Anybody ever put a PCB in a dishwasher?

blkdog7

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Thinking about sticking a filthy PCB I have in the dishwasher? No dry cycle, hot water only, and no soap. What do you think? Good idea? Bad? Anyone ever do it?
 
Haven't done it myself, but I've heard of many who have done console stuff (Atari 2600 and the like) with no problems. Just be extra crazy about drying them afterward and you should be fine. Likely problem spots would be IC sockets, surface mount parts, any magnetics (transformers, coils, etc). Any mechanical parts, especially DIP switches. Paper components...some of those caps can be hard to replace. Stickers, labels, etc. That's off the top of my head.

If you have hard water it might not be a good idea. Calcium, iron, sulfur, etc are nasty once deposited.

I'm sure there are people around here that have done it. Hopefully they will chime in. Out of curiosity, which PCB are you going to do?
 
I've done it with a Playchoice pcb. No issues. Like you stated, no soap, and dry. I used compressed air.
Hope that helps!
 
I have washed them with soap & water in the sink no problems. I use really hot water and dry them with compressed air afterwards.
 
Nope I never put just one PCB in there. Cleaned up these Asteroids board quite nicely.


asteroids%20001.jpg
 
im going to have to try it someday... its just the thought of water and electrical components mixing that just dont jive in my mind..
 
It works fine. I used to work for a place called "Contemporary Concepts" back in the mid-90s. They did grey market Apple II/Mac repairs back in the day and I was the lead tech. We used the dishwasher method on ANY board that came in dirty.

We also used it on puke filled keyboards. Clean the keyboard, replace any bad key switches, relube the switches, and send it back to the owner.

The important things to remember are:

1. Save all paper labels! They will disintegrate or fall off in the water.
2. NO BATTERIES.
3. Make sure the boards are thoroughly dry before powering up.

These days I simply scrub boards in the kitchen sink with some Formula 409 Orange, rinse well, then dry in the oven at 170 degrees (lowest it will go) for about 10 to 15min which is enough to get all the water out of the sockets and from under the chips.
 
Nope I never put just one PCB in there. Cleaned up these Asteroids board quite nicely.


asteroids%20001.jpg

OH NO !!! you washed off the SERIAL # Tags, 8 Asteroids machines will no longer be #'s matching LOL.
 
its just the thought of water and electrical components mixing that just dont jive in my mind..

It's water and ELECTRICITY that don't mix.... drying is the key here.

I do it all the time. Game pcb's, monitor chassis, power supplies, whatever.
Spray them down with some Simple Green, Super Clean, whatever and wash away.
Blow any excess water off with compressed air if you have it available.
Set out in the sun for a day, set over a heater vent, whatever is handy and helpful to speed the dry process up.

So yeah..... whatever. :)
 
It's water and ELECTRICITY that don't mix.... drying is the key here.

I do it all the time. Game pcb's, monitor chassis, power supplies, whatever.
Spray them down with some Simple Green, Super Clean, whatever and wash away.
Blow any excess water off with compressed air if you have it available.
Set out in the sun for a day, set over a heater vent, whatever is handy and helpful to speed the dry process up.

So yeah..... whatever. :)

i know lol.. its just the thought of some evil rouge drop that gets missed that will ruin my weekend heh.. im just gonna have to stop bieng a pussy and try it soon i suppose!
 
i know lol.. its just the thought of some evil rouge drop that gets missed that will ruin my weekend

Oh, I know what ya mean... I tend to get a little anal on the compressed air and drying just to be sure there is something hiding under a chip, socket or something somewhere.
Or dip switches, that's another good spot to trap moisture.
 
I've put dirty pcb's in the dishwasher many times too. Never had any problem so far. First I remove stickers, then spray some windex on it, then turn on the dishwasher, no dry cycle. Afterwards I blow out the water with compressed air and let them dry further near a heater vent for 24 hours (or more sometimes).
 
I used to put pcb's in the dishwasher......then I started thinking about my dishes I also put in this same machine. All the nasty contaminates that can get on these things....not too mention, the heavy metals potentionally leaching out....and anything with heat sink compound will leave a silicon residue. Now, I just spray them down in Mean Green, lightly scrub with a toothbrush, and rinse off in the sink or outside with a garden hose (weather permitting).

Edward
 
I wouldn't worry about lead leaching out of those boards. It's not very water soluble.

I recently ran a Sanyo 20-EZ chassis through my rinse cycle. As John would say, it came out Ninty fresh! (Works great BTW...)
 
Sounds like that kind of heat might be tough on the electrolytic caps, but hey if people have been doing it with no problems then it must work. I'll have to try it some time on an expendable PCB.
 
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