Spill clean up question
 

My motherboard got soaked the other day when the block leaked profusely three hours into final leak testing. At that point I already had the additive in the water (Innovatek protect, basically ethylene glycol plus some unstated anti corrosive agent). As this was a dual system, I was hoping to just be able to replace the block and let the system dry out, but the ethylene gycol is taking forever to evaporate. I can still see some coolant in the bottom of the memory slot and I am concerned about the cpu socket.

First, is this something to be concerned about and if it is, what the best practice for dealing with it. I've searched the web and come up dry (wish I could say same for MB).

So, the question is how do you clean up after a spill? I have thinking a distilled water bath, though I am looking for better suggestions and experience.

i have no experience with this problem so: BE WARNED

might try electrical component cleaner. it contains degreasers (ethylene glycol is an oil base product) and should be safe off PCBs

FYI: distilled water will become contaminated on contact with the MB

Ethylene Glycol is quite miscible with water, and thus my thoughts on using distilled water.

>>
FYI: distilled water will become contaminated on contact with the MB
>>
Exactly the point. I want the contaminates in the water and not on the MB - I was specifically looking to its solvent action and hopefully minimal MB component impact.

edge

I once soaked a new mobo with anti freeze once accidentally. I just hosed it off with tap water and blew out the sockets with that canned air and let the rest dry for a few days. Mobo worked fine for years after.

Not suggesting you do this however.

An isopropyl alcohol bath would be in order. But this isnt always a fix. You need to give it a bath because the coolant, even if it was just distilled and especially with gycol, will dry up and stay on the board and it is conductive.

But some things just dont like to get wet period. Caps (when submerged atleast) will die.

Wash the part that get contaminated with isopropyl and let it dry for a full 24hours atleast.

>>
Caps (when submerged atleast) will die
>>

Rinse affected areas and dry seems appropriate. I'm not particularly handy with a soldering iron nor at identifying dead caps. Looks like its getting time to dig out my wash bottle.

I have had a couple of spills mostly on video cards.

I used pure turps (purchased from bunnings), as its is a bit hard to get isopropanol as general public.
Purchased pump bottle and proceeded to pump about 700ml onto boards and under chips sockets ect.
Then rinse with hot water.

Let dry for a day or two.

If spilt on board that has heatsink / thermal interface. You may need to remove HS and remove HS paste (ensuring that this doesn’t go under chip) ect.

I haven’t had a failure yet, and have had 2 video boards and 1 mother board that i have had to clean over 3 years.

Good luck

I wasnt mentioned the caps because you should try to repair a cap if it broke. Was just saying that bathing the board might not always work due to that reason, or others. Didn't want to get your hope up.

I've saved components with tap water flush and an hour in the oven at 200F.

used 99% iso myself, brought "dead" bords/vid back to life
Also, iso is commonly used to wash circuit boards during consruction

JamesAvery,

I wasn't worried about having lost caps during the leak, but your statement did make me reconsider the bath concept. Instead I went with three rinses from a wash bottle - that way the caps are never submerged. The three rinses is a habit left over from high school chem - the prof there had some evidence (wish my memory was good enough to remember) that multiple light rinses with a clean solution is more effective then one heavy wash/bath of the same solution.

Not having immediate access to iso, I went with three rinses of the affected areas with distilled water and then some air drying with a blow dryer on light. I am going to let the board sit for a couple of days to allow any remaining water to evaporate. Already it appears to have helped - all the places where the coolant had not evaporated now appear clean and dry.

I've had the replacement block and loop running in the empty case for 24 hours with no leaks. Probably friday night I will put it all back together and see if it fires up.

Thanks all.
edge

I've worked in an electronics company in the prototype lab in the past and we've used DI water to wash our populated cicuit boards. Distilled will still work but you must dry the board thoroughly either way.

Using IPA is also a good way to clean minor spills too.

That would be my approach as well.
It has worked for me on several occasions. I personally would not be too concerned about caps but switches and pots (not too common on MBs) I'd be worried about.
Just don't overheat the oven, - thats when capacitors might start leaking.