Water on electronics, no breaker drops

[benjish]

Hi everyone,

I rented out an outdoor space for a party and they brought a DJ. Unfortunately there was a water pipe that burst and showered the entire party as well as the DJ stand (just my luck).

The DJ is now telling me that all of his equipment is fried, laptops, TV, disk players, speakers... and he wants me to basically buy him all a whole new set (worth ~10K$ way way more than I made renting..).

From what I saw only the speakers took on heavy water (they were on the ground), the laptops, disk players and rest only had tiny droplets on the casings and water didn't seem to get inside. So I question his word on the subject and therefore wondered why the power kept going as if nothing happened.

For the circuit he was plugged into I have a mains breaker at 40A followed by a GFCI breaker (40A 30mA break) itself followed by a 10A breaker. My understanding is that had water entered the equipment and caused a short the GFCI would have dropped. I've tested my installation and both the GFCI and breaker are working perfectly.

So my question is, is there anyway his equipment is damaged considering my electrical installation detected no short? The only thing that makes me question this (because to me its a solid no) is the transformers I'm assuming some of these machines used (like laptop) as I know the output of a transformer isn't properly protected by the GFCI...

I've never heard of actually breaking (leaving a water mark and being a pain to dry sure, but not breaking) a speaker with water and the rest of the equipment was barely showered and I'd be surprised any water went in at all..

Any insight from more knowledgeable people would be amazing,

Thanks guys!
Ben

 

[Midwest]

@benjish not sure of your laws etc, but in the UK our police would not consider this matter, as it would be classified as a civil matter.

 

[benjish]

@benjish not sure of your laws etc, but in the UK our police would not consider this matter, as it would be classified as a civil matter.

Greek police gets... weirdly involved in virtually anything... and anything they do for / against you results in you having to pay some kind of tax... So if the guy does go to see the cops I'm sure they'll call me in, ask for a deposition, waste half of my day, charge me 50€ in stamp taxes and then put the file aside and tell me to have a good day...

I know it sounds (enjoyed telectrix's pun... had to!) stupid but I'm 99% sure thats what would happen (based on past experiences)

Also total he's asking from me is 9134€... I rented the space 750€ & gave that money back to the final client as compensation for showering their entire party... I literally made no money that evening!

 

[telectrix]

just a point..... who's water pipe is it that caused the problem?. IMO it's their responsibility.