How to get cigarette smoke smell out of video card?

duronboy said:
I heard once that coffee was a great way to get out cigarette odor. I don't know if it's true, but it sounds like they go together. And if that doesn't work, take a bath in tomato juice.
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Is tomato juice a mild acid?
 
I hate working on smokers' computers and charge extra. I usually take EVERYTHING apart and wash most parts. I used warm water, isopropyl alcohol and a brush with natural bristles.
 
StormNobleheart said:
I hate working on smokers' computers and charge extra. I usually take EVERYTHING apart and wash most parts. I used warm water, isopropyl alcohol and a brush with natural bristles.
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I once dated a girl who smoked. She always had smoke on her breadth, even hours after her last cig.
 
Smoker PCs are the worst. I gave up the habit years ago thankfully. I've worked on PCs in the past from people that smoked 3+ packs a day next to them. Tall, full towers full of CD burners and SCSI drives. Ribbon cables galore. Absolutely disgusting, the cables all brown and crusty and stunk. You could wash them and the water looked like what would come out of a washer after washing a few muddy football uniforms! Gross! All that tar makes the insides sticky AF and the dust sticks to it. Even worse is a smoker's TV. Those old floor consoles from the 70s. After having all that gunk cooked in there for several decades it's probably dirtier than the colon of the Budweiser Clydesdales! 🙃
Ozone is a good idea as it's a powerful oxidizer and does get rid of the bad stuff. It also will kill any rubber too so be wary of that. And if the tar/dust "fur" crap is still around it comes back. That crap always comes back...
 
cpufrost said:
Smoker PCs are the worst. [ ... ] Absolutely disgusting, the cables all brown and crusty and stunk. You could wash them and the water looked like what would come out of a washer after washing a few muddy football uniforms! Gross! All that tar makes the insides sticky AF and the dust sticks to it.
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Makes you wonder about a smoker's lungs.

See my post #46.
 
Three and a half decades ago, I told my girlfriend (who has been my lovely wife for over 30 years) kissing a smoking person is like kissing an ashtray. She did quit after we got married but both of us were smoking again in the mid 90s. We finally did quit in the early 2000s except for social things and I was smoking cigars. We vape now and it's so much better being able to taste food and not feel out of breath going up a flight of stairs.
 
StormNobleheart said:
I hate working on smokers' computers and charge extra. I usually take EVERYTHING apart and wash most parts. I used warm water, isopropyl alcohol and a brush with natural bristles.
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Oh yes, same here! Just repaired/upgraded a Dell all-in-one for a smoker who has finally quit. The white plastic case was dark yellow/brown inside and out. I wiped up the outside with isopropyl alcohol on an old sock, and cleaned the insides with isopropyl alcohol and a make-up brush from the dollar store then a water rinse. Also soaked the heavily integrated Braswell motherboard and various internal cables in isopropyl alcohol and swabbed with the make-up brush, then a distilled water rinse. Came out looking like new again and I can hardly smell nicotine at all. Isopropyl alcohol does a fine job of removing nicotine stains/smells with a little work.
 
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Take up smoking. In no time you won't even notice the smell but will have unusual but pleasant cravings.
 
70 Polara said:
Oh yes, same here! Just repaired/upgraded a Dell all-in-one for a smoker who has finally quit. The white plastic case was dark yellow/brown inside and out. I wiped up the outside with isopropyl alcohol on an old sock, and cleaned the insides with isopropyl alcohol and a make-up brush from the dollar store then a water rinse. Also soaked the heavily integrated Braswell motherboard and various internal cables in isopropyl alcohol and swabbed with the make-up brush, then a distilled water rinse. Came out looking like new again and I can hardly smell nicotine at all. Isopropyl alcohol does a fine job of removing nicotine stains/smells with a little work.
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Did this ex-smoker specifically want to you clean up all the cigarette smoke residue? Do you know how old this system is? That is, how many years of smoke exposure to create all the gunk inside?
 
philb2 said:
Did this ex-smoker specifically want to you clean up all the cigarette smoke residue? Do you know how old this system is? That is, how many years of smoke exposure to create all the gunk inside?
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Late reply, but yes he wanted the system completely cleaned up as he has been sanitizing his entire living space since he quit. It really was a considerable amount of work to restore this system to a like new appearance, it was pretty bad! System is about six-seven years old, has a J3710 CPU in it. With an SSD and memory upgrade it's acceptable to him as a web-surfing, YouTube consuming device.
 
if i had a bud in the states id get em to get me a nice huge ultra sonic tank. with a valve on bottom, one big enough to engulf a motherboard then fill with 99% iso and let it do its thing. what iv done in past for gpus is take it apart as much as possible get a deep enough Tupperware container fill with 99% iso and a nice toothbrush then go to town cleaning every inch. the ultrasonic tub would be a nice to have if i did this on the regular.
 
I've received a few pieces of electronics over the years that smelled like an old VFW. While alcohol and ozone works to an extent, in my experience you'll never totally get rid of the smell, and cleaning every single component takes time and can be risky. Worst was an Asus Transformer tablet that looked fine in photos, but on receiving I could smell it all the way in the next room and it was sticky with cigarette tar -- gross. I've sent all back.

