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I see lots of “brush it, it’s fine” posts, but if you want to dunk your components, that’s a whole different story. Alcohol is certainly going to dissolve something like TIM or thermal pads; that might not be a problem.
But it might?
One thing very oldschool PC builders did is submerge their PCs in mineral oil for cooling. This liquid is more innocuous, AFAIK.
So you could get some in a plastic tray and dunk your components in it. I have no advice for getting the oil off though.
Hmmm, you could just… leave them submerged in the oil? Would that protect them from the smoke? I don’t know. I’ll have to look into these “underwater” builds though because that does sound cool.
It's very cool, but not cheap. If your goal is to save cash by extending the hardware's life, TBH it'd make way more financial sense to just invest that cash instead.
Have you thought about FIRE?
~~How is fire relevant?~~
Nvm, I thought you meant it could cause a fire.
Now all you need is a lighter, which as a smoker I'm sure you have handy! 💥
Alcohol may mess up some of the plastic pieces, mineral oil might be a better option, that's what people use in the "underwater" computer builds
I would highly advise against this! That would be a health and fire hazard waiting to happen. Isopropyl is good for cleaning your electronics but I wouldn't bathe them in it.
If you still want to try submerging your PC in some kind of liquid, you can try mineral oil. This was a trend in PC building back in the early-mid 2010s but seems to have lost momentum around 2017/2018. I've never done this myself so research thoroughly. Other than that, stick to water-cooling.
Also, at the risk of sounding like an asshole, I would advise quitting smoking.
Their post didn't sound like they were going to RUN it submerged in alcohol... Just dunking in the alcohol to clean it off. I don't think mineral oil is going to help clean the parts much.
This was a trend in PC building back in the early-mid 2010s but seems to have lost momentum around 2017/2018
From what I recall, it stopped being a fad because outside of the cool factor, it was found to be horribly inefficient (cost/performance) at actually cooling the computer compared to air or water cooling.
Try getting one of those motorized air blasters. The can of air can get super cold and fuck up something delicate. Rechargeable ones don't, and they can get stupid powerful, based on what I've read
and they can get stupid powerful,
If anyone reading this is shopping in physical stores and trying how hard it blows, just don't blow it into your face. Unless you have a suffocation kink I suppose.
Yeah it's compressed refrigerant, not air. It will displace oxygen
Alcohol will also damage some plastics; i used it to clean a keyboard and keycaps, the keycap stems slowly disintegrated and split apart over time.
Disassemble. Use distilled water and a suitable sized ultrasonic cleaner, with one component at a time. Air dry with clean compressed air, canned not compressor. Leave it to dry for atleast a day after. Reassemble, fingers crossed.
ultrasonic cleaner
Wont that destroy every soder connection in there?
Apparently Kingpin uses an ultrasonic cleaner and hasn't seen any problems as a result... However he acknowledges that some people say it's bad for electronics:
Iso wouldn't be good for things like thermal pads or thermal paste. You could probably dunk most other things in it (though I wouldn't put fan motors in it).
If you know how to disassemble the graphics card, you could probably do that, save the thermal pads/note where the thermal paste goes and then submerge it. Though the best option for everything is probably a squirtbottle and a tooth/nailbrush. Just give it a day or two before powering it on to make certain that all of it has evaporated.
So messing with thermal paste should be avoided. Noted. I could just re-apply it after. I'll be replacing the graphics card, so I thought I'd give the rest of the parts a cleaning. So, submerging/soaking = no, squirt bottle in strategic places = yes.
Thank you for answering the question in a comprehensive way, it is surprisingly rare, and I appreciate it very much.
One other thing - you might want to try putting a little iso on a hidden spot on any plastic pieces you plan on cleaning - iso can sometimes degrade/discolour plastics.
I don't think you'll get the results you are hoping for. I'm not sure it would harm it but you'd need some sort of agitation or scrubbing to actually get it clean. I'd propose a soft toothbrush and iso. Or if you're dedicated to dunking it, maybe try one of those ultrasonic tubs
Ive done it with dozens of boards (not pc boards tho, but basically the same: processors, memories, capacitors and transistors... just less expandable and much more expensive), but I've used an ultrasonic cleaner, I'm not sure just letting it soak is going to do the trick. It could even make it worse, the ipa can dissolve the liquid-ish part of the gunk (oils) and leave the solid residue once dried. If you don't have such a machine, they're not that pricy but you'd need a fairly big one so not cheap either, my advise would be to use a toothbrush.
Some precautions: use 99.9% IPA, not any other alcohols and definitely not acetone. Take the whole thing apart. Take out any batteries off the boards. Most glues will be dissolved, which hasn't been a problem for me ever but if some of your parts aren't soldered, screwed, or fastened any other way they'll fall off. Let it dry very well, even help it a bit putting it in some warm place or using a hairdryer. As other have said thermal paste and pads will have to be replaced most likely. About the fans, I'm not sure, I've never done it. I've cleaned bigger motors, but those fans are cheaper to just replace than to service them unless it's a quick blowin' and dustin'.
I regularly use 100% Alcohol to clean boards and it's the best. I get's rid of everything and won't leave any traces, since it evaporates so fast. So I reckon you'll be fine
There is an easy solution: Do not smoke in the first place. Problem solved. Not only you do not have to clean your computer so often but you also take care of your body.
Now, it is easier said than done but it is doable.
Just clean the heat sinks and use some contact cleaner on the ports. What harm can do on the rest of surfaces? I wouldn't worry too much.
Make sure you use %100 alcohol.
I think that is literally physically impossible. The strongest you can buy is 96-98%, I think. I don't even think it is possible to distill it past about 99%.
Nerd alert, incoming: Not sure about isopropyl, but the azeotropic distillation point of ethanol is about 97.5%. After that, dessicants are needed to remove the remaining water content.
You can purchase laboratory grade 200 proof isopropyl, but I would guess it is rather expensive.
Used to contract at a pharma company that used 99% iso in trays to clean tablet punches. You need strict guidelines on secondary containers, specific pumps and once it's in a secondary it basically expires as it falls past 99% quick.
