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Thread: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

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    The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Hey guys, apologies if this has been asked before but I couldn't find a thread in the search.

    I recently bought a very dusty EVGA 1080ti SC2 second hand. I want to clean this using an air duster \ compressed air. This is the most expensive GPU I've every bought so dont want to break it.

    My question is; The wet stuff that appears like ice sometimes when you use the air duster.......... Is this safe? I know liquids and electronics should stay away from each other, but it seems to evaporate quickly.

    Does anyone have any advise on this and if it's not safe, how else I should clean the card please? The heat sink is so tightly packed I cant get anything between the fin stack.

    Thanks in advance.

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    Senior Member MrRockliffe's Avatar
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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    You should have any liquid coming out of the can - if you do, you're not doing it right. Normally caused by holding it upside down or shaking it

    The liquid will be whatever gas they're using. It's how they work - they compress a gas enough to force it into a liquid while it's in the can (you can feel it sloshing around), but as soon as you let it out, it decompresses into a gas.
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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Ah ok, thank you very much for your reply. I probably am doing it wrong. The cans I have bough have next to no instructions on them other than point and squirt. How should I be using it? I guess upright all the time, but this makes cleaning the PC a bit of a nightmare.

    To clarify, is the wet stuff going to break anything on my PC please?

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    You can get compressed air that you can use inverted. If it's just standard compressed air can you have then you use it upright. If I need to get to awkward places I usually bend the straw. However now I buy cans that can be inverted as they are easier to get to awkward places
    Jon

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Imagine taking a gas and cramming it in to a can, so hard, that the gas turns in to liquid.

    That's basically a gas duster.

    Well, sort of. By that I mean that's not what happens at all. What actually happens at the factory is the gas is cooled and condensed in to a liquid and canned. But anyway, the important bit is that the physical state of a substance that normally would be a gas has been changed in to a liquid.

    When that liquid escapes the can it wants to turn back in to a gas and it will do that by soaking up thermal energy from its surroundings. This is bad.

    Take a common gas used in some gas dusters - difluoroethane, which has a boiling point of -25°C.

    Difluoroethane itself isn't electrically conductive, but liquid difluoroethane will suck thermal energy from the surroundings down to -25°C in order to turn back in to a gas. This will at first cause condensation of water from the atmosphere, and as the temperature falls below 0°C the condensed water will freeze in to ice, the ice crystals that form will continue to gather moisture from the air.

    To summarise, there two liquids you see when you invert and discharge a non-invertible gas duster; initially it will be Difluoroethane, or what ever the gas duster is using, and then water... liquid water. Which is bad. As I'm sure you're aware, liquid water and electronics are not to be mixed.

    Fortunately, if you're not inverting the can for too long, the cooled area will rapidly warm up and the condensed liquid water will evaporate fairly quickly.

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Thank you all for your responses they have been most helpful. Sounds like I need to alter my technique or but the correct type of duster.

    Also, DDY, WOW - Thank you for your extremely verbose explanation. I learnt a lot today.

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Bring it round my house. I have a 100L air compressor and a paintbrush. I'll clean it out for you.

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster View Post
    Bring it round my house. I have a 100L air compressor and a paintbrush. I'll clean it out for you.
    Ha ha, thanks for the offer Ttaskmaster. I did read on some forum posts that peopl,e had taken their PC to their local car garage and paid them to use their compressors. If their local car garage is anything like mine the PC would come out more dirty than when it went in. :-)

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Water is only a problem when the equipment is powered up - so provided you leave it at room temperature for a while, the water will evaporate. Electronic circuit boards are often washed in de-ionised water (which is non-conducting) as part of the manufacturing process.
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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    Water is only a problem when the equipment is powered up - so provided you leave it at room temperature for a while, the water will evaporate. Electronic circuit boards are often washed in de-ionised water (which is non-conducting) as part of the manufacturing process.
    Ah ok. Thank you Peter. I am getting educated today. Everyday's a school day.

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Quote Originally Posted by wilko View Post
    If their local car garage is anything like mine the PC would come out more dirty than when it went in. :-)
    Well my workshop certainly isn't like that, as I do my own machines in it every month.
    I also don't charge for the use, and can do your tyres at the same time.

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster View Post
    Well my workshop certainly isn't like that, as I do my own machines in it every month.
    I also don't charge for the use, and can do your tyres at the same time.
    Where abouts are you Ttaskmaster? Anywhere near Bournemouth?

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster View Post
    Bring it round my house. I have a 100L air compressor and a paintbrush. I'll clean it out for you.
    Wouldn't have thought you could shift much with a paintbrush, do you not have a blow gun? They are really cheap and super useful air tool.

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Quote Originally Posted by wilko View Post
    Where abouts are you Ttaskmaster? Anywhere near Bournemouth?
    Depends what you consider 'near'...

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    Quote Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix View Post
    Wouldn't have thought you could shift much with a paintbrush, do you not have a blow gun? They are really cheap and super useful air tool.
    Blow gun, no. Not since I left my Rainforest tribe behind for the modern lifestyle....

    I do have an air duster attachment, which is par for the course with compressors. But even at 140psi, you still need to brush off the surface remnants of dust, hence the ¼" paintbrush.

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Quote Originally Posted by ttaskmaster View Post
    blow gun, no. Not since i left my rainforest tribe behind for the modern lifestyle....
    lmao.

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    Re: The wet stuff from an air duster \ compressed air.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster View Post
    you still need to brush off the surface remnants of dust, hence the ¼" paintbrush.
    lol, there was me picturing you with that big compressor feeding a diddly little airbrush. Bristly paintbrush makes way more sense

    I guess after using the compressor on something like an old computer PSU I'm too busy trying to get to breathable air to worry about brushing off the remnants.

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