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.