2 Jan
2015
2 Jan
'15
2:43 p.m.
On Jan 2, 2015, at 1:34 PM, Peter Coghlan <cctalk at beyondthepale.ie> wrote:
In practice, I can't see how it would be possible
to get the concentration of
neutralising agent even approximately right and how it would be possible to
cover all the contaminated areas and yet avoid getting it on non-contaminated
areas and maybe causing new damage there.
And then there's the wondering whether the resulting wet salts will do different
or worse damage than the original contamination before they are washed off
and whether they might be dangerous to people?
The few times I have had to deal with this, I washed/cleaned with a relatively weak
acid/base solution. Household vinegar isn't all that acidic, and for a base I used a
teaspoon of baking soda in cup of water. After scrubbing things down with a soft brush to
remove the caked on crud, the key is to rinse everything thoroughly with lots of distilled
water. A Waterpik full of distilled water is very useful to flush out residue and
neutralizing solution from hard-to-reach places, and especially vias. Afterwards, put the
board under a fan to dry out. (You don't need to hit it with a hair dryer. A steady
continuous airflow is all that's required.)
So far I have rescued two cell phones, one Pentax SLR, and an expensive Fluke DVM using
this technique.
--lyndon