I now proactively ask sellers if the item comes from a smoker's house stating I'll return if it smells. I also make sure to list my items as "from a smoke-free" home.
 
cpufrost said:
Three and a half decades ago, I told my girlfriend (who has been my lovely wife for over 30 years) kissing a smoking person is like kissing an ashtray. She did quit after we got married but both of us were smoking again in the mid 90s. We finally did quit in the early 2000s except for social things and I was smoking cigars. We vape now and it's so much better being able to taste food and not feel out of breath going up a flight of stairs.
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The propylene glycol from vaping liquid will stick to the insides of your PC like smoke tar will. It does the same thing to your lungs. At least it doesn't come with the smell.
 
Shadowarez said:
if i had a bud in the states id get em to get me a nice huge ultra sonic tank. with a valve on bottom, one big enough to engulf a motherboard then fill with 99% iso and let it do its thing. what iv done in past for gpus is take it apart as much as possible get a deep enough Tupperware container fill with 99% iso and a nice toothbrush then go to town cleaning every inch. the ultrasonic tub would be a nice to have if i did this on the regular.
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Don't fill it with alcohol, use water with solvent and then bathe it in alcohol later so it dries out faster. You don't want the ultrasonic cleaner to start the alcohol on fire, and apparently it's not a very good solvent anyway. I bought a 30 liter cleaner on ebay last year for GPU cleaning and it does a great job. Takes about 2 minutes. Warming up the water takes all day though. I've heard of people washing motherboards in dishwashers and such as well.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
Don't fill it with alcohol, use water with solvent and then bathe it in alcohol later so it dries out faster. You don't want the ultrasonic cleaner to start the alcohol on fire, and apparently it's not a very good solvent anyway. I bought a 30 liter cleaner on ebay last year for GPU cleaning and it does a great job. Takes about 2 minutes. Warming up the water takes all day though. I've heard of people washing motherboards in dishwashers and such as well.
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RPM did a video where he got windex and put it in an ultrasonic cleaner and dropped in some filthy GPUs.
 
auntjemima said:
Leave it outside. Or use an ozonator
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Ozone generator was going to be my suggestion. Blow everything out of it possible with an air compressor, clean the areas you can reach with IPA, then put it in a box with an ozone generator for a while. Ozone can get rid of just about every smell caused by an organic substance.
 
sover said:
Ozone generator was going to be my suggestion. Blow everything out of it possible with an air compressor, clean the areas you can reach with IPA, then put it in a box with an ozone generator for a while. Ozone can get rid of just about every smell caused by an organic substance.
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It can but one has to remember this is an oxidation-reduction process and sufficient organic material is present, the smell will return after a while. O3 is a "just enough" treatment as excessive O3 will also attack other organic bearing compounds such as rubber very quickly. It also shouldn't be inhaled as it is quite dangerous.
 
Shadowarez said:
if i had a bud in the states id get em to get me a nice huge ultra sonic tank. with a valve on bottom, one big enough to engulf a motherboard then fill with 99% iso and let it do its thing. what iv done in past for gpus is take it apart as much as possible get a deep enough Tupperware container fill with 99% iso and a nice toothbrush then go to town cleaning every inch. the ultrasonic tub would be a nice to have if i did this on the regular.
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no need for all of that. a can of CRC QD Electronic Cleaner(Red can, not the blue) will melt anything away like butter. Cheaper and way faster.
 
cpufrost said:
https://www.vfw.org/
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More context - the VFW has basically "event centers" (in quotes because most of the VFWs are a bar first, maybe a restaurant, and then an area for maybe a small band to perform) throughout the US for veterans. While they do fish fry/pancake breakfast kind of stuff for the community and other various things - they're best known for their epic, dive bar-esque bars with old grumpy people, cheap drinks, and such - so it became popular with younger folks for various reasons...or it was just the best place within a small town to grab a beer.
 
sk3tch said:
More context - the VFW has basically "event centers" (in quotes because most of the VFWs are a bar first, maybe a restaurant, and then an area for maybe a small band to perform) throughout the US for veterans. While they do fish fry/pancake breakfast kind of stuff for the community and other various things - they're best known for their epic, dive bar-esque bars with old grumpy people, cheap drinks, and such - so it became popular with younger folks for various reasons...or it was just the best place within a small town to grab a beer.
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thats like the Legion up here. cheap beer, wings and pool BUT you need to be with a vet or have one add you to the list.


did op ever have any luck de-stinking this?
 
pendragon1 said:
thats like the Legion up here. cheap beer, wings and pool BUT you need to be with a vet or have one add you to the list.
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Ah...I think we are talking about the same thing, really! VFW and American Legion are the same type of thing - at least to people like me that are not veterans.
 
sk3tch said:
Ah...I think we are talking about the same thing, really! VFW and American Legion are the same type of thing - at least to people like me that are not veterans.
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probably, our are called "the royal canadian legion", didnt know there was a USA version.
 
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