How to clean soot and water off of PC setup?

[Smump]

My friend lost his home in a fire this morning. He's bringing some of his PC setup to store at my house. Is there anything I can do to purge the smell from it? I'm not sure how wet everything got. He says nothing can be taken inside because the smell is so strong. I have a bottle of 99% iso alcohol but will even that be enough? I'm assuming most of it will be unsalvageable. Has anyone here experienced this? I'm hoping his drives were protected enough that at least his work/school stuff can be saved.

 

I've offered him my pretty beefy server to get him through the last couple months of school (we're in the same networking program at BCIT) 

[seban]

4 minutes ago, Smump said:

My friend lost his home in a fire this morning. He's bringing some of his PC setup to store at my house. Is there anything I can do to purge the smell from it? I'm not sure how wet everything got. He says nothing can be taken inside because the smell is so strong. I have a bottle of 99% iso alcohol but will even that be enough? I'm assuming most of it will be unsalvageable. Has anyone here experienced this? I'm hoping his drives were protected enough that at least his work/school stuff can be saved.

 

I've offered him my pretty beefy server to get him through the last couple months of school (we're in the same networking program at BCIT) 

1st of all, im really sorry for your friend..

2nd of all, what case does he have? If he knows the exact model that would be great

[Dedayog]

Put it in a room with an Ozone generator. It'll kill smells and anything growing on it due to the water/moisture it sustained, if any.

[Smump]

8 minutes ago, 1ppOverheat said:

1st of all, im really sorry for your friend..

2nd of all, what case does he have? If he knows the exact model that would be great

I'll ask when he arrives. I remember it being fairly large.

[Smump]

3 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Put it in a room with an Ozone generator. It'll kill smells and anything growing on it due to the water/moisture it sustained, if any.

That's a good idea. Would it be best to try and clean everything first to prevent corrosion and then use the ozone generator later to kill smell?

[seban]

1 minute ago, Smump said:

I'll ask when he arrives. I remember it being fairly large.

OK, great.

[Dedayog]

5 minutes ago, Smump said:

That's a good idea. Would it be best to try and clean everything first to prevent corrosion and then use the ozone generator later to kill smell?

Yes, clean it as best you can and then let it sit for a few hours (or overnight).

 

I've removed the mold smell from a car that my kid left windows down on when it rained.  Love em.

[akio123008]

Here's a thing; you mentioned he lost his home. That tells me his house burnt down. That would mean there's really nothing left of that computer right?

 

This falls under the category of things I'd just put outside (perhaps covered up) or in the shed.

[trag1c]

If you're pretty confidant that the PC is done you could always odor bomb it. Seal it in plastic and set one of those off and it kills any smells. I had a RX-7 in my garage that I bought from a scrap yard that had forest/ecosystem growing inside the cab. I wrapped it poly and taped it up then set off an odor bomb and it no longer smelled. https://www.amazon.com/Dakota-OBNA-5-Bomb-Eliminator-Neutral/dp/B006T1RBGA/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dakota+odor+bomb&qid=1614635585&sr=8-1

[Smump]

7 hours ago, 1ppOverheat said:

1st of all, im really sorry for your friend..

2nd of all, what case does he have? If he knows the exact model that would be great

So its a Fractal R6 and Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition. We think the Fractal is salvageable with a soak in soapy water, but the thermaltake has so many little nooks and crannies I doubt we'd be able to get it clean.

 

Both PCs have been taken apart and given an initial clean with iso + soapy water on surfaces like tops of HDDs and GPU backplates. Everything is layed out drying now. The 360mm AIO is toast. Thankfully the watery soot mixture was dripping straight down. there isn't a ton actually on the motherboard PCB. It might just need time to dry and then something to deal with the smell later on.

[seban]

4 hours ago, Smump said:

So its a Fractal R6 and Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition. We think the Fractal is salvageable with a soak in soapy water, but the thermaltake has so many little nooks and crannies I doubt we'd be able to get it clean.

 

Both PCs have been taken apart and given an initial clean with iso + soapy water on surfaces like tops of HDDs and GPU backplates. Everything is layed out drying now. The 360mm AIO is toast. Thankfully the watery soot mixture was dripping straight down. there isn't a ton actually on the motherboard PCB. It might just need time to dry and then something to deal with the smell later on.

Great, glad at least something is salvagable.

[WillOfTheLand]

21 hours ago, Smump said:

My friend lost his home in a fire this morning. He's bringing some of his PC setup to store at my house. Is there anything I can do to purge the smell from it? I'm not sure how wet everything got. He says nothing can be taken inside because the smell is so strong. I have a bottle of 99% iso alcohol but will even that be enough? I'm assuming most of it will be unsalvageable. Has anyone here experienced this? I'm hoping his drives were protected enough that at least his work/school stuff can be saved.

 

I've offered him my pretty beefy server to get him through the last couple months of school (we're in the same networking program at BCIT) 

Can we get images of what condition things are in? I've had to remove literal years of built up cigarette tar and odor from a machine before, and from that I can tell you it is surprisingly possible to get horrible smells off components. Anything without a PCB (case, radiators, heatsinks, etc) I found if you let sit in boiling water (by boiling I mean it's that hot, not actively being boiled) with some alcohol mixed in for about half a hour then give them a bath in 90% isopropyl alcohol (just pour it over it while making sure to get as much surface covered as possible) it pretty well killed the smell of that, so as long as the heat didn't cause the smell to permeate the surface (start to melt/damage it, all it takes is enough heat for those top particles to start to change on a chemical level for the smell to be permanently a part of it) those should be recoverable. 

 

Anything with a PCB, well you're best bet is to get access to a ultrasonic cleaner and put them in that if you hope to revive them, components can deal with water and heat surprisingly well, provided they're not on. If you can't, try submerging them in 90% and taking a Q-tip to them and gently cleaning what you can, and for things like HDD PCB's just try using Q-tips soaked in 90% and clean those the best you can, making sure not to accidentally knock something like a resistor off.

 

Generally when cleaning you want to avoid using every day tap water as it can cause corrosion and the unfiltered particulates (this is what actually causes water to conduct electricity, 100% pure water doesn't conduct anything on it's own) in the water that get left behind on the board can cause shorts.

[Bombastinator]

An enzyme cleaner can remove odors.  Doesn’t do anything that othe ozone generator doesn’t though. Plus it has to be wiped or sprayed on which could cause problems.  The stuff starts to work AFTER IT DRIES and it doesn’t work super quickly.  Spray it on, let it dry and leave it for 12 hours then do it again is common.  It can eat some dyes and organic so use caution AMD read the directions.  “Nature’s miracle” is an enzyme cleaner sold at pet stores.  It’s expensive and not terribly potent though.  You may find a better deal at a janitorial supply store. 
 

I generally buy betco push forms janitorial supply store it’s supposed to be a drain cleaner and barely works for that but it’s got a lot of enzyme in it so it kicks butt at less intensive things.