I bought EUR 50k worth of Victron equipment. Then, wanting to take good care of it, I commissioned the building of a dedicated building to house it all so that it could be environmentally controlled - dehumidifier, dust HEPA filter, active ventillation inlets and outlets with a dust-filtered air intake in order to keep the air in the room clean. The building was purpose-built and the equipment installed. Both the builder and the electrician were well aware of the sensitivity of the equipment to moisture and dust and that the entire purpose of the building was to protect the equipment against ingress of particulate matter (dust, rodents) and moisture. I was intending to keep the equipment pristine and dust-free for many years.
Well, with the equipment ready to be commissioned, I went into the building to perform a final inspection, and what do I find? Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, was covered with a thick layer of dust - from drilling holes in plasterboard, and wood chippings from drilling holes and shaving bits of wood. A layer of dust about 7mm thick. Everywhere. Some wood chippings were large thin shavings perhaps 2cm x 1cm x 0.5mm. That was on top of the equipment, inside the equipment exhaust grilles, and inside the equipment. The affected components are mainly several Quattro 48/15000/200-100/100's and several SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/200's. I asked the builder to explain himself and he said, well I covered it as well as I could, it can all be hoovered up.
I hoovered the outside of all the devices, I took off the top covers of the Quattros and hoovered the (top) exhaust grilles and blew them out with an air blower from above and from below. I could not really figure out how to remove any covers on the MPPT units so I hoovered them up and blew them off externally with the blower.
I am absolutely gutted. Before I ever even switched the units on, they've already been covered with more dust than they'd have received in 15 years' worth of use in a normal (i.e. not dust-filtered) building. I'd have been better off if I never constructed the climate-controlled building in the first place.
How serious a problem is this? Can the units be cleaned? Are they now useless? What can I do to clean them of dust? Can they safely and adequately be cleaned of dust? The MPPT chargers clearly have dust inside their displays, so presumably the dust is everywhere.
Thank you.
