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STV Multi got rained on. advice needed to clean

hoagtech

hoagtech

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The storm blew a roof panel off my warehouse and decided to leak all over my STV Multi.

I have ISO propyl and it is still wet

Is there a safe way to clean this and should I dry it out first or after an ISO cleaning?

Right now its sitting on a chair with the heater nearby.

 
Take the chips out / that connector thing, cart out, and get that battery out ASAP

The connectors and stuff will start to rust if there is something in them, and 'battery power' may go to places it shouldn't. (via water conductivity)
Air compressor is good for removing water etc. keep trying and washing with alcohol until there's no 'white shit' anywhere from the water deposits.
 
Basically what Hammy says, remove anything socketed, battery, etc...you could technically wash it with soap/water, blow off excess water with compressed air, (optional) do a final rinse with 99.9% ISO, after pop it in the oven at 170-175F for about 1-2hrs, then turn off heat and leave it in there till it cools off.

If it’s rusted in places, do a wash with toilet bowl cleaner, I use the The Works, sold at my local Home Depot, use gloves :) , cheaper then buying deoxidizers. Then do the procedure above.

Good luck, but I’m sure it will be fine.
 
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dont use an oven - they arent exactly regulated.
use a fan heater or hair dryer.
 
And if you do, specify if you mean C or F before things go horribly wrong :D
 
Washing a pcb for a few minutes is not enough time for their to be a concern for moisture ingress into the components.

Oven is fine to use, even with their temperature swing. There are several temp/time methods that have been adopted when you bake pcbs, from 60C-125C from 2hrs all the way to 100hrs. An oven set at 175F/80C for about 1-2hrs, even with high temp swing of 25-50F is still with adopted guidelines to bake off some moisture from a pcbs. I think the sweet spot for actual moisture bake off point is 105C, but this would be for pcbs/components that have exposed to moisture/high humidity levels for long periods of time/basically submerged

I think OP will be fine with just using an alcohol bath, but if he wants to wash his pcbs, using his oven to dry them off should not be an issue.
 
First off:

  1. Don't store your beloved boards in some crusty ass warehouse. They belong in a loving home. If anyone at your home disputes this, throw THEIR ass out in the rain.
  2. Give your boards plenty of love and attention, talk to them, pet them gently wearing ESD safe gloves.
  3. Distilled water and simple green followed by compressed air is a tried and true method. Many arguments have popped up on this forum and others over ingress, cleaning boards, etc. but I and many others prefer our boards clean and Covid-19 free.
  4. Make sure to gently pry any socket-ed chips where water may linger and give them close inspection and drying attention.
  5. See steps 1 & 2 again.
 
1. I agree they should not have been left open, but it was an act of god that the one place that decided to leak in the warehouse would be over the STV. It is literally the only leak in the 23,000 sq. ft building and it happened after a storm.

I need the PCB's here for the cabs. They are getting a sealed shelving storage system after this happened.

Thanks for the other cleaning tips as well. I have so far removed the battery and socketed chips.

I am going to scrub the sockets and remaining soldered chips with a loose toothbrush and ISO and hope that is enough to not warrant an oven.
 
Kavas said:
First off:

  1. Don't store your beloved boards in some crusty ass warehouse. They belong in a loving home. If anyone at your home disputes this, throw THEIR ass out in the rain.
  2. Give your boards plenty of love and attention, talk to them, pet them gently wearing ESD safe gloves.
  3. Distilled water and simple green followed by compressed air is a tried and true method. Many arguments have popped up on this forum and others over ingress, cleaning boards, etc. but I and many others prefer our boards clean and Covid-19 free.
  4. Make sure to gently pry any socket-ed chips where water may linger and give them close inspection and drying attention.
  5. See steps 1 & 2 again.
Click to expand...
lolol I laughed pretty hard at #1
 
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