Cleansing Hardware Of Dead Pig Odors? 693
Chagatai writes "My company is one of America's largest beef and pork producers. Recently I took a trip to see a new computer room that had been built at one of our abbatoirs. While the new environment is nice and sanitary, the old computer room had air intakes that were adjacent to the rendering portion of the plant, and everything smells in an almost unholy way. Management is curious if there are any cleaning agents or means of deodorizing this equipment before moving it into the nice, new office. The only products I could find would clean the outside of the hardware, but the internals would still possess the lovely aroma of boiled dead pig parts. Of course, this is a race against time, as I am sure someone will inevitably squirt Pine-Sol into the system to try to make things better. Does anyone have any recommendations to remove the effluvium of post-mortem porcine matter from our machines?"
To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:5, Informative)
Power down all your machines and unplug them. Set up adequate ventilation (I use several cheap desk fans). Wipe down your hardware with rubbing alcohol using a lint-free cloth or a few old t-shirts; don't worry about your own, buy a big bag of them at Goodwill.
When you get tired of that, or you pass out from the fumes, just pour it in. Yes, I'm serious, you'll want to trickle it over the green hardware and get everything generally soaking. (Not the power supply or hard drive, just PCBs and the like. This is already a dumbass idea, so you don't want to be much more stupid about it.) Then leave, otherwise you'll probably pass out.
I discovered this trick while given the task of cleaning a friend's laptop. He smokes, a lot, and had quit and didn't want the smell. He also had sticky keys from God knows what, so I honestly just said "fuck it" and turned the laptop on its side, open, and poured rubbing alcohol into the ports, taking care not to let it get near the screen, which rubbing alcohol can damage. Using a lot of it allows the liquid to remove dust as it flows by. The excess flowed out the other side and into a few paper towels.
Rubbing alcohol is a great solvent and evaporates quickly, so the ventilation is more for the computers, not you. Make sure the insides are aired out before powering up, or you may find yourself battling a quick-burning alcohol fire.
Have fun!
Steam cleaning (Score:5, Informative)
This is one of the best ways to remove stuff down to the molecular level, and involves no chemicals.
It truly is "the hot setup" ( pun intended ).
Google "vapor cleaning" for more info.
Odor absorbtion (Score:5, Informative)
I suggest cleaning up the equippement as best you can and then placing a few of these in or around the offending hardware.
Baking soda (Score:5, Informative)
The smell of a rendering plant will be hard to remove, but this is how I remove the "beef scent" from tallow when I'm making soap.
this is what i've used before (Score:1, Informative)
Ozone! (Score:1, Informative)
By curious coincidence, I too am working (as a contractor) for one of the nations largest meat packing companies... and the rendering plants are just amazingly stinky!
hope this helps
Ozone! (Score:5, Informative)
Wash them (Score:3, Informative)
As long as all the parts are *throughly* dry before reassemble, the water is no danger.
Once watched a sun engineer do it to an IPC after a colleague spilt hot chocolate into it...
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:4, Informative)
My suggestion would actually be to remove as much of the dust from the system as possible. Use a vaccuum and an air compressor (forget those little bottles of "canned air") The majority of the dust might be in "Do Not Open" areas, like power supply, so open those and clean them. Eventually the nastiness will get covered up by other office dust and the smell will go away.
Best way to clean hardware! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:5, Informative)
I second Capt Nitro here, rubbing alcohol is one of the safest and most effective things you can clean electronics and computers with (Relatively speaking, like he said, there's obviously risks of damage to certain types of components, especially if it manages to pool somewhere where it can't evaporate away realitvely quickly - pull cases open everywhere you can, rotate the equipment around to get excess out, and use lots of fans).
Be *very* careful about the fire hazards. If you manage to somehow ignite the alcohol, things can get ugly quick, as the flames are often almost completely clear with the pure stuff, and you figure it out by burning yourself. Things get really nasty when there is a fire quickly spreading around the room and through the fumes in the air around you, and you don't even realize it and can't see how far it has already spread. If, at some point in this comical adventure, you find yourself sitting in the middle of a room full of fans, computers dripping in alcohol, and heavy fumes, and you even *suspect* that some of the alcohol has just ignited - GET OUT, and call the fire department or hose the room down or something.
Re:Ozone! (Score:5, Informative)
Obligatory nitpicking: the word you probably want is "odiferous", not "aromatic". "Aromatic" has the specific connotation of containing benzene-style aromatic rings, which not all odiferous compounds contain.
