Amiga 2000 problem

[James1095]

I've washed a lot of electronics in dishwashers over the years, including complete CRT monitors when they were really nasty and have had few issues although it's best to remove the flyback and/or focus divider if that is attempted. Electronics that have come from heavy smokers are nasty and going through the dishwasher removes most of the sticky disgusting nicotine/dust sludge that makes them really unpleasant to work on. When boards are manufactured they are washed in a similar process to clean off the soldering flux and other debris. That said, you have to know what you're doing, some parts like potentiometers and switches are not sealed and do not tolerate such aggressive washing well, and dishwashing detergent is quite alkaline and can cause corrosion if it becomes trapped so I use only a very small amount.

For high value vintage stuff like Amiga parts I recommend hand washing in a sink, use a small amount of liquid dish soap and a toothbrush or similar to gently scrub the nooks and crannies. If the water in your area has minerals in it I recommend rinsing with distilled water or isopropyl alcohol. After washing, allow it to dry thoroughly, I use compressed air to blow all the water out of spaces under chips where it likes to become trapped, then I set the board over a heat vent for several days to allow it to thoroughly dry before powering it up.

[James1095]

I really wouldn't worry about it too much. Over the years I've washed literally hundreds of PCBs in the dishwasher. A couple of times I had some of the solder mask flake off but I can't think of a single instance where a component failure occurred. This was monitor chassis's, 80s motherboards, arcade game logic boards, expansion cards, you name it, when I was repairing this stuff pretty frequently it was nearly standard procedure to wash the stuff before I started working on it once I had done the initial checkout. As long as you get it thoroughly dried out I would be seriously shocked if any parts were damaged by the washing.

[James1095]

For the most part water does not hurt electronics, as long as they are dried out before power is applied. Most components are sealed, the only thing you have to watch out for are things like switches and pots where water can get in and it's hard to get it out. Like I said, I did it for years, I for a while I was repairing a lot of monitors and boards that had been exposed to cigarette smoke or machine shop coolant vapor. The stuff is nasty, leaves a sticky film all over everything. Normally I ran them through the dishwasher before I worked on them, made it so much more pleasant. Literally hundreds of boards, it worked for me, but YMMV. In retrospect the potential for lead contamination of the dishes is a somewhat of a concern but that's in the past. Now I wash in the sink with a toothbrush when needed, it's easier to protect the labels and keep water out of sensitive parts without removing them. Final rinse with isopropyl alcohol makes it dry out much quicker.