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225 points Hooke | 12 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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nvader ◴[] No.43550901[source]
I didn't find this in the article, so:

You can "recharge" silical gel by baking in the oven at 120 C for a couple of hours. If you do, be careful to remove the casing before you do, unless it is heat safe.

I have a small collection of oven safe dessicant packs that I keep on hand for emergency drying electronics.

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Workaccount2 ◴[] No.43552545[source]
You are better off soaking the wet electronics in isopropyl alcohol then trying to dry them in a bag full of desiccant.

One of the things that kills wet electronics is the dried residue that is left behind, creating shorts. Alcohol will wash away the water and leave no residue after it dries.

If the device has ink or glue you'd like to try to preserve, deionized water will mostly work too.

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hilbert42 ◴[] No.43554940[source]
"You are better off soaking the wet electronics in isopropyl alcohol."

Where I am ethanol (EtOH-95%, H2O-5%) is much cheaper and much more readily available and works almost as well. If silica gel is not available, then a fan works well followed by a warm (not hot) oven baking. Make sure the alcohol has essentially all evaporated first.

Keep in mind that some components can be affected by both EtOH and propan-2-ol — component markings, coil doping resins can dissolve, etc. Both alcohols are also good at removing solder flux resins/residues. (Oh for the days when freon and freon mixtures were available, component damage never happened.)

Devices with power transformers pose special problems, best to dry with alcohol first (hoping enamel coatings on wire aren't softened), then bake in oven on warm heat for a long while, sometimes 24 hours or more is necessary. With transformers it's important that this is done as soon as possible after wetting.

Edit: as I'm reminded by nyanpasu64 keep both alcohols away from LCD screens (likely all screens). I had a netbook PC and put it in a carry bag with a bottle of EtOH and it leaked. The PC still worked but the screen suffered the same outcome.

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1. SirHumphrey ◴[] No.43555022[source]
That may be country specific, but at least where I live, ethanol is much more expensive than isopropyl alcohol (30€/l vs 10€/l) - mostly because of dues on ethanol.
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2. hilbert42 ◴[] No.43555103[source]
Right, if you live where duty is applied to ethanol then it's expensive. In Australia, where I am ethanol is available as a denatured product. That is, it includes a very small amount (much less than 1%) of denatonium (aka Bitrex) which renders it undrinkable (it's the bitterest substance known). As such, excise tax is not levied.

Here, one liter bottles of denatured ethanol are available in every supermarket everywhere, and up to 20 liters available in hardware stores (at bulk rates it's even cheaper).

For comparison, here denatured ethanol costs about $5/l [in US dollars] versus isopropyl at between $25 and $30/l.

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3. DebtDeflation ◴[] No.43555319[source]
In the United States, if you buy "Denatured Alcohol" at a big box store, it will be a toxic brew of often 50-60% methanol as well as smaller amounts of MEK, MIBK, and even acetone in addition to the ethanol. However, you can order "Specially Denatured Alcohol (SDA)" from various chemical suppliers or even Amazon. "SDA 40B 200" will be 99.5% ethanol with 0.1% tert-butyl alcohol and 0.0005% denatonium benzoate. It's what I use for camp stove fuel since I refuse to carry methanol in my pack with food.
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4. hilbert42 ◴[] No.43555389{3}[source]
I understand the problem with purchasing EtOH in the US. Frankly, I consider adding MeOH, MEK, etc. to denature it as both dangerous and an archaic procedure. (Moreover, outside lab reagents, MeOH should never exist without denatonium, it's just too dangerous.)

Some people will drink EtOH whether it's denatured with MeOH, etc. or with the much safer denatonium. Why blind or kill these people when one doesn't need to? Sure, EtOH will likely get them anyway but why should the State be their executioner?

There's something awfully wrong with that I reckon.

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5. gpderetta ◴[] No.43555398[source]
Isn't the ethanol denatured? There's a duty on that as well?
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6. hilbert42 ◴[] No.43555468[source]
It is, with denatonium hence no excise tax.
7. InDubioProRubio ◴[] No.43556068{4}[source]
Puritan wrath, a nice mixture of hatred of ones own ant-existance and hatred on others not participating the labour camp race to the bottom, thats why?
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8. 1oooqooq ◴[] No.43556375{4}[source]
it's cheaper and the free market is regulating itself as god intended.
9. 0_____0 ◴[] No.43556869{5}[source]
Typically I would dismiss this as a bit overwrought but I came back from overseas last week and promptly was forced to drive in Boston, an activity that both takes place in the heart of US puritanism and perfectly encapsulates something that is frustrating in a way that could only happen in a place where "it's shit, it's supposed to be shit, and if you don't like it, there's the door" is a core principle.
10. hilbert42 ◴[] No.43557771{5}[source]
Right, I was being polite, my question was rhetorical.
11. ◴[] No.43558487{4}[source]
12. AStonesThrow ◴[] No.43578853{3}[source]
I had a recent adventure attempting to replenish my Food Grade 35% Hydrogen Peroxide.

Amazon wouldn't even ship the stuff here. I'm coming to realize that any truly potent or powerful substance is strictly off-limits in consumer spaces. Plenty of good reasons for that. But such things as pure isopropyl and pure H2O2 are so versatile and tantalizing to have on-hand, rather than household cleaners with proprietary formulas, as much dilution as possible, unique MSDS, and obnoxious fake fragrance.

I can walk down an entire aisle in the hardware store, chockablock with bottles of household cleaners, and they all amount to 2 or 3 active ingredients, endlessly remixed for credulous homemakers.