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:3, Informative)
If you are going to use rubbing alcohol... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Oh, this is a good one. (Score:2, Informative)
There was one, but it [slashdot.org] got moderated "Troll".
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:5, Informative)
Look for bottles labeled "99% Isopropyl alcohol", it's the pure stuff.
I shouldn't need to mention it here, but will anyway:
Dont't drink this stuff, it's pure poison!
Re:Best way to clean hardware! (Score:1, Informative)
I would not recommend the "let it soak" technique since the alcohol is an active cleansing agent. It is better to squirt it on using an old empty windex (or other glass cleaner) bottle and then brush vigorously with a nylon brush (something like a tooth brush, only big enough for andre the giant. Then rinse the alcohol with distilled water.
This is effectively the "CORRECT" method of cleaning. It is time consuming, but it is capable of removing baked on rosin from solder. It obviously can remove simple pig fat.
I recomming if the computer cases were beige box, just replace those. They're cheap enough.
As for the monitors, if they are CRT screens, I would say you're screwed since there are literally thousands of crevaces which you would need to clean.
As mentioned in an earlier post. For LCD/TFT displays, if you clean the display, do not touch the display itself with alcohol, it will cause the display to become dimmer.
BTW... when I mention Isopropyl Alcohol, I am not referring to off the shelf in the local pharmacy. Instead I'm referring to the high purity version from an electronics shop. It's 98% (I think) which if I understand correctly is the purest you can get since simply expsosing 100% alcohol to air would degrade it's purity to that level.
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:5, Informative)
Chances are that not much has actually penetrated the plastics. If it has, then use a shellac based sealer (e.g. http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?Product
You'll probably have to replace the fans -- the lubricating oil holds the smells and there isn't much you can do about it, except to try and flush it away with more oil.
Beyond that... you could try adding a charcoal filter to the cooling system to deal with the remaining odours, but I've never done it.
OZONE! (Score:2, Informative)
Mythbusters covered this (kinda) (Score:1, Informative)
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Stinky Car
More details here:
http://www.mythbustersfanclub.com/html/sti
They did clean it up, there are some companies that use special cleaners (don't know how abrasive they would be) to clean organic decaying material.
WARNING: Ozone is a _very_ bad idea (Score:5, Informative)
A friend of mine was having CD-ROM drives die every two or three _months_. Seems that his consumer ionizer was putting out enough ozone to eat the belts away. He stopped using the ionizer, and the problem went away.
My guess is that ozone would also kill off hard drive gasket seals and even certain types of insulation material.
Bad idea. Don't go here.
Re:Ozone generator (Score:2, Informative)
Not a good choce for this espesaly electronics.
Re:ozone (Score:5, Informative)
try the dishwasher (Score:1, Informative)
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously.. read up on stills.
use GBL (Score:2, Informative)
Charcoal filters or ozone (Score:2, Informative)
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:3, Informative)
Removing odiferous organics from computers... (Score:5, Informative)
If you can replace the cases, do so. If not, dissasemble, remove power supplies, remove encrustations, and wash with bleach and hot water, then surgical soap and water.
Standard floppy drives are replaceable. Too much of a hassle to clean.
Harddrives are basically going to have to be removed, wiped with alcohol wipes, and then wiped down with some odor-neutralizing spray. Replace the drives after you get complete backups if any have errors.
Powersupplies, if not replaceable, should be discharged (those caps can kill), blown out with compressed air, and then wiped down with alcohol wipes.
CRT Monitors are going to be a bitch to clean. Replace if you can. If you can't replace, discharge all the capacitors, coils and the tube. Blow out with compressed air. Wipe down any sealed board level components and sealed surfaces with alcohol wipes. Don't get anything on any coils. Allow everything to air for 24 hrs before reassembly.
LCD monitors should be disassembled, their cases washed with alcohol. Spritz down the electronics with coating-safe board cleaner. Use monitor-wipes on the LCD itself.
Cables can either washed by hand, in a dishwasher (NOT HOT WATER! Max temp about 80F) or replaced. Replacement is easier.
Keyboards, if replacements are not available, should have all batteries removed, large encrustatios removed by hand (use gloves!), blown out with compressed air, and be run through a dishwasher, again with no hot water, or washed with large amounts of alcohol. Allow to drain for at least 24 hrs (alcohol) or 48 hrs (water) under a fan before reusing.
