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tippy25

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Ok guys, my aquarium computer has sprung another leak (first one was more of a waterfall than a leak) and I've run out of patience. I'm going to switch to water cooling but I need to clean the mineral oil off the components.

I have seen suggestions for basic electronics cleaner, isopropyl alcohol, even giving the parts a bath in soap & water. That last suggestion makes me very nervous, but they said to unplug it, press the power button a couple times, and let it sit for at least 30 mins to let all (or most) of the residual charge dissipate. Given my ****ty luck with this computer in the past year or so, I don't want to take that chance. Does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning off things like the motherboard, memory, video card, etc.?

For cleaning the oil out of the pumps & radiator, I imagine that running soapy water through them should do a pretty good job of cleaning those parts (correct me if I'm wrong), and I'll be running distilled water through them once they're clean. (I can get distilled water from the chemistry department at school. They have a distilled water spout right next to the water fountain, along with a big DO NOT DRINK sign.)
 
#2 ·
Only spray product I can think of using would be something similar to automotive Mass Airflow Sensor spray as it leave no residue, but I have no idea how that will effect the PCB and components.

Anyone used this on computer parts?
 
#6 ·
you can throw it in a bath no problem, the amount of power that resides in the capacitors without a continous power supply is not nearly enough to fry anything even at full charge. i recently spilled some plum juice on my pc (the case is right under the edge of my desk and has a huge fan hole at the top so it sprayed and covered everything in a sticky goo), luckily i reacted fast enough to pull the power cord and after washing all the components that got hit (mother board and the top video card mostly) and drying them plugged them back in and they work fine
smile.gif
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Ok, that's slightly reassuring. I've had cell phones get wet and still be usable, but I figured that was because of the minor protection from the shell. Seeing as how I have the luxury of time, I guess I can wash everything soon (within the next 2 weeks) and still be able to have 2 weeks for them to air dry. I'll also probably hit them with compressed air every so often to make sure that all the water gets out of any tight spaces.
 
#13 ·
Wow never saw anyone cleaning their PC parts with soap and water, very interesting.

OT: Seeing as how everyone says it should be fine just go for it
biggrin.gif
Of course make sure everything is properly dried off and no water is left behind. Good luck!
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtistDeAlec;14430778
Wow never saw anyone cleaning their PC parts with soap and water, very interesting.

OT: Seeing as how everyone says it should be fine just go for it
biggrin.gif
Of course make sure everything is properly dried off and no water is left behind. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Yup. Works great for keyboards too. Remove all power sources, hold down a few buttons to dissipate what power was left after unplugging it, then send it for the bath.

For the oily MB, nothing will work better than a few runs in the dishwasher. Disassemble computer, hold the power button down for 1-2mins (way overkill 15 secs normally discharges capacitors)
Throw in empty dishwasher vertically if clearance allows it, with a very small amount (quarter size) of liquid soap, normal cycle. The soap, heat, and water pressure will help to get every bit of oil, couldn't hurt to take some dishwasher soap and toothbrush to those pcie connectors.

After it's finished, rinse off board and let sit for a few days (I'd go with a week personally to be safe) or get some calcium chloride(epsom salts, damprid or any other desiccant) from your local pool store. If you go with the calcium, place a 1" layer of it in a completely sealed container that can fit your MB horizontally, use wax paper balls to keep the MB off the chemical, wait 1-2 days, and it will be COMPLETELY dry
biggrin.gif
.

If I had to do this, I'd go the calcium route. I've used the method it to save quite a few too many cell phones from a dunk in the pool/toilet/soda.

Off Topic,

Besides the leaky aquarium, do you have a build log or pics or thread about your computer? Alternative cooling has always been a fascination of mine, and the mineral oil computer is one of the exotic ones
smile.gif
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Everything has been sitting out unplugged for about a week already. I'll probably give it a nice hand washing with Dawn on Sunday, since that stuff dissolves grease and oil better than anything I've seen to date.

As for a build log, I do not have one. I didn't find this site until it was already together and pretty much solid (or liquid, as the case may be). I only have 7 pictures of when it was stable. They can be found here. The most recent ones are the ones with the captions. The others are a few pics of the rebuilding after the first... let's call it catastrophe. I absolutely will have pics and a build log of the water cooling rebuild, though.
 
#16 ·
One problem people have found with mineral oil is the caps can sometimes have rubber bases that the legs poke through, to seal the dielectric. After a while, the oil breaks the rubber down, which causes it to expand, and the caps pop off the board. That was with transformer oil however, a high performance cooling fluid for power transformers that dissipate huge amounts of heat. Does the standard horse laxative mineral oil do the same thing?
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tippy25;14455196
The system has been submerged for roughly a year and I haven't seen any ill effects on components on the board. The makers of the DIY kit that I had has had a similar machine running for 3 years or so with no problems yet reported.
Click to expand...
It looked like that company that started with a "P"(memory is shot) with their customer MB tray. I thought that thing was supposed to be leakproof?
 
#20 ·
Might it of been wicking from the board's i/o panel? Did you do a leak test on the tank w/ some water?
 
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