To what extent are circuit boards damaged by prolonged exposure to water?

[rockspring21]

thank you...

[Lehk]

that all depends, i think capacitors can be screwed up but i'm not sure, if there was any electricity going through the board or held in a capacitor the likelihood of damage is much greater

[Malakai1911]

Just slather whatever the board is in a whoooooooole lot of dielectric grease.

[Krell]

The answer depends on a lot of factors. Do you mean the board itself, the substrate? Do you mean components? The overall operation after prolonged exposure \ submersion?

The board material is not water soluble in any real sense, but chemicals in the water such as sodium, chlorine, fluoride etc, can cause an oxidation on the copper and other metals. Small inductors that have metal cores can rust, causing faults.

I have bathed many PCs. I don't mean just a squirt, I mean soaked in hot 409 and washed under the hot tub faucet. I also knew how to dry them immediately as to not damage or allow damage by electrolysis.






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[Malakai1911]

Yeah, expanding on what krell is saying, water itself is basically non conductive. The problem lies in the impurities of water, but even with absolutely pure H2O, it will act as a solvent, and the materials from the board will leech into the water, corrupting it, and making it conductive.


I didnt know you could dry boards with electrolysis... maybe I should google that up.

[policy_editor]

I have to agree, I find alot of components down at the dump that have probably been in contact with excessive moisture even rain. I take apart everything(except PSU) look for any corrosion benchtest everything and many components are still useable with computers. I wouldnt trust a tv left outside.

Circuit boards I would think are the most prone to damage wheras cpu's are somewhat insulated because of the computer case I found an AMD1333mhz last week that works fine.

[rainbowdemon]

I found an old Dell tower that was put out for the trash pick-up. It was covered with a heavy morning dew. I just put it in the house, and went to work. When I got home, I hooked it up and it worked just fine. It still does.

[policy_editor]

I found an old Dell tower that was put out for the trash pick-up. It was covered with a heavy morning dew. I just put it in the house, and went to work. When I got home, I hooked it up and it worked just fine. It still does.

Exactly people are throwing away some good stuff these days cpus and ram can be sold on ebay I would be hesitant to sell a whole machine in fact I wouldnt. But parts are fine as long as you can test them.

[nukehella]

I didnt know you could dry boards with electrolysis... maybe I should google that up.
I don't think he meant that he dried them by electrolysis.He was saying that by drying them electrolysis damage is prevented.It occurs when 2 different metals with an imbalance of electrons are allowed to conduct,causing corrosion.
The best way to dry a circuit board is either moving air(preferably warm)or the dry cycle (and the dry cycle only)on your dishwasher.
You can clean a crappy, grungy old keyboard in the dishwasher too.Really. wouldn't try it with a wireless keyboard though.

[Krell]

I don't think he meant that he dried them by electrolysis.He was saying that by drying them electrolysis damage is prevented.It occurs when 2 different metals with an imbalance of electrons are allowed to conduct,causing corrosion.
The best way to dry a circuit board is either moving air(preferably warm)or the dry cycle (and the dry cycle only)on your dishwasher.
You can clean a crappy, grungy old keyboard in the dishwasher too.Really. wouldn't try it with a wireless keyboard though.

That's got to be the best explanation of something ive said, ever. It's true, and if you leave moisture under the chipsets on a circuit board, it can also cause damage.



My wireless KB went thru the dishwasher full cycle, was forensically clean! I removed the cover and placed both sides on the top rack. I hand dried it with a bit of disassembly then used a blowdryer for a few minutes and reassembled.


After I drained the water out of the PCs, I set a box fan at the open side, and covered the top of the fan and PC with a towel.

I placed a blowdryer on a shoe behind the fan, to blow hot air in to the mix. The heated, super swirling air forced thru the PC, dried it out, and made it just warm to the touch.

I lived in the southern part of the US then, and they FRY everything they cook. Plus, they all have air conditioning so it stayed sealed up in the house, and some of them are smokers.

When the grease settles in the case and coats everything, the dust and smoke sticks to it, making this dark funk film. When I hose it down with hot 409 and water it pours out like some sewage drain.






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[policy_editor]

wow I knew you could wash keyboards not a whole machine I assume your taking out the cpu memory,psu and so forth correct?

[mfgbypooter]

So after viewing some really nasty, heavy duty porn, how do you clean your grungy monitor, take it down to the local suds n' duds and throw it in a front loader?

[policy_editor]

Well if its a crt just take it to the local dump pay them $5 and be done with it

[Krell]

wow I knew you could wash keyboards not a whole machine I assume your taking out the cpu memory,psu and so forth correct?


No, taking out nothing, just dont get water in your CD Rom or hard drive




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