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OMG Smelly Case!

I

Ion Silverbolt

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
339
Wasn't sure where to put this thread so I put it here.

Anyway, I been working on fixing a PC for someone so I took their case to my house. OMG... This thing when turned on stinks up the whole house in a 30 foot radius. It reeks of cheap cigarettes.

I don't know what it is, but this shit just sticks to computer hardware. Is there any safe way to clean computer hardware and cases without damaging the components? I don't think a can of air will cut it folks. Do they make case deodorant? lol
 
spray it with febreze? heh

Do they want you to fix the smell? If so I'd tell them that they should quit smoking around it heh. Then replace all the cables inside, take everything out of the case and thoroughly wash it. Fans need to be washed and dried / replaced, heatsinks too. Anything you can wipe down with a damp cloth I would, and the rest I'd wipe off with a dry cloth if possible. Maybe let it sit out somewhere for a while to air out with a fan on it??

Even then not sure how good of a job you'll do.. if they are going to smoke around it there's no reason to bother.
 
no point in cleaning it, it's just going back to the stinkhole it came from. maybe you could put into a position where it only exhausts outside? Or just go ahead and only work on it outside. But I guess it might not be 70 something outside like it is here. Too bad, frozen shit falling out of the sky ain't natural.
 
I was just curious if it was possible. I have no intention of cleaning Stinky McShitcase anytime soon. :)


I imagine there's some pretty mad people who baught used computers on Ebay or something though. It's simply amazing how much stink a case can emit. Athough some people do a good job of it themselves. But that is whole other thread..hehe
 
make the exhaust fans intake fans, then mod a few of these to run off the psu

prodlineup_plugins.jpg
 
Then you can have flowers mixed with shit smell lol. Put an activated charcoal respirator cartridge over the fan outlets???
 
get an oxygen mask first, and rubber gloves. smokers computer are disgusting to clean. and beware the third-hand tar. anyways that said, what is it that you need to clean that the canned air won't get rid of? in my experience, alcohol wipes work very well if youre willing to be creative with some scrubbing. (i.e. to clean between a tar-caked hsf, cut it into a strip and toothpick it thru the fins, then grab each end with finger and use it like floss. and be sure to recommend that they quit smoking. its really bad for their components.
 
BossNoodleKaboodle said:
Then you can have flowers mixed with shit smell lol. Put an activated charcoal respirator cartridge over the fan outlets???
Click to expand...

That's what my room smells like. Like a boquet of roses up and died on top of a pile of shit.
 
Oh come on we need Pics! Maybe a dead mouse, or rat, or perhaps someone's lost cat!




Oh god if the kids watch that Dr. Suess shit one more time. ;)
 
r00k said:
anyways that said, what is it that you need to clean that the canned air won't get rid of? in my experience, alcohol wipes work very well if youre willing to be creative with some scrubbing.
Click to expand...


I suppose I could take the hardware out and hose the case down in the front yard. lol, that aught to get a few weird looks.


The hardware might be a bitch though. How the hell would you clean tar off of sensitive electronics? The air freshener idea is looking more appealing by the minute.
 
Ewww

I remembered I had to clean out a sticky case. FEW I opened it and it smelt up the whole room like cigerets! I got a load of AIR canes to spray the balls of dust (out side of the house). Then I charged the guy for new computer parts soo he can enjoy a fresh new smelling computer. :D


I should of made something that sprays axe in the computer case every 10 min.
 
Maybe try putting a box of bakeing soda in there like you would if ur fridge stinks?
 
Those Glade smelly things work on heat right? So I'm sure you could find a hot surface to mount it to somewheres in there.
 
That was pretty funny...though those Plug-Ins use scented oil that probably shouldn't be anywhere inside a computer. Only true solution is to take the entire thing apart and then clean the case and metal drives with a rag dampened with Formula 409 or something similar, and used compressed air on all the circuit boards/cards. If you know the person who owns it is just going to continue to chain-smoke next to it, don't bother. It's better to let them learn when the that sticky, smelly brown goo caused by dust sticking to tar particles gums up the machine and kills it by stopping the CPU/PSU fans, or killing the CD drives. I remember explaining it to quite a few chain smokers in the past, but those that are that heavily addicted aren't likely to change unless they themselves want to, much less stop smoking next to their computer.

I've had some pretty bad cases from smoke in the past....but the worst one came from a grandfather who had gotten it for his grandson, who must have really loved his wacky weed...I got a headache just being two feet near the thing for five minutes at a time. I hope I never need to fix a system like that again. Some places I worked we posted a notice that said that if your computer was bad enough to require cleaning, we would charge an extra cleaning fee to clean it in order to allow the tech. to work on it.
 
Get a couple stick-up air fresheners, and stick 'em by the exhaust fan(s). They're nice cuz they have the sticky tape on the back, so you can put 'em anywhere you want. From the sounds of it, this guy will never open his case, and will never know they're there! LOL :p
 
I feel your pain. Where I used to work we started charging a $20 non-refundable health hazard charge on any computer that was that full of cigarette smoke or dirty. We also voided warranties.

Electronics are the WORST thing to smoke near. The electrically charged components draw smoke particles in like a magnet. This will compound with normal dust and tar in the smoke to form the gawd awful crud that's now caked on everything. Hint: This PC is NOT goign to last much longer, IT WILL FAIL. I bet on it.

Windex mixed with elbow grease works quite well on the outer bezels of drives and the metal of the case. Rubbing alchohol is my favorite for cleaning the electronics. If it's really bad, WD40 followed by a bath in alcohol to remove the dirty WD40 works wonders too. The heatsink and cables can be washed in warm, soapy water, rinsed and let air dry. Throw the power supply out, you can't clean it enough to keep it running any length of time and opening it up (while many of us have probably done so) is only for the brave (see those large cylindrical objects? yeah, they hurt.....)
 
I thought about putting an activated carbon filter in front of the exaust it was so bad. lol I don't think that would impede airflow enough to hurt.

Anyway, I just recently got a BFG6800 off of ebay which a guy claimed was unopened. The card worked but I gave him a bad rating for lying. The card reeked of tar smell and had dust on the cooling fan. Dead giveaway.
 
Wasn't there a thread way way back about some guy that used to wash his parts in a dish washer?
 
i would suggest you get a bucket and fill it up with alchohol and distilled water .. dump the case in it ... let it clean itself up and then take it out ... dump the water in the toilet so you can flush it out quick ... or on someone's car if you hate them !!

Repeat until all is clean and then dry what you can and let the case air dry for a couple of days hopefully all that shit is gone ...

GOOD LUCK .. btw .. i used to live in a house where everyone smoked including me green and cigarettes... and my computer never stank it did collect dust but never had smelly issues.. neither did anyone elses .. so i dont know what this guy does .. maybe he blows the smoke on his pc or something hoping he might get some action :eek:
 
For the smell search for a product called Ozium. Canned ozone i believe, stuff works wonders here at the print shop.
 
Much like the smell of decaying flesh after someone has been left to rot for a while inside a car, the smell of cigarettes is pretty much impossible to completely get rid of. It's as if only the most unpleasant smells possible can be absorbed by anything from fabric to metal, while less offensive smells can't.

You can clean it, of course, but anything which will absorb the smell (fabrics and similar) basically has to be either thoroughly cleaned (50 cycles in the washing machine might just take the edge of it :p ), or thrown away. For other materials (plastics, metal, etc.) you just have to clean every single surface and crevice the smell could have reached, as particles will have been deposited there.

Good luck :)
 
Yea thats why I gave the guy new computer parts.
smile.gif

I couldnt get rid of the smell.
 
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