Spilled coolant on Mother Board?

[JapanDave]

Hey all,

Finally got my water loop finishe and pressur tested air first and looked like I was ready to go. So I filled the loop with Thermaltake C1000 Pure Clear Coolant and after an hour a fitting gave way and I got a little coolant on the mother board. It is ok b/c I was still just running the pump with everything else unplugged.

The MOBO is now dry and I wiped off as much of it as I could see.

My question, do I have to get into all the nooks and crannies and wipe off the coolant residue? Will dried coolant residue from this coolant be an issue? Or is the only thing import here is that it is completely dry?

[W-L]

1 hour ago, JapanDave said:

Hey all,

Finally got my water loop finishe and pressur tested air first and looked like I was ready to go. So I filled the loop with Thermaltake C1000 Pure Clear Coolant and after an hour a fitting gave way and I got a little coolant on the mother board. It is ok b/c I was still just running the pump with everything else unplugged.

The MOBO is now dry and I wiped off as much of it as I could see.

My question, do I have to get into all the nooks and crannies and wipe off the coolant residue? Will dried coolant residue from this coolant be an issue? Or is the only thing import here is that it is completely dry?

You want to clean everything or you risk potential corrosion or possible short if fluid is trapped under components or connectors. Ideally the best option would be to strip the system and clean the motherboard using 99%isopropyl alcohol which will displace the coolant and also quickly evaporate. 

[flashiling]

i'd suggest going with the recommendation above.

"risking" your stuff like that seems (IMO) kind of dumb since it will only be one or two days of the pc being off whilst you get the parts to clean it properly.

[JapanDave]

I should of probably mentioned this in the first post, but it was only a few splashes from a fitting about 20cm away to the side of the MOBO, with the MOBO orientated vertically.

 

As for using the alcohol, just dowse the whole MOBO? Or just the parts where I can see there may have been coolant there?

[JapanDave]

Here is a pic of the spillage. I used a heap of cue tips and isopropyl alcohol (and some beer) to clean up. So I am confident this should be enough.

 

 

[W-L]

1 hour ago, JapanDave said:

Here is a pic of the spillage. I used a heap of cue tips and isopropyl alcohol (and some beer) to clean up. So I am confident this should be enough.

 

I would for sure remove that and give it a small bath of isopropyl and gentle scrub away any remaining coolant residue just in case. In theory just cleaning the surface of that should be enough but that is a risk you will take. 

[Neggy-Z]

Do you have something like a Datavac or compress air? I would avoid getting lots of alcohol in areas like under the cpu socket or ram slots if you don't have anything to blow these tight spaces out, you'd be surprised how long it takes to evaporate naturally in places like that.

[Mick Naughty]

I just sprayed my down with electoral cleaner and let it dry. 

No issues with any of the stuff I clean that way. I do small stuff like gpus with just 90% alcohol and a toothbrush. 

[jasonc_01]

Spray with electrical contact cleaner leave to dry overnight.

[JapanDave]

11 hours ago, Neggy-Z said:

Do you have something like a Datavac or compress air? I would avoid getting lots of alcohol in areas like under the cpu socket or ram slots if you don't have anything to blow these tight spaces out, you'd be surprised how long it takes to evaporate naturally in places like that.

Yes I do have compressed air, that is something I did not think of.

[Beerzerker]

Be careful with compressed air, it's possible to "Inject" moisture/water vapor into places it doesn't need to be.

That's why it's suggested to use canned air instead of plain old compressed air for such.