My Durst AC1201 completely trashed!

Matt5791 · Jul 8, 2006

I may have mentioned on here before that I also own a self storage facility in Coventry UK.

On Thursday we had some freak weather - cut a long story short within half an hour there was 3 feet of water on our car park and 2 feet throughout the entire facility and in all 300 storage units.

One storage unit had my Durst AC1201 enlarger lying flat on the floor - I haven't been into the unit yet but I know it will have been completely covered in water. It had three lenses in it too - 50, 80 and 150.

I now have the unenviable task of dealing with all the customers - many of whome had not bothered to take insurance!

I dont think that the company is going to even be operable from that site ever again now - I just hope we get a good deal from the insurance and claw back our investment.

Matt

Dave Miller · Jul 8, 2006

Don’t know what to say; commiserations doesn’t cover it, but I can’t think of anything else.

eumenius · Jul 8, 2006

Oh my. Looks like the weather in Europe got broken - we have an unusual and incredible heat and no rain here, in Moscow, while all the bad things like floods are happening to our Western neighbours... I'm really sorry about that. Hope your enlarger can be dried and put back to work - and the sooner you recover it, the better it would be for both lenses and mechanics

Good luck, Zhenya

jd callow · Jul 8, 2006

Matt,
You have my sympathies for your family's welfare, your customers' and for a wonderful enlarger that is no longer made.

Petzi · Jul 8, 2006

If you dry it carefully, it might be usable...
I wonder if the electronics were under water, too, or only the enlarger?

sanderx1 · Jul 8, 2006

eumenius said:
Oh my. Looks like the weather in Europe got broken - we have an unusual and incredible heat and no rain here, in Moscow, while all the bad things like floods are happening to our Western neighbours... I'm really sorry about that. Hope your enlarger can be dried and put back to work - and the sooner you recover it, the better it would be for both lenses and mechanics

Good luck, Zhenya

That hot exterme weather extends quite a bit to the west from both Moscow and Russia. But do you really think we will miss out on the downpour? I don't think so I think there will be lots of it and I'm happy I'm far from Danube and other such major rivers ;-)

eumenius · Jul 9, 2006

Oh, I don't think that the downpour is what we really need Fortunately, Moscow had been protected from floods in early thirties by Stalin's order, when GULAG prisoners have built a number of channels etc. Even Hitler's plan of drowning Moscow completely proved nonfeasible - there was no source of water, maybe they wanted to bring some from the Reich?

And the problem with the enlarger can be solved - if it's quickly recovered, and showered well with many buckets of distilled water, then dried out quickly with an industrial hot air jet (a fan plus wire heater)... that's what I would be doing if I had such a nasty situation.

Cheers, Zhenya

sanderx1 said:
That hot exterme weather extends quite a bit to the west from both Moscow and Russia. But do you really think we will miss out on the downpour? I don't think so I think there will be lots of it and I'm happy I'm far from Danube and other such major rivers ;-)

leeturner · Jul 9, 2006

Matt I'm sorry to hear of your problems. It's not the matter of replacement it's the lost time. If you're stuck in finding a replacement I've found a printing company that's getting rid of several DeVere enlargers for very reasonable prices. I've just bought a 504 Dichro free standing unit with lenses, masks and mixing boxes for £300 and they have a wall mount and a bench model 504 left, in addition to a massive 10x8 dichro devere.

pentaxuser · Jul 9, 2006

Matt. Same sentiments from me. Maybe it's a symptom of just being a grumpy old git but I'll swear( frequently these days) that in my youth and even early middle age we never heard of these freak floods. Floods happened once in a blue moon and in areas that had been prone to them for decades or centuries. Life had a certain predictability

Now unless you are well above any water source and not in a dip it's getting to be a yearly occurrence.

pentaxuser

catem · Jul 9, 2006

pentaxuser said:
Now unless you are well above any water source and not in a dip it's getting to be a yearly occurrence.

pentaxuser

And I have a feeling it's set to get worse.

My commiserations, Matt. It must've made you feel quite helpless. I hope you can rescue things. We're not really used to being at the mercy of the elements in the U.K. (and I agree the weather/climate is changing, and quite rapidly too..)

Cate

Marco Gilardetti · Jul 10, 2006

Petzi said:
If you dry it carefully, it might be usable...
I wonder if the electronics were under water, too, or only the enlarger?

Even if they were, if you allow them DRY COMPLETELY and clean it up well, there's no reson why the electronics shouldn't work anymore.

Petzi · Jul 10, 2006

Corrosion is the main problem. The device shouldn't be wet for too long. So it should be opened to allow free flow of air to dry. If the water was dirty, maybe even clean it with fresh water first then dry...

My Durst AC1201 completely trashed!

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