Lighter Fluid good for cleaning?

[Blue Jester_2112]

Just curious, is lighter fluid any good for cleaning thermal paste and/or thermal tape off of cpu's and chips or is that a really bad idea?

[oc jason]

I dont see why not it has some alcohol in it-but the funnyiest BAD thing that could happen is some of the fluid soak in and whilw under load it burst into flames-that would suck

[zoopa_man]

LOL good idea. I would pay money to see someone experement with how much lighter fluid it would take to get an old 486 to burst into flames. :) don't panic i'm not going to try it. Just seems like one of those things we don't think of until it happens!!!!!!

[Ridenow]

Some solvents leave a residue, I do not know if lighter fluid does. If it does not then it would be great for cleaning HSFs. Acetone is the recomended solvent, it works well and does not leave a residue.

[Hoot]

Given the composition of lighter fluid, I would follow up using it with some anhydrous (no water in it) alcohol.

Hoot

[William]

acetone is still tops in my book for cleaning stuff, that and a little HCl will do wonders.

[krakerman]

acetone is best, from my experience. just dont drink it.

[William]

krakerman (Jun 12, 2001 12:53 a.m.):
acetone is best, from my experience. just dont drink it.

not going to ask, not going to ask, not going to ask, oh allright, where did that come from!!!

[krakerman]

im in college. ;-)

[Blue Jester_2112]

Kewl, I usually stick with Acetone for cleaning up thermal paste too.(I have a bottle of 100% acetone and whew it stinks) The reason I was asking is becuase I haven't had much luck with acetone and thermal tape. I recently got a HS for my northbridge and it came with thermal tape attatched. Usually I use lighter fliud to remove stickers and the like and I figured if it was safe to use it might be an excellent and easy solution. Generally it evaporates very quickly so I'll give it a try then follow with some rubbing alcohol to clear up any residue it might leave.