How to clean coolant spilt on motherboard?

[gurby]

I was re-doing my pc and accidently split abit of coolant on my motherboard. I was wondering what I should use to clean it without messing my mobo up?

[RADCOM]

what was the coolant? I think it's best to let it evaporate/dry off naturally. If you must assist a hair dryer on low setting.

[gurby]

Its the feser one cooling liquid

[philbrown23]

OH NO!! feser one is the worst coolant to sill on electric stuff! wipe with a paper towel then let the board sit for AT LEAST 12 hours preferably 24 then you should be ok. if not post back

[NysoO]

A bit of pure alhochol should be able to clean much of it off right? I usually clean of thermal compunt with pure acetone, think it would clean your motherboard as well. Let someone confirm this before you go ahead though.

[gurby]

Im shining my UV cathode over the motherboard and can see green bits here and there, will they evaporate becuase i cant really clean in between the memory slots :S

[mindspat]

Im shining my UV cathode over the motherboard and can see green bits here and there, will they evaporate becuase i cant really clean in between the memory slots :S

Maybe Q-Tips - not sure what else they are called; cotton ball ear swabber thingies?

Try sliding a strip of a paper towel in between the slots or fold a strip till you get a reasonable thickness beforehand.

[gurby]

Should I use the power towel only or something like white spirit or WD40?

[NaeKuh]

what was the coolant? I think it's best to let it evaporate/dry off naturally. If you must assist a hair dryer on low setting.

hair dryers generate static..

dangerous to use it on a mobo... :X

How bad was the spill? Use ISOPROPYL and use 90% one, not the 70%.

USe a paper towel with alcohol and wipe it or blot it... then use your lungs and BLOW it dry...

If you got an uber bad spill, then hold the board verticle 45 degree angle... get iso and POUR the entire thing on the board... your gonna freak out... but its my hail mary.

The iso will fast dry... by pouring it, you wash away everything and replace everything on the board with iso.

And iso is non conductive so you wont get any damage unless you got dust stuck inside the slots cuz of the ISO...

But this should ONLY be your last option..

[mindspat]

hair dryers generate static..

And iso is non conductive...

Some extremely good info in that quote!

[NaeKuh]

oh and yes you need to remove all stock cooling from the board if your gonna pour iso, so it doesnt clump somewhere in a sink... :P

[KVL]

air compressor-blow

[NaeKuh]

air compressor-blow

cold air = no evap on iso.. :X
You end up spreading it more with compressed air... then evaping it..

Lungs = 37C temp air coming out unless your sick or your homeostatis is wacked, and allows a faster evap time..

which is why i said blow... :P

if you live in the desert, just put your board outside, and it will dry when soaked with anything tho.. :P

[NysoO]

oh and yes you need to remove all stock cooling from the board if your gonna pour iso, so it doesnt clump somewhere in a sink... :P

Wouldn't it evaporate anyway? Would just take a longer time wouldn't it?
I remember leaving a T-red(Ethanol, used to remove stains and clean stuff) bottle uncorked in a bathroom. I't smelled like an alcoholics apartment, but there was still a lot of T-red left.

[Plan.B]

I've spilled worse stuff than that on boards; I have successfully doused boards in 91% isopropyl alcohol, 2 or 3 times, and then let sit for a few hours in front of a fan. I'm not sure what is meant by clumping, but you do want to remove heatsinks/waterblocks that are mounted with a non-permanent thermal interface material, as the isopropyl will dissolve stuff like ceramique or arctic silver.

[NaeKuh]

I'll go out on a limb and say wipe it off best you can with a Qtip, then let it dry for 24 hrs and fire it up. All this other stuff about crap about dipping/washing/pouring in this or that, lung blowing, or using caustic solvents isn't needed. Just more self important drama as usual.

andyc

heh which is why i said its my hail mary...

when faced with a dead or dying board.. and no rma... what else you got to lose?

[Spankyfart]

You can clean a motherboard under a sink with a toothbrush, as long as you wipe it near dry afterwards.
It can be fully dried over central heating in 24 hours, I used to do this all the time when I had to
swap motherboards after using them with a Vapochill.
Just don't ruin the stickers for RMA'ing/warranty purposes.

[Michowski]

Just put it in the dryer and after an hour your golden.

[NaeKuh]

well its saved me a few times by doing that method..

board wouldnt boot up because of the heavy additive water i used to use..

Then i drenched it in iso, and it worked fine...

Andy this is a old trick used by a lot of people i used to learn from.. Always worked as a hail mary...

If you leaked straight distilled, then yea, it would be pointless to use iso, when you can just dry it out... but he said he saw his cathods light up green spots which meant he had additives..

Also not cleaning that crap up carefully makes it very sticky and prone to dust sticking on it in the future...