"The ultimate surge protection is to unplug equipment from the wall if you suspect a surge might be coming."

Precautions to Take After a Flood

To report a property loss, please use the following contact information:

Phone: 800.526.1647 | After-Hours Emergency Line: 203.823.6896
Sherri Adams, Liability-Auto-Property Claims Unit Manager Business: 203.946.3752

(Report Workers' Compensation claims online at CIRMA ClaimCentral)

In the Aftermath of a Flood

When the building has been flooded:

When entering buildings, use extreme caution. Building damage may have occurred where you least expect it. Watch carefully every step you take.

Wear sturdy shoes. The most common injury following a disaster is a foot laceration.
Use battery-powered lanterns or flashlights when examining buildings. Battery-powered lighting is the safest and easiest, preventing fire hazard for the user, occupants, and building.
Examine walls, floors, doors, staircases, and windows to make sure that the building is not in danger of collapsing.
Inspect foundations for cracks or other damage. Cracks and damage to a foundation can render a building uninhabitable.
Look for fire hazards. There may be broken or leaking gas lines, flooded electrical circuits, or submerged furnaces or electrical appliances. Flammable or explosive materials may travel from upstream. Fire is the most frequent hazard following floods.
Check for gas leaks. If you smell gas or hear a blowing or hissing noise, open a window and quickly leave the building. Turn off the gas at the outside main valve if you can and call the gas company from a neighbor's home. If you turn off the gas for any reason, it must be turned back on by a professional.
Look for electrical system damage. If you see sparks or broken or frayed wires, or if you smell burning insulation, turn off the electricity at the main fuse box or circuit breaker. If you have to step in water to get to the fuse box or circuit breaker, call an electrician first for advice. Electrical equipment should be checked and dried before being returned to service.
Check for sewage and waterline damage. If you suspect sewage lines are damaged, avoid using the toilets and call a plumber. If water pipes are damaged, contact the water company and avoid using water from the tap. You can obtain safe water from undamaged water heaters or by melting ice cubes.
Watch out for animals, especially poisonous snakes, that may have come into buildings with the flood waters. Use a stick to poke through debris. Flood waters flush snakes and many animals out of their homes.
Watch for loose plaster, drywall, and ceilings that could fall.
Take pictures of the damage, both of the building and its contents, for insurance claims.

Courtesy of the American Red Cross, in association with FEMA.

Boilers & Equipment Restoration

For machinery and equipment, there is usually a significant opportunity to minimize damage at this stage.
Proper cleaning and drying will often avoid serious damage and help to restore the premises to operation
more quickly and at lower cost. Download HSB's Flood Recovery guidelines.
The Risk does Not Recede with the Water. If your equipment, machinery or electrical systems have been exposed to flood waters, you risk their loss even when the water level has dropped. Equipment and machinery may have water, silt or other contaminants within them. Your equipment could be damaged or destroyed if you attempt to start or test it without adequate cleaning and preparation for operation. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPERATE OR TEST YOUR EQUIPMENT WITHOUT PROPERLY RESTORING IT. Even when your equipment's exterior appears normal, residual moisture and contaminants can lead to permanent damage.
Dry and Clean Before Using. The following summarizes the steps to prepare your equipment for operation. Most actions involve careful draining, drying, cleaning or lubricating of equipment before attempting to start or energize it. Taking these precautions now can help you to avoid a major equipment failure and enable you to restore vital operations sooner:

Electrical Equipment

DO NOT ENERGIZE equipment that has been flooded until properly cleaned, dried out, and until insulation has been tested. This includes enclosures, bus ducts, conduit, and cables. Application of power to wet circuits will usually result in serious damage that will require repair or replacement. This is especially to be observed if replacement could be difficult. It is usually better to spend the necessary drying time than to risk destruction of the equipment.
Windings in electric machinery should not be dried at temperatures exceeding the rating of its insulation system. In general, a maximum temperature of 194 degrees F or 90 degrees C may be used. Check with the manufacturer for equipment specific information and recommendations.
Dry type transformers should be cleaned and thoroughly dried as described for windings.
Oil filled transformers should be thoroughly inspected for damage including the insulation bushing and oil samples should be drawn from the tank's top and bottom for analysis. Examine the sample for free moisture in the form of moisture droplets or a cloudy appearance. The laboratory should be instructed to include a Karl Fischer test for dissolved water content. Maximum water content for equipment rated >= 69kv is 25 ppm and equipment rated at
Circuit boards that have been immersed can sometimes be salvaged, provided that they were not energized at the time of immersion, and further provided that water sensitive components are not mounted to them. This can be done by carefully washing the individual boards in pure water and thoroughly drying before energizing.

Before Operating Machinery

Contact the manufacturer for recommendations.
Inspect foundations for cracking, weakness, or settlement. Check and correct alignment of all shafting, and check all stationary components for level.
Inspect all machine internals for silt accumulations and clean as needed.
Open the cylinders of all reciprocating engines or compressors that have been immersed and remove foreign material or water.
Drain and clean lubrication systems. Wipe oil containing elements with lint-free rags and refill with new lubricants as required.
Ball and roller bearings suspected of being contaminated by water and debris should be opened, solvent cleaned, and then re-lubricated in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Carefully clean and TEST governors and controls. Many control systems are electric. Refer to recommendations for Electrical Equipment above.

