brassicGamer wrote:

I've done a forum search which was inconclusive. What are people's top tips die cleaning up old PCBs etc?

I use "White Gas" also known as "cleaner's naphtha" (In Swedish "teknisk bensin" or "kemiskt ren bensin")

Is that a bit like the 'air in a can' I've used before? I don't know why I didn't think of that.

If it is a PCB, sling it in the dishwasher seems to be the general idea.

I do not own a dishwasher, nor do I trust them, though they work fine for others. I get a toothbrush and fill the sink with warm water and washing up liquid. I then scrub gently at the board until I have got all of it before leaving it to dry. - You need to literally just brush the board, do not scrub at it as you might lift SMD parts off and that would be bad.

Remember to remove batteries and anything that can be unplugged before doing this. Also this only stands for PCBs of course, so you cannot clean drives, disks or much else this way. I should be getting a dusty PCB by the end of the week, so I'll be doing this again soon.

There are stacks of videos on YouTube and I am sure other members will offer input here. But that is pretty much it.

For dust removal in a case, you can use compressed air. A cheap way of doing this (though it has less power) is to get a pump or car tyre compressor and install the sports needle fitting.

For CPUs and heatsinks you can use alcohol (isopropanol) to clean things away. I use Brasso instead, wash with lighter fluid and then rinse with water but my method is disputed.

For connectors and contacts, you can buy contact cleaner. Use water to rinse them out if you have to (such as headphone jacks which might have gunk in them). You can use WD40 temporarily but will have to but it will need removing in a decent time frame.

This is all I can think of right now.

brassicGamer wrote:

Is that a bit like the 'air in a can' I've used before? I don't know why I didn't think of that.

Its pretty much the same stuff you put in the fuel tank of your car, only more pure. People often use White Gas to power their lawn mowers as its not as dangerous to inhale the fumes and the exhaust gases from it compared to normal gasoline.

The dishwasher is another good option.

Dishwasher. Seriously? I hold this site in such high esteem that it almost makes sense. I have to admit I wasn't expecting trolls.

brassicGamer wrote:

Dishwasher. Seriously? I hold this site in such high esteem that it almost makes sense. I have to admit I wasn't expecting trolls.

When people are trying to help dont call them trolls or that will be the last help you get, seriously.

Throwing a PCB in the dishwasher seems really stupid. You'll risk corossion from the dishwashing detergent and risk getting water in places where it shouldn't have been in the first place.
I personally use isopropyl alcohol, it's great for cleaning everything!

dunz wrote:

Throwing a PCB in the dishwasher seems really stupid. You'll risk corossion from the dishwashing detergent and risk getting water in places where it shouldn't have been in the first place.
I personally use isopropyl alcohol, it's great for cleaning everything!

I also prefer to use a solvent when possible but if there is dirt in the expansion slots nothing else than soaking the motherboard in water or something else will do, dishwashing detergent might even be neccisary if the dirt is tar from a heavy smoker who has smoked in front of the computer for 10 years. Using the dish washer or washing manually wont make much difference, I have done both.

Corrosion from wasing stuff in water rarly seem to be a problem but batteries like High Treason mentioned is a real danger so its always good to remove those first.

As a solevent for quick cleaning of CPUs or PCBs I find White Gas (kemiskt ren bensin) much better then alcohol of any kind, at least if stuff is really dirty.

Skyscraper wrote:

brassicGamer wrote:

Dishwasher. Seriously? I hold this site in such high esteem that it almost makes sense. I have to admit I wasn't expecting trolls.

When people are trying to help dont call them trolls or that will be the last help you get, seriously.

Hey I know I'm new here but I'm not new to forums nor computers. In over 20 years of computer use I have never heard anyone recommend a dishwasher as an appropriate method for cleaning PCBs. Forgive me for being skeptical.

I'm very happy to be the butt of a joke but not so much one which might cause me to destroy a piece of hardware I drove 5 hours to collect today. Thinking about it now I'd be very surprised if someone here would actually allow that to happen but I am more paranoid than the average so apologies and thank you for the advice.

Skyscraper wrote:

dunz wrote:

Throwing a PCB in the dishwasher seems really stupid. You'll risk corossion from the dishwashing detergent and risk getting water in places where it shouldn't have been in the first place.
I personally use isopropyl alcohol, it's great for cleaning everything!

I also prefer to use a solvent when possible but if there is dirt in the expansion slots nothing else than soaking the motherboard in water or something else will do, dishwashing detergent might even be neccisary if the dirt is tar from a heavy smoker who has smoked in front of the computer for 10 years. Using the dish washer or washing manually wont make much difference, I have done both.

Corrosion from wasing stuff in water rarly seem to be a problem but batteries like High Treason mentioned is a real danger so its always good to remove those first.

I'd go for some isopropyl alcohol and some q-tips, water is nasty stuff, it's also (if not properly sterilised) not very clean. I would rather soak it in a mild alcohol than water... I really don't trust water 😁

But if you say it works, I believe you, I'm just saying I wouldn't do it.

brassicGamer wrote:

Skyscraper wrote:

brassicGamer wrote:

Dishwasher. Seriously? I hold this site in such high esteem that it almost makes sense. I have to admit I wasn't expecting trolls.

