Cleaning electronic circuitry?

[Naio]

A year ago my van was contaminated with some kind of super allergen. I'm not sure if it was ultra fine fiberglass or what. But it had me using a month's worth of allergy meds each night that I spent in the van.

I cleaned the van itself out thoroughly, but I have a bunch of items that were in the van that I haven't cleaned.

And the ones that I don't know how to clean are the electronic items with internal fans. I can't have those fans blowing allergens all around my van. Inverters, giant battery charger, etcetera.

If I open up their cases, is it ok to wipe everything down with a damp paper towel? Will I destroy stuff?

If water is unacceptable, is there something else I can do so that the contaminants will stick to the paper towel? I don't want to just dry dust them, because then the stuff will go up in the air.

Would one of those high-powered vacuums you put quarters in at the gas station be a better choice?

Of course these are the things that are more expensive than I want to spend to replace :-).

Thanks very much folks, as always!

[Naio]

Thank you very much, everyone!

ScottG wrote:
Retired EE here. I would not use alcohol because it may eat any conformal coating that's present.
Damp towel is OK as is a brush of natural fibers (no synthetics).
Avoid high velocity air as it creates static that can cause latent failures.

Wow. Glad I asked. These are issues I would never have thought of.

[ScottG]

Johno02 wrote:
Agree that water is the only solution if sustances are spilled into electronics. Cokes are the worst, use water to get it all off, then alcohol to pick up all the water.

Yes! Regular Coke always seemed to kill the things it was spilled on. Black coffee wasn't bad but if it had cream and sugar - game over!

[Johno02]

Agree that water is the only solution if sustances are spilled into electronics. Cokes are the worst, use water to get it all off, then alcohol to pick up all the water.

[rhagfo]

Well as a past computer repair person, circuit boards are not opposed to water as long as they have no power to them.
unless they have capacitors on them, then power should be removed for at least an hour.
Wash in clear clean warm water, then dry with a hair dryer.
I once had a coin dispenser that had a can of coke spilled into it. I went and got a bucket of warm water, as I disassembled the unit all electronic parts went in the warm water. took out and rinsed, dried with hair dryer, and reassembled worked perfectly.

Wiping down with damp rag, while powered down and power removed, once wiped down dry with hair dryer.

[ScottG]

Retired EE here. I would not use alcohol because it may eat any conformal coating that's present.
Damp towel is OK as is a brush of natural fibers (no synthetics).
Avoid high velocity air as it creates static that can cause latent failures.

[Chris_Bryant]

An aside- a fairly famous video of a master technician cleaning a very dirty synthesizer-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwRlZyIG6rg

[opnspaces]

Agreed water is a last resort, but I have used it in the past. Some key points if you go the water route.

• Use distilled water, it is non conductive. Well it's non conductive right up to the point you mix it with a bunch of dust and dirt that is.
• Make sure the rag is just damp, you don't want water to wring out of the rag and drip down into electronics.
• Only wipe the outside and inside surfaces of the case.
• Do not wipe off the circuit boards.
• Do not use a standard vacuum and brush as they are not safe from component killing electrostatic discharge.
• Use compressed air to blow off the circuit boards.
• Do not use the compressed air to free spin the cooling fans no matter how tempting it is. You can destroy the bearings and in a worst case the fan can disintegrate.
• Open a front window and put a box fan in the open back door while cleaning. The idea is to keep the allergens moving and out the back door.

Next you need to figure out where this all cam from so you can prevent it in the future.

[pianotuna]

air compressor and vacuum dampen cloth with alcohol.

[Howy]

They make cheap small vacuums for computers and such with small brush. If you want a liquid they make an electric spray contact cleaner. I think that would just make the stuff stick to the board. Brtter of sucking it up IMOP.

[Howy]

They make cheap small vacuums for computers and such with small brush. If you want a liquid they make an electric spray contact cleaner. I think that would just make the stuff stick to the board. Brtter of sucking it up IMOP.

[Johno02]

sorry, duplicate post...

[Johno02]

Also, use a common home vacuum that has a good filter, and a small brush to loosen stuff and in corners. Most have plenty of suction for what you need, especially if you loosen everything with the brush.

[Johno02]

Use the 97% alcohol rather than the common rubbing alcohol which contains lots of water. The 97% drys better, and leaves no residue. And is harmless to most electronics, but do watch out for printed id or instructions, as the 97% will wipe most of them.

[bgum]

Canned air blasted with strong vacuum running near the object. Water is last resort. Alcohol would be preferable to water.