Boilers

Carefully inspect foundations and settings of boilers for settlement. DO NOT OPERATE a boiler if there is any evidence that the foundation has been undermined. Make sure the setting (brickwork, refractory, and insulation materials) is thoroughly dry. Use portable heaters where necessary. If the boiler has been immersed in salt or brackish water, the casing and insulation should be removed at least in wet areas and the pressure parts should be washed with fresh water. After washing, new dry insulation material should be applied and the casing re-installed.
All safety appliances, such as safety and relief valves, steam gage, water column, high and low-water cutouts, and blow down must be cleaned and repaired as needed.
All controls must be inspected and tested before operation, especially the water level control and lowwater fuel cutoffs.
Burners should not be fired until checked by a burner technician. An explosion may occur if the combustion controls do not function properly.
Boilers should not be operated if proper feed water is not available. If operation is essential, and if feed water contains mud, it will be necessary to blow down the boiler every eight hours and to open and clean the boiler internals at least once per week until proper water quality is re-established. In addition to frequent blow-down, and provided that clean make up water is available, it is also helpful to run with maximum makeup flow while diverting as much condensate as possible to sewer or drain until the boiler water quality returns to normal.

Courtesy of Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company

Use of Emergency Generators

Standby generators make life easier during power outages, but if used improperly, they can be deadly. During an outage, electricity from your generator can backfeed the power lines, killing or seriously injuring line crews who are working to repair the lines.
A transfer switch stops backfeeding, and also makes using your generator much more convenient, allowing appliances to be operated much like when the power is turned on. Download guidelines for use of Generators and Portable Generators, and HSB's guide to use of standby generators.

Caution is imperative when working with or around electrical sources, especially during clean-up operations. Download these OSHA guidelines for on-the-job electrical safety.

Power Surges: Protecting Computer, Electrical Appliances, and Electronic Equipment

During an outage, you should turn off and unplug electronic equipment to prevent damage when power is restored. The most common and often most expensive damage happens when the power comes back on and a surge of electricity floods the open circuits in the building. Power surges may also happen when other parts of the grid in close proximity are brought back up. Generally, a surge is a power increase that exceeds the peak voltage of 169 volts and lasts more than three nanoseconds a (power spike is shorter in duration). Surges can instantly overload and short the circuitry of computer and electronic equipment. A surge can cause computers to lose data, electronics to overheat, malfunction of electronic equipment such as heating systems and alarm equipment. Sometimes a surge can cause fires. Surges can also cause cumulative damage, incrementally decreasing the lifespan of televisions, computers, appliances, and printers.

Sensitive electronic equipment should always be plugged into UL listed surge suppressors that protect electric circuits. Surge suppressors are available from your local hardware and electronics stores. Look for surge suppressors with UL 1449 2nd edition and UL 497a listings. There are several types of protection against power line disturbances and outages:

Point-Of-Use Surge Protection Devices (SPDs). TSPDs combined with a good grounding system, should protect electronic and electrical appliances from most electrical surges. An SPD does not suppress or arrest a surge; it actually diverts the surge to the ground.

One familiar point-of-use surge suppressor looks like a regular plug strip. However, unless it specifically says so, don't assume a power strip provides surge protection.

Make sure any surge protectors you purchase are listed as UL Standard 1449. This is a national benchmark and means the product has been thoroughly tested.
Select a point-of-use surge protector that has an indicating light and/or audible alarm to show when it needs a replacement.
Look for SPDs that come with a manufacturer's warranty. Some warranties cover only the device; others also cover any damaged equipment connected to the device.
Direct lightning strikes are powerful enough to overwhelm even the best surge protection; that said, the ultimate surge protection is to unplug equipment from the wall if you suspect a surge might be coming.

Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS). There are a variety of power protection devices to protect data and equipment from damage caused by power outages or power quality problems. The most common systems are known as uninterrupted power supplies (UPS). There are three different types of UPS systems.
Off-Line. Off-line systems consist of a battery and a switch to sense power irregularities. The equipment is usually connected directly to the utility, and power protection is available only when voltage dips to the point of an outage. Some off-line UPS systems include surge suppression circuits, and some have optional built-in power line conditioners to increase the level of protection. For power sags, electrical line noise and brownouts, off-line UPS systems protect only when the battery is delivering power to the protected system. An off-line UPS protects only if the inverter is operating and on battery. Since off-line UPS equipment provides only partial protection against many common power problems, they are most often used to protect single-user PCs and other less critical applications.
Line-Interactive. These hybrid systems try to give better performance by adding voltage regulation features to off-line systems. They provide moderate protection against high-voltage spikes and switching transients. These systems offer adequate protection as long as the power sags are not continuous. At those times the system is being used frequently and may not be able to recharge for use in a power outage. Ferroresonant UPSs, another type of hybrid technology, keep the inverter in standby mode similar to other line-interactive systems, but they also maintain a reserve of energy that is usually sufficient to power most computers (i.e. PCs) briefly when a total outage occurs. Ferroresonant UPS systems work best with most non-computer technology or linear loads such as motors, beaters and lights.
On-Line. On-line UPS systems provide the highest level of protection for the most important equipment. These systems use a combined double-conversion (AC to DC/DC to AC) power circuit and an inverter, which continuously powers the load, to provide both conditioned power and outage protection. They provide protection and isolation from all types of power problems, including power surges, high-voltage spikes, switching transients, power sags, electrical line noise, frequency variation, brownouts and blackouts. These systems are often used for mission-critical applications that require high productivity and systems availability.