When people are trying to help dont call them trolls or that will be the last help you get, seriously.

Hey I know I'm new here but I'm not new to forums nor computers. In over 20 years of computer use I have never heard anyone recommend a dishwasher as an appropriate method for cleaning PCBs. Forgive me for being skeptical.

I'm very happy to be the butt of a joke but not so much one which might cause me to destroy a piece of hardware I drove 5 hours to collect today. Thinking about it now I'd be very surprised if someone here would actually allow that to happen but I am more paranoid than the average so apologies and thank you for the advice.

See the dishwasher or manually soaking in water as a last resort, it wont break anything though as long as your PCBs are in a fixed position, corrosion when water and dishwashing detergent is involved is possible but I have never seen any. I would not use dishwashing detergent if using the dishwasher though, only if I soak the boards manually and only if its really needed (tar).

Letting stuff dry before using them is important though. water under components can take days to dry out.

I like the way nobody actually called me out for making the suggestion in the first place. Then again, if it wasn't for the Quote feature, I'd have thought I spent most of my days here in Coventry.

Never had problems with it, but I understand the concerns.

HighTreason wrote:

I like the way nobody actually called me out for making the suggestion in the first place. Then again, if it wasn't for the Quote feature, I'd have thought I spent most of my days here in Coventry.

Never had problems with it, but I understand the concerns.

I think its depends on what type of person you are and how much hardware that has passed your hands.

If you own a single retro computer and its a bit dirty you wont be using water and dishwashing detergent but if you use to buy stuff from for example Ukraine or Bulgaria and that stuff has been sitting in a dump for two years and is muddy or if the exapnsion slots are full of tar so they wont work then you do what you have to do to get the board clean. After a few such cases you clean all really dirty hardware the same way.

I rarly clean stuff at all if it isnt really necessary except Heat Sinks, CPUs and edge connectors. I think the definition of a dirty PCB is somewhat fluid.

Start by removing chips and other things (socketed stuff), then use the following approach.
This is what I do.

Take it to the shower in you'r bathroom and give it a good 5 min with nothing but hand-warm water.

If not clean, then mix a bath with hand-warm water, a bit of simple dishwasher soap (not the kind for machines) and just a pinch of cleaning alcohol.
Then take an extremely soft brush and scrub. For tough to reach places, use the softest toothbrush you can find.

Place the cleaned ithem on an antistatic bag somewhere warm. The radiator for instance, if it's not builing hot.
Wait for at least 24 hours after it began to look dry.

Don't use pure alcohol unless it's somewhere that look's like someone spilled what was left from cooking.
It will remove stuff like writing on labels and will leave some white cloudy color.

High pressure wash and air blasting till it is dry works, done that method for years.

Thanks a lot, folks - plenty of stuff for me to try here. And very interesting to see how different people approach the different issues. Would it make a good addition to the wiki?

brassicGamer wrote:

Would it make a good addition to the wiki?

Actually.... Yes. Good idea. 😀

Actually, there may be some confusion as to the dish-washer method.

1. Using a dish-washer to clean PCB's is a great method. In fact it is one of the #1 ways suggested on badcaps, especially when dealing with boards that are soiled from smokers.
a. However, this is only suggested when you are going to recap the entire board in the first place. Depopulate the board of caps, then dish-washer is used. Although, I don't recall them suggesting using dish-washing soap--I believe it is mainly for the hot water jetting and heated dry-cycle.
2. You absolutely need to used canned air to make sure all moisture is rid of beneath IC's and other components.
b. Obviously, compressed air is a no-no, here as it created static charge which could ruin your hardware.

brostenen wrote:

Don't use pure alcohol unless it's somewhere that look's like someone spilled what was left from cooking.
It will remove stuff like writing on labels and will leave some white cloudy color.

This is the reason why I prefer "White Gas" also known as "cleaner's naphtha". It leaves no traces at all but it do remove text from labels but that is true for all solvents except water.

I can post a picture of the stuff Im using when I get home.

Logistics wrote:

Actually, there may be some confusion as to the dish-washer method. […]
Show full quote

Actually, there may be some confusion as to the dish-washer method.

1. Using a dish-washer to clean PCB's is a great method. In fact it is one of the #1 ways suggested on badcaps, especially when dealing with boards that are soiled from smokers.
a. However, this is only suggested when you are going to recap the entire board in the first place. Depopulate the board of caps, then dish-washer is used. Although, I don't recall them suggesting using dish-washing soap--I believe it is mainly for the hot water jetting and heated dry-cycle.
2. You absolutely need to used canned air to make sure all moisture is rid of beneath IC's and other components.
b. Obviously, compressed air is a no-no, here as it created static charge which could ruin your hardware.

I think the removing the caps you are going to replace first part is mostly to be sure to get rid of the electrolytic fluid from the busted caps, few people replace all minor caps when recapping.

I have been cleaning lots of Socket-478 motherboards with water as people managed to put thermal grease in the sockets however that is possible... The only way to get it out seemed to be using a brush and dish-washing soap.

As someone mentioned earlier in the thread the water isnt the same everywhere, if you know the tap water where you live leave alot of residue then perhaps its not suitable for cleaning hardware.