Rubbing alcohol to clean PC

I don't see a post like this on SciForums, I was just curious how many of you guys have used alcohol to clean your heatsinks, CPU or other components? I've seen some suggest only 99% never 70%, others claim it's to risky. I myself used 70% to clean the CPU heatsink.

 

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It is not the way to go about cleaning that, use compressed air to clean it with.

 

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Carbon tetrachloride is the poison of choice, in electronic manufacturing and testing facilities, for cleaning printed circuit boards and components, and they sell little dispensers with a small brush applicator that works well at gently cleaning stubborn residue. But, as Cosmic pointed out, compressed air is the best for dust removal, for obvious reasons, plus you can avoid direct contact with components sensitive to electrostatic discharge. I have used alcohol without any problems, since CCl[SUB]4[/SUB] is so nasty. Both dry quickly, which means you don't have to wait long before it's ready to apply power. I also noticed that trace amounts of hand sanitizer (high alcohol content) works in cleaning the screen and outer surfaces without risking water infiltration. It's a good idea to test a small spot with any chemical to make sure it doesn't mar the finish. (Although for a heat sink you probably wouldn't care.)

 

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Haaaa, just before turning on my PC, I just used water on a tissue, which got stuck in some keys... but cleaned the screen well enough

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(Humor here-->) . . . I once cleaned my PC with ethanol, but I had to lick-it-off . . . because it made my hard-drive stagger and dulled my memory!

 

If your cleaning a CPU i would not use anything but the 99% or specialize cleaners such as this:

http://www.amazon.com/ArctiClean-60...OR08/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1325358104&sr=8-6

I just used this on my most recent build and its awesome. The surface conditioner works well enough I would assume but the cleaner melts that thermal compound right off.

For your head sinks themselves you could use regular grade alcohol, water would work as well but it may not dissolve all the crud as well as the alcohol will. Water is ok since it will not corrode aluminum or copper heatsinks, but don't use it anywhere else inside your computer.

 

I have been building, maintaining and servicing electronics and computers since the late '70s. I have found that rubbing alcohol can be used to clean off the Thermal Paste residue when replacing heatsinks, but be advised to be very careful to use sparingly and it is not a good idea to soak most components in any kind of cleaner. Also make sure to clean or polish off any residue with a clean, lint free cloth after cleaning and before re-applying any Thermal Paste to anything requiring a heat sink!
Compressed air may be fine for blowing out keyboards - but from my experience - should NEVER be used inside ANY delicate electronic instruments or computers! There are a lot of particles in "dust" than can become highly abrasive when propelled at high speed. For this reason I prefer to use a soft, long bristeled, non-conductive brush and a low suction vacuum to remove dust. For heavy cleaning jobs the only truly proper method is dis-assembly and thorough cleaning.
One of the biggest arguments against compressed air on circuit boards is that the air can blow conductive elements into the tiny little contacts and connectors on todays micro-circuit boards and create all kinds of havoc.
This is only my $.02 on the matter and good luck with your cleaning tasks!