Cleaning electronic components

Amazing as it sounds, most of the parts in there are totally unaffected by water. After all, the circuit boards have already been through a bath of molten solder followed by a rinse in a pretty strong solvent or else water, depending on the flux that was used.

Take it apart, as far as you can.

Spray something like "409" on all the sheet metal, and all the circuit boards, and rinse with plenty of hot water. Final rinse in the hottest water you have, blot it all off, and put it out in full sunlight to dry as quickly as possible. The warmth will help evaporation.

Make *sure* everything is dry before you put it back together and fire it up.

Isaac

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Here's another way: get some toothbrushes and a can of carpet deodorizer from the dollar store. Blow or vacuum as much dust out as you can and use the brushes to get rid of any stuck on dirt. Sprinkle the carpet cleaner inside on the bottom of the computer but not on electronic parts. Give it a few days to absorb what it can and if you can leave it inside while you run the computer do so. Eventually vacuum it all out.

Got rid of a lot of dead herring smell from a rental car that way - don't ask.

N

Absolutely. We used to recover avionic components that'd sat on the ocean floor for days or weeks( downed aircraft) back in my service days. Every component had a specific process of cleaning, all started with fresh clean water soaks. Like you said though you gotta be sure it's bone dry before energizing the circuitry.

409 works well, I also use something called "Mean Green". Kinda a cross between 409 and Simple Green.(Not as caustic as Simple Green and won't leave as much residue as 409.) I get it at the local Family Dollar stores or my local Wal-Mart. I rinse with luke warm water though.(I'm worried that the caps on some boards may be the cheap wax sealed not the epoxy ones.) I use compressed air to blow it off to minimize the wet time and I take care to avoid getting any water in any open transformer coils.( tough to get them absolutely dry without a dehumidification cabinet.) A hair dryer on warm or hot can speed the process up a bit before setting it out in the sun.( I live in a sub-tropic region in the south, hot as hell all the time, giving me the benefit of a fast dry time in or out of the sun.)

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My motto is - If it aint broke don't poke. Its only a nasty smell, not harmfull tobacco particles. I would just tie some sprigs of lavender or similar over the fan outlet or a net bag with pot-pourri in it.

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

Hi, Yes, Thanks for all your helpful tips. I 'm sure I will use most of the them to get that nasty smell down erased. And I 'm sure a good blast from an air hose would do a lot to help also.

Dan

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Obviously you smoke or did at one time. So of course you wouldn't find it that offensive. AND actually it is particles. The unit heats up and cooks off the nasty gunk/tar coating that that filthy habit left on there. For many it's not just a bad smell, it's a medical allergy. I have asthma and a severe medical allergy to tobacco. All I have to do to have an attack is just be around a smoker when they exhale, disgusting to say the least. The main reason I don't work in the repair business as well.

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Take it apart and gently scrub the boards with warm soapy water, use something mild like dish soap for hand washing. Rinse everything off and let it dry for a few days then reassemble.

I've run boards through the dishwasher too with success, though machine wash soap can leave residue. You can wash the power supply the same way, just take it apart first and remove the fan and anything cardboard.

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No one has mentioned removing CMOS back-up battery before wet processing. I would not trust ICs to wet , encapsulation against capillary action is not guaranteed for civil packages and IIRC not absolute guarantee for mil spec packages.

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on