6 Apr
2011
6 Apr
'11
2:06 p.m.
On Wed, 6 Apr 2011, Pete Turnbull wrote:
Ah, that's correct. I had the two crossed-up. Trichlor is completely
banned for consumer uses, AFAIK. Perc is not something I want to come
into contact with either.
The only good thing I can say about trichlor is that it actually removed
flux. The alcohol based cleaners are a bad joke.
Steve
--
On 06/04/2011 13:11, Steven Hirsch wrote:
Interesting. I'll give it a try, then.
The only place I've seen this is in the form
of "Rubbing Alcohol" which
tends to be 65-70% concentration. Is that sufficient and/or safe to use on
electronic parts? Can anyone in the states recommend a good source for
larger (e.g. gallon) quantities of 99% propanol?
It might be good enough, but "rubbing alcohol" can be many things, many of
which are not isopropanol. 99% isopropanol won't stay 99% for very long
unless very carefully stored; it slowly absorbs water from air and ends up
about 90%. Others have
recommended Perc. Unless I'm confusing that with something
similar-sounding, it's seriously nasty stuff. Back when flux remover
actually worked, it was perc based. The EPA has clamped down on the use of
perc, although I think it's still a component of "dry" cleaning.
Over here (UK) all the common flux removers we used to use were based on
1-1-1-TCE (trichloroethane). Not quite as horrible as PERC
(tetrachloroethylene) in many ways but now banned, while (to my slight
surprise) PERC isn't.