On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 5:30:53 PM UTC-4, Mr. Luddite wrote:
Gregg will get a kick out of this:



In hopeful anticipation of a future move Mrs.E. and I have been going

through the house identifying items we want to keep and what to give

away, sell or chuck in the dumpster. I am taking full advantage of

this because she is one of the biggest pack-rats I've ever seen. I

figure that as long as I keep setting an example she will be willing to

dispose of half the stuff she has collected over the years.



My treasures are mostly audio gear, speakers, some tools and that sort

of stuff. I don't keep things just for the sake of keeping them like

she does.



However, as I roamed around this 7600 sq.ft. house I discovered that I

had a total of *nine* various receiver/amps that I've used at one time

or another. They range from Yamaha stereo, 5.1 and 7.1 home theater

types to some Denons, a Rotel a Marantz and a couple of vintage Carver

units ... one a 250 watt per channel power amp, the other a very old,

original Bob Carver receiver/amp, made in USA. This one is somewhat

valuable.



The Carver had mysteriously disappeared shortly after we moved into this

house almost 14 years ago. Turns out Mrs.E. wanted music in her horse

barn, swiped it and had some friend hook it up in the barn. I knew she

had music out there but never bothered to find out how or with what.



The other day I rescued it from the barn after almost having a heart

attack when I saw it. It was totally covered in horse dust from

shavings and whatever else grows in a horse barn. Took the cover off it

and the crap was almost a half-inch thick everywhere. Didn't dare turn

it on.



I vacuumed as much as I could but it was still covered in horse dust

crap. I hated to admit it but it was heading for the dumpster that we

rented to get rid of stuff that was junk.



I couldn't do it. I stuck it in the sink, dosed it with dish detergent

and washed it with a heavy hot water spray and a soft brush. Everything

in it got soaking wet, but it's now clean as a whistle. Hit it with a

hair drying for about 15 minutes and am now going to let it sit for a

few days before putting power to it. Hopefully it won't blow up.



I'll report the outcome.

You can warm your oven up to about 150 degrees, turn it off, the put the amp in there. As long as there's no plastic parts to warp (like power meter faces) it will not hurt the electronics and will help dry them out. It would still be good to give it some time to completely dry out. The biggest worry for me would be water in the transformer. Oh, and pull the AC fuse that's probably on a screw-in or bayonet holder on the back panel to let it dry.

If you have an issue, it can still be brought back to life by a competent tech. Hang on to it!