Humidity / rust problems

[DesMeyer]

Hi there,
I live very close to the ocean and it is extremely humid and the air has a lot of salt in the air. I recently sent back my motherboard and GPU because they died as a result of the humid conditions. Is there anything i can do to prevent this from happening again?
thanks for your help.

 

[skit75]

Move to a more sealed PC enclosure and switch to a liquid cooling configuration? It would be more difficult to change the relative humidity of the room and maintain that over long periods, especially if you are really close to the ocean. There are also conformal coatings that you can buy to protect your components but they can get messy and sometimes introduce problems you never had.

 

[bignastyid]

Invest in a dehumidifier.

 

[skit75]

Invest in a dehumidifier.

Then there is the discipline of maintaining that room's atmosphere and keeping the de-humidifier on..... all the time.

 

[Bearmann]

Some of the new Asrock Motherboards have a dehumifier function. I'm not sure how well it works.

We had a similar thread about a month ago. In addition to what has been said, it may help to leave the computer on so that it always stays warm (to prevent condensation).

 

[DesMeyer]

Invest in a dehumidifier.

Already have one, didn't help very much.

 

[skit75]

Some of the new Asrock Motherboards have a dehumifier function. I'm not sure how well it works.

We had a similar thread about a month ago. In addition to what has been said, it may help to leave the computer on so that it always stays warm (to prevent condensation).

Mostly crap/marketing gimmick.

The PCB traces are already fairly protected from moisture within the air. The vulnerable points will be the power supply components and historically, thru-hole electrolytic capacitors on the motherboard + anywhere else that there is exposed solder that would allow flux to leach out, over time.

The chemical bath that is supposed to clean the PCB also sometimes leaves residue under surface mount chips that can wick into and between exposed teeth on the chips.

If you have a board that used no-clean flux... heh, well lets just say I am NOT a fan of the "no-clean" flux idea.

You would be better off moving to a cooling solution that doesn't require moving air across your components. Let the radiators from your closed loop, water cooled solution suffer this fate and seal that case up as best as you can.

 

[DesMeyer]

Some of the new Asrock Motherboards have a dehumifier function. I'm not sure how well it works.

We had a similar thread about a month ago. In addition to what has been said, it may help to leave the computer on so that it always stays warm (to prevent condensation).

Mostly crap/marketing gimmick.

The PCB traces are already fairly protected from moisture within the air. The vulnerable points will be the power supply components and historically, thru-hole electrolytic capacitors on the motherboard + anywhere else that there is exposed solder that would allow flux to leach out, over time.

The chemical bath that is supposed to clean the PCB also sometimes leaves residue under surface mount chips that can wick into and between exposed teeth on the chips.

If you have a board that used no-clean flux... heh, well lets just say I am NOT a fan of the "no-clean" flux idea.

You would be better off moving to a cooling solution that doesn't require moving air across your components. Let the radiators from your closed loop, water cooled solution suffer this fate and seal that case up as best as you can.

But won't that be expensive? i should nt that i live in South Africa, so not everything you suggest will be available here

and what about the power supply? Won't it overheat?

 

[skit75]

Some of the new Asrock Motherboards have a dehumifier function. I'm not sure how well it works.

We had a similar thread about a month ago. In addition to what has been said, it may help to leave the computer on so that it always stays warm (to prevent condensation).

Mostly crap/marketing gimmick.

The PCB traces are already fairly protected from moisture within the air. The vulnerable points will be the power supply components and historically, thru-hole electrolytic capacitors on the motherboard + anywhere else that there is exposed solder that would allow flux to leach out, over time.

The chemical bath that is supposed to clean the PCB also sometimes leaves residue under surface mount chips that can wick into and between exposed teeth on the chips.

If you have a board that used no-clean flux... heh, well lets just say I am NOT a fan of the "no-clean" flux idea.

You would be better off moving to a cooling solution that doesn't require moving air across your components. Let the radiators from your closed loop, water cooled solution suffer this fate and seal that case up as best as you can.

But won't that be expensive? i should nt that i live in South Africa, so not everything you suggest will be available here

and what about the power supply? Won't it overheat?

Well, you don't want to block or cover vents on the power supply. It will overheat if you do that. You don't have a lot of options. Conformal Coating sounds about the best way to go, given your situation.


Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Silicone-Conformal-Coating/dp/B004SPJOKK