Boards: Remove any major encrustations of hardened tiss.. err.. organic matter by shaking, scraping, or chiseling. Soak in ethyl alcohol to loosen clotted material (in my case, literally.. again, don't ask) enough to brush/wipe most of it off. Immerse in electronics cleaner in ultrasonic bath on low. Board comes looking almost brand new. Allow to dry under a fan for several ours. Test, and reinstall.
Replace all fans and filters if possible (easier than cleaning the damn things). Reassemble. Before closing the case, hang a couple of those pine-tree shaped air fresheners in the case.
There are also a lot of forensic clean-up information websites out there.. Google is your friend. Hope this helps..
ACL Staticide (Score:5, Informative)
And it's even cheap!
I prefer... (Score:1, Informative)
Obviously, don't get this anywhere near internal components when wet, as it'll be somewhat corrosive. For the circuitry, I'd probably risk anything from soap-and-water cleaning if it's hardware that's easily replaced if you kill any -- rinsed quickly with distilled/deionized water and dried in a hair dryer or sauna -- to a quick soak with alcohol + a small amount of Febreze or an enzymatic odor neutralizer (hopefully enough to nail the stink without leaving noticably conductive residue)
As a tip, don't clean hard drives by immersion; they generally have filtered air vents to let them equalize to atmospheric pressure.
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:3, Informative)
And yes it does work! Clean the computers inside and out with the fuel and let dry a day or so then clean the electrical contacts with alcohol.
And why not the power supply boards? They are no more dangerous than any other circuit in the computer, if the 24 v or 12v or 5v circuits on the other cards don't start a fire why would the same voltage in the power supply board start one?
You will have a new smell to deal with but it will not be dead pigs.
Step #1 Call a company that cleans up dead people in houses and apartments. People die all the time in their homes, some because they were murdered and some because they died of natural causes, sometimes they are there a day and sometimes a month or more.
After the police are gone SOMEBODY has the clean that mess up, so call the companies that do that all the time, have them clean your equipment.
Much safer than alcohol or diesel fuel.
Re:WARNING: Ozone is a _very_ bad idea (Score:4, Informative)
Use Co2 or glycol fog (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:5, Informative)
Try going to a pest control office... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:5, Informative)
I worked in a large surface mount production facility. In the final stage of assembly, they would in fact go through a fancy dishwasher. Early on we didn't even use deionized water. They did switch to deionized water not so much for the fear of conductivity, but to not leave spots behind.
You want to put tape (waterproof - packing tape might work) over any speakers, piezo devices, potentiometers, dip/pushbutton switches. Remove any batteries and button cells.
Then stick it in the diswasher, I'd use electrasol. Also, skip the "drying" cycle and let it air dry. Where I live (Utah) the air is quite dry. It would be ideal to let it sit for a day in the summer sun. Then you are good to go.
If you are not blessed with dry air but humid air, it may take more than a day to safely dry before you can plug it in.
Under no conditions would I do this to vintage equipment, esp. tube equipment or even vintage transistor equipment. Old equipment will tend to crumble under the stress as old capacitors like to die (if they haven't already - google/get an ESR meter) and plastic will tend to crack. I would only do this for equipment from the mid eighties on. Before this time I would be judicious with the cleaning process. Like maybe not using hot water.
Modern components however are made to face a dishwasher, and can withstand it nicely, unless the components are defective to begin with (like some bad electrolytics on motherboards).
Contact Drew Industrial Division (Score:3, Informative)
There are several other companies that handle this type of situation as well.
http://www.ashchem.com/ascc/drewind/ [ashchem.com]
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:2, Informative)
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:2, Informative)
Googling around seems to confirm that if you have a alcohol fire, especially one with large amounts of alcohol, and splash a bucket of water on it, first, it won't mix immediately, and second, it will splash around, possibly igniting something that wasn't burning before.
Of course, if you have the fire nicely contained somewhere, add water to it, and wait a while for it to mix, it would work fine. But anectotal evidence on Usenet says somebody burned their basement [google.com] by splashing a bucket of water on an alcohol file.
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:5, Informative)
Just remember to seal off the area during the process, and ventilate it well before re-entering as pure ozone can be just as deadly as carbon monoxide.
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:4, Informative)
In any case, I'd also second the suggestion of using 99% isopropyl. it's relatively safe on most electronics, and about as cheap as rubbing alcohol (but a little bit harder to get hold of).
