People who think that are what water should be to be effective. Dewey -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Barmuta, Mike Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 10:42 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] water as a solvent Hi Ed: I agree with you. Who in the heck said water is the best solvent for cleaning PCB's? It's recognized as a "universal" solvent because it has the ability to solvate so many elements, compounds and mixtures. It is a great decontamination agent on polar/hydrophilic materials. However it is a terrible solvent when trying to remove non-polar/hydrophobic residues. Obviously it requires a saponifier if you want to remove these types of soils. Perhaps this is what they meant. Regards Michael Barmuta Staff Engineer Fluke Corp. Everett WA 425-446-6076 -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Edward Mines Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 9:31 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] water as a solvent I have to disagree with the assertion that water is the best solvent for cleaning PC boards. It may be good for many (or even most no clean fluxes) but water alone will not touch various greases and oils including finger prints. Have you ever tried to clean you hands with water alone after changing the oil in your car? I don't know the legal consequences of using traditional vapor cleaning equipment or the current availability of effective vapor cleaning solvents, but I do know that vapor cleaning with trichlor was very effective when it was the industry standard. Other solvents will work too. It is important to remove all oily residues (finger prints, mold release agents etc) from PC boards prior to conformal coating - otherwise incomplete coverage can take place. Both MIL-I-46058 & IPC-CC-830 state that conformal coatings should be free from voids, skips and other breaks in the coating. Ed Mines --------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com. Check it out. This message (including any attachments) contains confidential and/or proprietary information intended only for the addressee. Any unauthorized disclosure, copying, distribution or reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may constitute a violation of law. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by responding to this e-mail, and delete the message from your system. If you have any questions about this e-mail please notify the sender --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- immediately. --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------