Cleaning electronic components

[Daniel]

Hi,
I recently inherited a large tower computer. Unfortunately the person who
owned it before must have been a heavy smoker. When starting it up it puts
out a pretty stale smell cigarettes in an ashtray - YUCK. Anyway, there is
your standard mother board, power supply, network card, video card and two
cooling fans. Any ideas on how I can clean up everything inside so the
smell will not drive me out of the room. Guess I could just throw out the
power supply for a start. How can I safely clean the electronic circuit
boards to get rid of dust and smell?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Al]

Hi,
I recently inherited a large tower computer. Unfortunately the person who
owned it before must have been a heavy smoker. When starting it up it puts
out a pretty stale smell cigarettes in an ashtray - YUCK. Anyway, there is
your standard mother board, power supply, network card, video card and two
cooling fans. Any ideas on how I can clean up everything inside so the
smell will not drive me out of the room. Guess I could just throw out the
power supply for a start. How can I safely clean the electronic circuit
boards to get rid of dust and smell?

Thanks,
Dan

Wash them in electronic grade isopropyl alcohol.

Tepid water with a surfacant like "Micro" brand cleanser will be OK for
boards which do not have parts on them that have cavities open to the
outside air.

Al

PS: http://www.ipcol.com/prod-m90.htm

 

[CWatters]

Wash them in electronic grade isopropyl alcohol.

Tepid water with a surfacant like "Micro" brand cleanser will be OK for
boards which do not have parts on them that have cavities open to the
outside air.

You mean like things like the memory sockets, ZIF CPU sockets, IDC
connectors, D-Type connectors, the bios beeper, the battery etc.?

I think a better idea would be to take it apart and (outdoors) give the
parts a blast from can of compressed air intended for this job. I would
avoid using a regular vacuum cleaner as the plastic nozzle can build up a
static charge.

Wipe the case with a cloth wetted with airfreshner perhaps.

 

[Al]

You mean like things like the memory sockets, ZIF CPU sockets, IDC
connectors, D-Type connectors, the bios beeper, the battery etc.?

That's right. For example, you can use the detergent on the memory
modules you remove, but not on the motherboard. That detergent I
specified is a low residue detergent. Even then the modules should then
be rinsed off with distilled water and air dried. Of course, any paper
labels will be affected.

Al

 

[Daniel]

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

Dan

 

[JANA]

We do cleaning of electronic circuit boards, and devices when they come in
for rebuilding.

Use a high grade of isopropyl alcohol to clean the various components,
circuit boards, and surfaces. Use distilled water to rinse the circuit
boards. All the devices are then forced air dried at 140 F to 160 F, for
more than 24 hours.

After the devices are taken out of the drying area, they are allowed a few
hours to cool down to room temperature. The units are then re-assembled, let
standing for another 24 hours, and then troubleshooted for any failures.
When completely finished, the units look like new if the client didn't dent
or scratch them, and they perform to specifications.

The cost of this type of service is high. Therefore, only devices that are
feasible to overhaul are serviced. These are mainly calibration and test
equipment, or high end computer equipment.

--

JANA
_____


"Daniel" <dcxdan AT yahoo DOT com> wrote in message
Hi,
I recently inherited a large tower computer. Unfortunately the person who
owned it before must have been a heavy smoker. When starting it up it puts
out a pretty stale smell cigarettes in an ashtray - YUCK. Anyway, there is
your standard mother board, power supply, network card, video card and two
cooling fans. Any ideas on how I can clean up everything inside so the
smell will not drive me out of the room. Guess I could just throw out the
power supply for a start. How can I safely clean the electronic circuit
boards to get rid of dust and smell?

Thanks,
Dan