But as for doing this job inside, NO WAY! . Not unless you have access to a fume hood. The LAST thing you want to do is poison yourself with the fumes. You're far better of to do it somewhere outside, and a few metres away from anything flamable and even further from anything that generates sparks I'd even suggest doing it after dusk. That way, if you do manage to light the stuff on fire, you'll have some hope of noticing it before you have 3rd degree burns over vast parts of your body.
For safety, I'd suggest having a workmate standing by with a water hose (and a sprayer with a hand-trigger that lets you have the tap turned on for fast response).. uphill and upwind if at all possible. Chances are (s)he won't have to do anything, but it's far better to have him/her present and bored, than missing and needed.
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:1, Informative)
You should follow everybody else's instructions about drying. Like everybody else says, don't do it on hard drives or batteries. Everything else should be Ok. My guess is most of your stink is going to be in the power supply and in 'soft' components like the rubber feet. In that case you might want to just buy new el-cheapo $20 cases while washing the rest of the components.
It probably won't hurt to stick an air freshener to the inside of the case either
Simple Green (Score:2, Informative)
We tried everything. Alcohol. Solvents of all different kinds. Nothing worked until I brought some simple green in from home. This is what you do:
Remove all the water sensitive components from the case (hard drive, CDROM, etc,...) Leave the cover off of the case. Put it into a deep sink and wet it with warm water. Then scrub it out gently with a 10:1 solution of water and simple green. Use a large soft brush for the major areas and acid brushes to get in the the corners.
Rinse it out a few times with warm water.
Get a heat gun (used for shrink tubing) or a really good hair dryer or space heater and blow dry the unit for about 45 minutes, turning as needed. Allow to air dry for 24 hours. Re-install/replace HD, CDROM. Smoke check.
Our chassis always looked brand new after this treatment.
-- Loudog
Re:Discoloration (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:5, Informative)
Contrary to any widespread notion, almost every electronics component can survive being completely immersed/soaked in water. (It can even be beneficial, like when washing off acidic flux residues, or perhaps interesting smells.)
What electronics cannot survive is being -powered- while wet, as the shorts could cause currents that could burn out semiconductors. So, make sure there are no batteries, or even charged capacitors, anywhere on the hardware.
Pigs...MythBusters? was: Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:3, Informative)
One episode dealt with the issue of "...can a car which someone died in be cleaned up enough to be sold again?" They bought a fairly nice Corvette (although the owner was a bit hesitant when he heard what his baby was going to be used for), tossed two dead pigs in it, sealed the car as much as possible, then stashed it in a storage chamber to keep it out of the way.
After some period of time (I don't remember how long it was), they donned bio-hazard suits & masks & set to pulling the car out & rescuing it (the car). Even with the masks on, it seemed pretty unbearable for Adam & Jamie. They worked pretty hard, using practically any suggested remedy they had heard of (and some of their adjunct folklore consultants).
IIRC, they brought in a specialty firm to look at the situation. The owner didn't have any "assistance" for dealing with it (no suit, no mask, seemed unaffected -- they didn't say if he was one of those without a sense of smell). Anyway, his crew spent a lot of time using their proven techniques and nothing worked. They finally stripped the car of anything capable of holding an odor: hard & soft plastic, foam, straps, you name it. By the time they were done, all which was left was metal.
Finally, it was time to [try to] sell it. People were rather inquisitive (regarding price and why they were so coy) and of course, the windows were up so as not to provide any advance notice to a prospect what might be lurking. Every time the door opened, however,
Ozone generator (Score:2, Informative)
Ozone destroys biological materials, and is used for sterilizing water and other materials.
Because this is all computer hardware you could probably seal the room, crank the ozone generator up to max and give it a good week long exposure. That ought to put a significant dent in the smell problem.
NOTE: We aren't talking about those cheap air ionizers here, those wont touch this problem. A professional ozone generator can be rented from a industrial equipment rental shop, and the ozone output will be high enough to be dangerous! Don't go into the room until after the ozone has cleared.
Obligatory nit-picking nitpick... (Score:2, Informative)
Idoform Gauze will do it (Score:2, Informative)
I'm an ER nurse. I deal with stong smells on a daily basis. Rank, rancid, fetid, rotten infected... you name it I've smelled it and probably cleaned it up.
Let me tell you, that nothing but nothing sucks the smell out of the air better than idoform gauze. Yup. It's gauze intended for packing abcesses. Just hang some from the ceiling or wave it around in the air... pulls the smell right out. Hang it next to whatever befouls your nostrils and the stench will be gone. No liquid vs electronic componets needed.
