[SOLVED] Cleaning components with alcohol?

[andrewfleming2002]

Been planning on cleaning out the fans, heatsink fan, graphics card and PSU in my computer, and heard that 'rubbing alcohol' can help with cleaning the dust off.

Does anyone know what type of 'rubbing alcohol' I should use, and would any of the above components be damaged if I was to use said alcohol to help clean them?

 

[Aeacus]

What you're talking about is isopropyl alcohol (at least 70% pure, better 90% pure while i have 100% pure) and that is used only to clean old thermal paste from CPU/GPU die and heatsink.

To clean dust from PC internals, use compressed air instead. Either air compressor or canned air. Though, avoid using vacuum cleaner since that can give out static discharge.

 

[andrewfleming2002]

What you're talking about is isopropyl alcohol (at least 70% pure, better 90% pure while i have 100% pure) and that is used only to clean old thermal paste from CPU/GPU die and heatsink.

To clean dust from PC internals, use compressed air instead. Either air compressor or canned air. Though, avoid using vacuum cleaner since that can give out static discharge.

I've already tried with canned air, and it didn't look like it shifted any of the dust. I'll have a look into using an air compressor. Thanks for the help.

 

[Aeacus]

You can also use tiny brush to get into hard to reach spaces.

 

[racksmith101]

Isopropanol is fine for cleaning PCBs with but avoid using it on plastics as it does react with some of them. A brush, canned air and some elbow grease is the best way if removing dust from your pc.