Can I Wash A Circuit Board With Soap And Water ? (Page 2/2)
cliffw MAY 19, 11:03 AM

quote
Originally posted by Jake_Dragon:
New is junk, go find a repair place and buy a refurbished used one.




quote
Originally posted by Lambo nut:
What Jake said. New Speed Queen is no better than anything else today.



What ? Do you think I am stupid ?

In this case you would be right. We had a working, I would say good working old Kenmore. The wife unit's mother passed away and her brother "took it". He passed away and my wife wanted it.

I told her to try it before I got rid of the old one. She told me to get rid of it, and I did. Now the new mofo Maytag don't work. Two different weeks, a trip to the laundry mat, $40.00 a pop and the wasted time waiting instead of being able to just do what ever around the house. Plus, the loading up and trip to the laundry mat.

The mofo Maytag mother board is a discontinued part.

That old Kenmore, I have repaired many times, like three times in 20 years. I even figured out how to get free parts. People drop them at the dump and I just get the part I need. Kenmore is the Sears brand of another manufacturer. Many parts are interchangable.



quote
Originally posted by cvxjet:
Cliff- If you use alcohol make sure you allow the circuit board to completely dry BEFORE you hook it back up to power.....(Alcohol and sparks don't mix!)

I'll shut up now........



Thanks. I did know that. The liquid which ?fried? my mother board exists in alcohol also.

Thanks all !
Jake_Dragon MAY 19, 11:34 AM

quote
Originally posted by cliffw:

What ? Do you think I am stupid ?

Thanks all !



I am perplexed and unsure how you want me to answer that.
Knowing the right answer but still doing the wrong thing, is that stupid?
Perhaps, so is spending 10 times as much money on a bad appliance just to prove a point or avoid an argument.

But I don't know if that qualifies as stupid. Perhaps judgment impaired.
Jake_Dragon MAY 19, 03:10 PM
RWDPLZ MAY 19, 04:22 PM

quote
Originally posted by Jake_Dragon:




My Grandparents had a refrigerator from the 50's until a few years ago when the compressor went bad.

You CAN wash circuit boards, I've put several old Macintosh computer main boards through the dishwasher with the drying heater turned off, then blown off the water once I took them out. actually necessary to get the old leaky capacitor residue off the boards completely. Computers still work great years later, and the boards look pristine.
cvxjet MAY 19, 05:40 PM
I have an Ancient (Approx' 1960 vintage) Maytag washing machine........I picked it up as an old "going to the junk yard" item in 1994 but it worked fine......Once washed my bath and Kitchen strip carpets and one of them had the rubberized back disintegrate...Clogged the scavenger pump- took it apart and cleaned it......Two years ago the controller/Knob assembly quit, and I was able to get a replacement- but had to do a little modifying.

I think it will outlast me.........
Raydar MAY 19, 06:24 PM
I used to work for Tektronix, back in a previous life.
We would get electronics in to be serviced that spent their lives in paper mills and lots of other really nasty places. (I shudder to think what the operators' lungs must have looked like.)
We had a wash cabinet with a big aluminum turn table in it, so that we could rotate the equipment to access all sides.
After removing all the covers/cabinets, we used to hose the equipment down - inside and out - with warm/hot water, soap it up with (I think) dish detergent, scrub everything with a nylon bristle brush, and then hose it out.
We then let it sit for a day or two in a forced-air, heated (~120F?) drying cabinet. Worked like a charm.
The trick would be to not leave any residue, and to get everything completely dry, before you powered anything back up.

Just before we moved, I bought some old stereo components off of eBay. Sold as "non working", but look fine, other than being covered in cigarette(?) smoke residue. (I'm guessing they're okay. I think they came from an estate sale, and the seller just didn't want to mess with them.)
They'll probably get "the treatment", before I even try to power them up.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 05-19-2021).]

cliffw MAY 20, 09:42 AM

quote
Originally posted by Jake_Dragon:
I am perplexed and unsure how you want me to answer that.



I will answer for you. YES, I was stupid. I knew better. The definition of stupid. And I am paying the price, .
Jonesy MAY 22, 12:43 PM
Soap and warm water is fine to clean a circuit board. I've cleaned many an old video game console board doing that. Just gotta make sure everything is 100% dried off before hook it back up of course..

I recommend Dawn dish soap.. Rinses well with little to no soapy residue.

If its small enough to fit in your sink, fill your sink with warm soap water, and put the board into the water. Let it soak for a bit, then take a toothbrush and scrub it down gently.

Once your happy with the cleaning, hang it up for a few days to let it fully dry.

should be good..

*edit to add*

Yeah my parents got a Kenmore washer and dryer back when i was born in 1977, and they still have them, and they work fine. Dryer has needed a couple heating elements over the years, and a couple new springs from the washers tumbler basket, but that's it.. We had a Kenmore fridge too that my parents bought in 1980, worked perfectly up until a few years ago when it stopped powering on suddenly.. They finally caved and bought a nice new stainless fridge.

[This message has been edited by Jonesy (edited 05-22-2021).]