Can Carburetor cleaner be used to clean a heatsink?

[andybeech]

Hi all so from my question can carburetor cleaner be used to clean out a heatsink that is not attached to the pc, basically I have a AMD cooler that i used for a couple years and is absolutely clogged with dust causing throttle issues and cooling issues so iv had to use my stock one for now which is kinda no better. I dont have any compressed air sadly and waiting till payday before can get any more as its expensive here off the shelf. So I thought can Carburetor cleaner be used as thats used to clean air intakes on engines, it evaporates and doesnt leave any moisture after. If not what else is good to use?

thanks

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, andybeech said:

Hi all so from my question can carburetor cleaner be used to clean out a heatsink that is not attached to the pc, basically I have a AMD cooler that i used for a couple years and is absolutely clogged with dust causing throttle issues and cooling issues so iv had to use my stock one for now which is kinda no better. I dont have any compressed air sadly and waiting till payday before can get any more as its expensive here off the shelf. So I thought can Carburetor cleaner be used as thats used to clean air intakes on engines, it evaporates and doesnt leave any moisture after. If not what else is good to use?

thanks

Well, as long as it doesn't get in a electric fan cord, your fine.

[andybeech]

6 minutes ago, Factory OC said:

Well, as long as it doesn't get in a electric fan cord, your fine.

Ok cool as this is defently clogged haha

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, andybeech said:

-Snip of dirt-

Looks like my Pentium 4 machine, clean as a muddy river...

[kerradeph]

If you have a brush or something, that would clean it up reasonably well. Since it looks like it's aluminium and copper, you could run water through it since it won't rust and then you just let it dry out. You said you don't have any compressed air and it sounds like you're not interested in spending anything right away so I would guess isopropyl alcohol is off the list.

[andybeech]

9 minutes ago, Factory OC said:

Looks like my Pentium 4 machine, clean as a muddy river...

Oh dear looks better now just need wait for it to evaporate before trying it.

 

4 minutes ago, kerradeph said:

If you have a brush or something, that would clean it up reasonably well. Since it looks like it's aluminium and copper, you could run water through it since it won't rust and then you just let it dry out. You said you don't have any compressed air and it sounds like you're not interested in spending anything right away so I would guess isopropyl alcohol is off the list.

yea got a brush did that first to get rid of the big dust bugs and yea currently is unfortunately and oh ok didnt know you could wash them might do that as well just to help clean it up a bit more.

[kerradeph]

I mean if you get rid of the major buildup with a brush, just blowing on it should get rid of a fair amount of the remaining bit. The amount that you would clear out between brushing and washing would probably be negligible in the temperature readings.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, andybeech said:

-Improvement over 9000-

NOW THAT LOOKS BETTER

[andybeech]

2 minutes ago, kerradeph said:

I mean if you get rid of the major buildup with a brush, just blowing on it should get rid of a fair amount of the remaining bit. The amount that you would clear out between brushing and washing would probably be negligible in the temperature readings.

Yea see what you mean iv just brushed it out and used to carb cleaner forgot how strong the smell was haha and gave it a rinse to get rid of any carb cleaner residue if it leaves any and smell.

2 minutes ago, Factory OC said:

NOW THAT LOOKS BETTER

Cheers

[andybeech]

Another quick one do the cooper pipes do much? as used that one for OC before on my fx6100 and stayed decent temp, put the stock back on and overheated twice so had to turn the OC off for now.

[kerradeph]

It's an effective thermal conductor. It conducts the heat to the fins where they can absorb and then radiate the heat into air. 

[andybeech]

1 minute ago, kerradeph said:

It's an effective thermal conductor. It conducts the heat to the fins where they can absorb and then radiate the heat into air. 

oh ok so is that why its better then my stock AMD cooler, was debating whether I could swap the fans over as the red fan looks cooler.

[kerradeph]

Kind of. using heat pipes mean that you can have more fins meaning more surface area meaning better radiation capability. If you are able to radiate heat out faster it means that you have lower temps. 

[andybeech]

I see that makes more sense now going get the coolermaster hyper 212 evo when I got the cash too need get some new HDD's first, got one streaming pc and one gaming pc so might also be the fact that I took my Overclocked AMD build and put it in a slightly smaller case that currently has less fans. Where as my new intel i5 7500 build is in my giant coolermaster cosmos case though I am thinking about getting there coolermaster master box 5 as has a window on the side. Is it maybe worth me watercooling both pcs to help?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HMZLE8M/ref=abs_brd_tag_dp?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE seen this not most expensive but would it do as a basic liquid cooler.

Edited June 11, 2017 by andybeech
added link