Cat PEE and the UEC.

[gordon_s1942]

Yesterday a neighbour brought me one of the 2 VAST UEC's I had purchased for him about 2 years ago and told me its not working.
This UEC was given to his Lady Friend who runs a sort of cat rescue at her home and I believe she has quite a few there.
He said there was one Tom Cat in particular who likes to 'spray' his domain and he is suspected of finally doing so where the UEC was located.

From what this fellow said, I gather he had opened up the STB and 'dried' it but I didnt ask how.
I believe the the UEC wasnt working before it was dried out and when it didnt work being after dried out , he being a fully trained and competent DIYer totally capable of turning a light switch ON and OFF, he came to the conclusion that the fuse had blown so to test his theory he touched it and immediately found it wasnt blown because it BIT him !!!
How you test a fuse by touching it tells you its blown or not I am still not clear about unless its in place across a circuit and BITEs as this one did
I then rather stupidly told him that just drying off any liquid (cat pee) would most likely leave a residue on the board and components and that it needed to be 'washed' and dried thoroughly.
He was ready to go and do this right there and then and I had the devils own job to explain I didnt mean to hose it down in the yard or give it a once over in the kitchen sink with the Dinner dishes !!!.
I suggested he contact the only person I know of locally who does TV repairs etc (he did the diodes in a Humax for me a few years ago) or decide to buy a new one.
He was very reluctant to consider either idea as he was hoping I could get it up and running as I wouldnt charge as I am not qualified which is the very reason I had no intentions of trying to get it to work as I dont know how!!