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Washing True using water

M

maverick786us

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Aug 24, 2006
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Is it safe and advisable towash TRUE 120 with water? The dust mounted inside its nets is hard to get rid of?
 
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Need some soap of some sort actually, dish-washing detergent is specifically formulated to rinse off easily (the alternative is diarrhea). A "swoosh" around in a sink of soapy water and a good rinse should not hurt it a bit. Thinking about it I also do not see how running it through the dishwasher would really bother it either, lay it so the water jets hit up into the fins. Dishwasher soap tends to be a bit stronger so I would just fill the little soap dispenser 1/3 full set that sucker to "Pots and Pans" and let it rip. Should come out clean as new. These things are not overly fragile and are not coated with anything (come to think of it they are not coated with anything period) that a mild soap should harm.

If not comfortable with above, just pick up a "throwaway" paint brush from Home Depot or Lowe's etc. and use it to bush between the fins to help the dust go away.
 
Whoa wait !!! Electronic circuit ??? TRUE is just a heatpiep heatsink, ohhh noo,, take the fan off first. dont submerge the fan. Use a damp cloth to wipe dust off fan but dont dunk the fan in water. Its likely a goner if you do and do not dry it out absolutely dry and even then dont dunk the fan in water.


If you were really talking about the heatpipes , it will not hurt them a bit. Just take the fan off and hand clean the fan, the big metal sucker toss in the dishwaher. These tubes/heatpipes in the fins have no electronics in them they will be fine.

Just making sure we are on same page.
 
I wouldn't recommend the dishwasher. Salt could corrode it if not adequately rinsed, and the water jets could deform the fins.
 
I take my coolers off, remove fan, rinse with water then spray thoroughly with a household cleaner. Like Orange Clean or Clorox Greenworks general purpose cleaner. Let it sit a minute then rinse thoroughly. That usually gets all the built up crap off. Never had any issues doing this for years. Not a spot of corrosion.

Just let it dry completely before reinstalling.
 
Why go to all that trouble unless you are a smoker and have all kinds of tar buildup on the cooler?

Have you never hear of an air compressor and a spray nozzle? 90psi of air pressure goodness will clean the dust off way faster than running it through the dishwasher or cleaning it with a brush.

Even a cheap can of "canned air" will clean it off quite adequately.
 
I wouldnt wet any CPU cooler metal (that can corrode) with water unless the corrosion can easily be removed.
The cooler is reliant upon good air contact, corrosion adds a thermally resistive layer which slows heat transfer.
This is worse with certain detergents.
As pointed out above, the salts in dishwasher detergents will cause worse corrosion.

The only time it may be worthwhile is if you cannot remove surface grime and it is causing a big drop in performance.
 
Canned%20Air.JPG


This.
 
Usually compressed air won't get the dust off of heatsink fins if it is caked on. At least that is what I have found.
 
A toothbrush is very good as far as it reaches.
Artist paint brushes (ie thin) are useful for getting further in.
 
Nenu said:
I wouldnt wet any CPU cooler metal (that can corrode) with water unless the corrosion can easily be removed.
The cooler is reliant upon good air contact, corrosion adds a thermally resistive layer which slows heat transfer.
This is worse with certain detergents.
As pointed out above, the salts in dishwasher detergents will cause worse corrosion.

The only time it may be worthwhile is if you cannot remove surface grime and it is causing a big drop in performance.
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Dude, most coolers are nickel plated. It won't corrode, or certainly not in the time it's been exposed to water. At most the sink base may become discolored if it's exposed copper. In that case a little mothers will clean it right up.

It'd be in the dishwasher, what, 30 minutes? 45 at the most? It's not sitting in a tub of salt water submerged for a week. And when it's done take it out and dry it off.
 
All the aluminium finned coolers I have bought are aluminium with no nickel plating.
All those I see for sale have aluminium fins with no plating.
I dont recall ever seeing a CPU cooler with nickel plated fins.
 
Nenu said:
All my aluminium finned coolers I have owned are aluminium with no nickel plating.
All those I see for sale have aluminium fins with no plating.
i dont recall ever seeing a CPU cooler with nickel plated fins.
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Xigmatek Dark Knight, TRUE Black, just about every heat pipe in every cooler is nickel plated.

Fins on most coolers are not plated, but aluminum doesn't corrode very easily in water. You'd have to leave it in water for a substantial amount of time to do any permanent damage.
 
HydroBudz said:
Xigmatek Dark Knight, TRUE Black, just about every heat pipe in every cooler is nickel plated.
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Yes, but that has nothing to do with the price of fish.

Fins on most coolers are not plated, but aluminum doesn't corrode very easily in water. You'd have to leave it in water for a substantial amount of time to do any permanent damage.
Click to expand...
The discussion is about the use of detergents as well.
 
Wash it in distilled water and a little bit of detergent. Rinse with distilled water. Dry completely with air blasts. Putting it in your dishwashers heated part of the dry cycle would do nicely.

If you look at the chemical kinetics of corrosion it does not happen in a half hour. Especially using distilled water will eliminate any deposits of minerals.

EDIT: detergents do not speed up corrosion. Detergents are made up of surfactants which are long carbon chains with a polar group at one and a terminating carbon group at the other. If you're worried about corrosion so much then make the solution basic (ie pH above 7).
 
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Why not just wash it with alcohol? Its not exactly expensive. I used to wash my "glassware" with Everclear....amazing what kind of sticky residue it can get off :)
 
Put some isopropol alcohol in a plastic bag.

Insert Heatsink.

Shake.

Rub residue off with rag.

Let dry.
 
damnathan said:
Why not just wash it with alcohol? Its not exactly expensive. I used to wash my "glassware" with Everclear....amazing what kind of sticky residue it can get off :)
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yes it even removes the smoke off the water.... I remember those days
 
I highly doubt uptting it in the top rack would damage the fins from water pressure anyways. The dishwasher actually sounds like a good idea. Might dry without spotting :)
 
Enigma said:
yes it even removes the smoke off the water.... I remember those days
Click to expand...

Also I found that ArctiClean is AMAZING if you ever get anything black, tar-like, and sticky on your counter....or removing tape residue off washers after you peel of the huge sticker. That stuff removes an amazing amount of things without having to inhale nasty fumes. I've found tons of household uses for it in cleanup.
 
This is me cleaning my TRUE :D

fire_attack1.jpg


Worked pretty good except it took me a while to find it and it was totally disfigured :(
 
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