You can find it here [google.com].
shit, dude, they do so sap ya Re:Discoloration (Score:3, Informative)
two conductors with an insulator between them, last time I read my basic electricity, is a capacitor. 15 minutes to several hours after you turn off a color set, the 4th anode voltage can still knock you on your ass, if you're lucky and that's all that happens. I've got a screwdriver that might still be stuck in a rafter in devils lake that proves it, if you can get into the tv station up there to see for yourself.
no, you better use a good insulated HV fishpole grounded to the chassis before you go poking around CRTs. slip it under the anode connector and touch the metal clip there for 5 to 10 seconds before you remove the anode connector.
oh, it's not nice to hit the dag coating with lots of hot soapy pressurized water... you'll peel it off, it's lacquer. cold, low pressure, don't work it hard. or you'll lose the dag and won't raise a picture on the screen again.
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:3, Informative)
I recommend that you take some of the less used components, ie some old video cards or nics or whatever and do test batches. You'll need to clean and then TEST the components to know if there is damage.
Cleaning is going to need to be done in agitated baths, scrubbing can be harmful, especially if damp fibers remain on the boards and soaking generally isn't as good as it doesn't lift contaminants off.
Place one part into each bath and let them soak rocking the bath for 20 seconds every 15 minutes then take the parts out and let them dry depending on the cleaning agent. I recommend the following.
Please note I take no responsibility for the outcome of any of these also please watch for toxic vapors and combustible agents.
!! DO NOT USE HYDROCARBON BASED CLEANERS !!
!! DO NOT CLEAN MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICES !!
this includes, tapes, hard drives, disks etc
90%+ tetraethyl alcohol for 2 hours, let dry for 48 hours in a well ventilated space
Hand Dish soap (DO NOT use dishwasher soap) in filtered water for 1 days, let dry 5 days
25% White Vinegar for 1 day then rinse with water, let dry for 5 days
10% Chlorine bleach in water for 1 hour. let dry for 5 days.
Remember the value of old components is typically pretty close to their weight in water so don't put too much effort into saving them, you could replace then with far fewer new computers, maybe just one if you plan well, obviously we don't know your setup
Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.
Re:Not pigs, but cigarettes (Score:1, Informative)
fats and time (Score:2, Informative)
Re:To suggest this is almost criminally stupid (Score:2, Informative)
Isopropyl alcohol (CH3-[CHOH]-CH3)and ethanol (CH3-CH2-OH) are both light chain alcohols where the -OH group coveys enough hydrophylic properties to the molecule that it mixes well with water. That same -OH group on an alcohol like CH3-[CH2]12-CH2-OH doesn't overcome the hydrophobic qualities of the rest of the molecule, and will not cause it to mix well with water.
(heavy crude)-OH is an alcohol too, and that obviously doesn't mix well with water.
Short of a really big autoclave... (Score:3, Informative)
Now, I've got this Corvette for sale, you see...
Re:May I point you to... (Score:3, Informative)
Ethanol [C2H5OH] = good
Methanol [C1H3OH] = bad
Note the number of carbons.
Re:No, I *don't* like where you're going with this (Score:2, Informative)
Dead pig flavored jello?
You do know what Jello is made from, right?
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question557.htm
DO NOT DO THIS!!! (Score:1, Informative)
Do not, repeat, DO NOT use baking soda! A computer is not a candle!
I should mention that isopropyl is also not ideal, since it dissolves the component labels (not that many people do component level repairs anymore, but you may need to check chipsets at some time in the future). However, a weak solution with distilled water is safe enough.
I've worked as an electronic tech in the music business for 18 years, and in that time I've cleaned just about every substance imaginable out of electronic equipment (example: a singer, very well known in Australia with the initials JB, once emptied a bottle of bourbon into one channel of a mixing desk, which wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't drunk it first! There are just some things you don't want to clean out of edge connectors. And don't get me started about cats; does an amplifier really look that much like a sandbox?). What I've found is that if you spend a few extra dollars on a product specifically made for electronics you head off future disaster. This makes a huge difference when you're dealing with vintage equipment (like original Pultec EQs or LA-2As) which are near irreplacable, or must have near 100% uptime.
I suggest Electrolube's Potclene, or similar products made by 3M and Riston (the cleaning solutions for PCB production are ideal). But unless you are 100% sure whatever you're using is safe for metals, or you can afford new computers, DON'T USE IT!
Other than that, try one of those pine tree thingies for cars: fold it over, and wedge it (edge on) in the path of the fan exhaust. Your server room will be mountain fresh in no time!