Well, to add my two (or more) cents, putting the boards in a dishwasher
is certainly not an insane idea. It would be a good idea though to rinse
them in distilled or DI water before drying them.
DI water is not an expensive proposition at all. Almost any water
company can supply the DI cartridges, and they take care of all the
maintenance. The units I used to rent cost about $30.00 per month and
would last about a month and IIRC provide several thousand gallons of DI
water. I might add our water was (again IIRC) about 12 ppm as far as
hardness was concerned.
As far as using a home dishwasher, the primary difference between the
home and commercial units is how long they are intended to last. A home
dishwasher is used by several people I know who own small businesses
where it is not given a lot of use and is wholly adequate for their
purposes.
Bob Shannon wrote:
>
> Never run boards through a dishwasher!
>
> This has got to be one of the most insane ideas I've ever heard.
>
> Commercial PCB's do get washed, but only after the water has
> been deionized with some rather expensive and high maintainance
> equipment.
>
> I'm quite sure that manufacturers don't go through the expense of
> maintaining
> this gear if your maytag washer could do the job.
>
> Lots of domestic water supplies have 'hard water' and.or high mineral
> content
> that will dammage or destroy your boards. Maybe not while they are in
> the
> washer, but corrosion may set in later.
>
> lee courtney wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > The thread on cleaning cards by running them through
> > the dishwasher was timely as I am resurrecting an
> > HP3000/XE. The system came from Pacific Pipe in
> > Oakland and is the *filthest* system I have ever seen.
> > The "computer room" on the second floor was left open
> > to the work yard and all matter of dirt, dust, grime
> > etc was sucked into the CPU, disc drive and tape. The
> > CPU boards literally had a layer of grime covering
> > them.
> >
> > Of course since this was an HP box it booted right up
> > even though it was basically "clogged".
> >
> > Many of the HP cards have paper stickers indicating
> > part number, revision, etc. Any thoughts on preserving
> > these through a dishwasher cycle? Or should I just
> > gently hand rinse? THanks!
> >
> > Lee Courtney
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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Received on Wed Jan 02 2002 - 21:09:48 GMT