

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Really glad to hear that you made good progress today Jim. I was pretty fearful that last night’s storm would have worked against you, but glad to know that the strong winds are actually working in your favour. The storm woke me and my wife about 2:30am with hail crashing against the bathroom window. I got up to check all was ok and thankfully the only thing that got damaged was a bird feeder stand. I stood at the window watching trees moving like whirling dervishes for about 20 mins - reminded of the Oct ‘87 storm when I was living Surrey.

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After reading further, I'm glad your starting to recover from the disaster... keep going, soon enough you'll be back into the hobby.. and I agree with some statements, that you would miss astronomy and regret giving up the hobby.

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I'm late to this thread, but my heart goes out to you, I think I would have cried! I'm really pleased you've got beyond the initial shock and are rallying to reclaim what you can, I'm sure the RASA will be fine once dried out, maybe some de-ionised water to remove any water marks. I would have totally felt the same as you did when you first discovered the disaster, it must have been really hard to face but we're all rooting for you :) 

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Jim, Sorry to hear your woes, can I make a couple of suggestions?

1. I used to own a few computer companies and one of them we dealt with Insurance replacement for computers, the number of times when we received soaking wet PC's that had been salvaged from peoples homes and had been under water for a considerable time, but they hadn't backed up their data, all we did was inspect to make sure there was no deposits visible on the boards and HDD's and if there was we gently sprayed them down with distilled or deionised water, then dried them out slowly over radiators, when perfectly dry we tested them and 99% of the time we could retrieve their data and restore their system, although there could be no guarantees, and the insurance still replaced their systems, at least we got their data off and the engineers had some scrap but working equipment to play with and test.

The only problem that ever arose was when the systems were on when the water hit the electrics, otherwise the worse that usually was blown was the PSU.

2. With regards to your guide scope why not refurb it and use blackboard paint to treat the inside and edges of the lenses.

HTH

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