GPU cooler and ethanol

[Patrik_]

Hello. My is how long does it take for ethanol to evaporate from cooler like this ? I want to clean whole cooler with it espeacialy between thins. 

[Arttu89]

You're better off using isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) rather than ethanol, it's way easier to clean off old thermal paste with it.

 

With regards to drying either type of alcohol will dry up pretty quickly, you could always just blast it with a hairdryer for a couple seconds if you want to get rid of it quicker.

 

Why do you want to wash the whole thing in alcohol though? Did you spill something on it?

[goto10]

isoprophyl basically dries in seconds, you can see it happen, which means that you should also keep the bottle well covered, is expensive and evaporates easily

 

dont use other stuff, use only isoprophyl, in case you dont have isopropyl alcohol, you can use industrial alcohol, it doesnt evaporate that fast and is not as good to clean as isoprophyl 

[TheNaitsyrk]

4 hours ago, Patrik_ said:

Hello. My is how long does it take for ethanol to evaporate from cooler like this ? I want to clean whole cooler with it espeacialy between thins. 

I went as far as washing heatsink in the sink with water and then blasting it with hair dryer. Protected the fans of course.

[Patrik_]

6 hours ago, Arttu89 said:

You're better off using isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) rather than ethanol, it's way easier to clean off old thermal paste with it.

 

With regards to drying either type of alcohol will dry up pretty quickly, you could always just blast it with a hairdryer for a couple seconds if you want to get rid of it quicker.

 

Why do you want to wash the whole thing in alcohol though? Did you spill something on it?

The GPU is so dirty. There is espeacily a lot old black dust wich with air dont come down. + GPU in general really needs "Tech yes lovin" I already cleaned fans and whole plastic shroud by removing it. I dont want to try toothbrush. I already cleared GPU die with earsticks diped into ethanol. same goes for cooler now I found good product in my country wich is speacialized on this but Im not sure If it doesnt damage PCB etc I will call them on monday to ask. Tomorrow Im going to clean cooler with ethanol and let it quickly dry on sun. 

[Patrik_]

1 hour ago, TheNaitsyrk said:

I went as far as washing heatsink in the sink with water and then blasting it with hair dryer. Protected the fans of course.

 Noice 

[TetraSky]

4 hours ago, TheNaitsyrk said:

I went as far as washing heatsink in the sink with water and then blasting it with hair dryer. Protected the fans of course.

I've done that with a lot of heatsinks, removed the fans though.

A heatsink is basically just a lump of metal, as long as you properly dry it up afterward (I usually used either compressed air or the Datavac ed500 blower duster), there's no issue with washing it with water. Quite useful when needing to clean up a disgusting heatsink from a computer used by a heavy smoker.