Ordered a bottle of "500ml IPA Isopropyl Alcohol 99% pure" to clean my screens

Phil2008

Phil2008

Phil2008

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A mate of mine recommended me to buy this because its as good as the proper screen cleaning sprays accept you get more for less this way apparently.

Ive browsed the net and it says for lcd screen cleaning, mix it with 50% water, but not tap water as it leaves streaks. So do any of you guys use this "IPA Isopropyl Alcohol 99% pure" and if so, how do you clean your screens with it?

Im thinking about buying a small spray bottle aswel:confused:
 
I bought a bottle of this several months back, never got around to using it due to it saying to wear gloves and to use it outside...

Safety said:
Isopropyl alcohol vapor is denser than air and is flammable with a combustible range between 2 and 12.7% in air. It should be kept away from heat and open flame. Isopropyl alcohol has also been reported to form peroxides, which may explode upon concentration. Isopropyl alcohol is a skin irritant.
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Toxicology said:
Isopropyl alcohol and its metabolite, acetone, act as central nervous system (CNS) depressants. Symptoms of isopropyl alcohol poisoning include flushing, headache, dizziness, CNS depression, nausea, vomiting, anesthesia, and coma. Poisoning can occur from ingestion, inhalation, or absorption; therefore, well-ventilated areas and protective gloves are recommended. Around 15 g of isopropyl alcohol can have a toxic effect on a 70 kg human if left untreated. However, it is not nearly as toxic as methanol or ethylene glycol. Isopropyl alcohol does not cause an anion gap acidosis (in which a lowered blood serum pH causes depletion of bicarbonate anion) unlike ethanol and methanol. Isopropyl alcohol does however, produce an osmolal gap between the calculated and measured osmolalities of serum, as do the other alcohols. Overdoses may cause a fruity odor on the breath as a result of its metabolism to acetone, which is further metabolized to produce the nutrients acetate and glucose. Isopropyl alcohol is oxidized to form acetone by alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver.
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Im not a expert but i imagine 99% pure would be quite strong on the finish of the screen without other factors put into place. if it has any type of coating ect(especially apple monitors with there fancy coatings and such) you could possibly cause lasting damage to the surface of the monitor

In my case i like to use deionized water and isopropyl alcohol with about 50-60% being the deionized water.

i put the mix into a small spray bottle (again make sure its clean from any previous chemicals as they may be damaging to the screen.

I then like to spray a couple of squirts onto a small microfiber cloth (the one people get with there glasses) (i use this because i see a lot of people using tissues or rags and getting the screen scratched and the last thing we want on our screens is lovely hair line scratches.)

with the slightly damped cloth i gently wipe the screen from top to bottom (i also like to turn the screen off at this point a lot of people clean it with the screen still on but having it pure black is very handy for spotting certain blemishes)

by the time the entire monitor has been cleaned there should be none of the cleaning substance left. however if there is i would take a dry microfiber cloth and again gently wipe the effected areas(but there wont be any, so don't worry :D).

this is how i clean my lcd screen

If you would like i can take a couple of pics of my screen after its been cleaned (using a matte finish screen so the mix ratio is a little different but same technique and outcome
 
Yeah,, it would need to be watered right down so it doesn't damage the coating on the screen.

But it seems very strong stuff if you need to wear gloves, plus will watering it down be enough?
 
Yeah it is strong stuff, that's why i usually go for more than the usual put 40-50% in. On my matte i use 80% water

with around 60% water i used on my lcd i never had any problems with the finish of the screen over a duration of say 2 years

but deffinately don't go pouring it straight onto the screen, that's why i only use a couple of small sprays aswell to minimize the amount of chems that go on the screen

i mean you could even do what i did when i first started using the liquids with my own mix ratios


start with say 90% water? and just a tad of the alcohol different marks on the monitor are going to need a lot less alcohol to help remove them, along as your not trying to feed the monitor burgers and using it as a cat bed i would bet that 10-20%alco would easily remove 99% of stains, the waters going to do no harm at all. just see what bare minimum works for you

Sorry im not a great writer
 
Thanks Harry,, Ive always used just water and microfiber cloths on my pc monitors and Ive had no probs, but this monitor Ive got now is a real bugger to clean for some reason as it always leaves streaks and I hate cleaning it, cos it takes forever. So Im hopeing this will make things easier.
 
Phil2008 said:
Thanks Harry,, Ive always used just water and microfiber cloths on my pc monitors and Ive had no probs, but this monitor Ive got now is a real bugger to clean for some reason as it always leaves streaks and I hate cleaning it, cos it takes forever. So Im hopeing this will make things easier.
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What is your monitor, out of interest? Generally diluted IPA will be fine to use as a cleaning solvent on matte surfaces or bare glass. It can erode the anti-reflective coatings used on some glossy screens, though, so be careful.
 
PCM2 said:
What is your monitor, out of interest? Generally diluted IPA will be fine to use as a cleaning solvent on matte surfaces or bare glass. It can erode the anti-reflective coatings used on some glossy screens, though, so be careful.
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Its the Hanns.G 27.5" 1920x1200 LCD (HZ281)
 
V F said:
I bought a bottle of this several months back, never got around to using it due to it saying to wear gloves and to use it outside...
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Thats a bit overkill. I've been using this stuff for years to clean TIM off Xbox, PS3 or PC CPU's. Never have I wore gloves or been outside when using IPA and my hands haven't burnt off and I haven't been poisoned either. I've even smoked in the same room I was working in and the house never exploded. As long as you are sensible and dont drink the stuff, it's fine to use.
 
I have received the cleaner today, and I am going to get some distilled water tomorrow and do a 50/50 mixture in my 100ml spray bottle I have. Hopefully it will work a treat.

1 question tho, would you guys use it on a glossy laptop screen as Ive got a laptop with a glossy/glass sort of screen?
 
I just use iKlear as sold by Apple. Got a bottle with two microfibres about 4 years ago and have only got through half the bottle so far. Excellent cleaning, safe on LCDs/Monitors and can be used on the external parts - e.g. Macbook/pro case to bring them back to a factory finish too.

Why bother messing up your finish with home made dilutions, its not worth the risk.
 
Well I got the water today, and mixed it 50/50 of it in my 100ml spray bottle and tried it out on my monitor. It still takes some cleaning to get rid of the smears, but now I can get rid of them all.. I hope it will get easier the more times I use this on my screen?

Ive never had a monitor worse then this to clean tho, its awful.
 
churchhawk said:
should have just got a cheap lcd cleaner from the auction site. Mixing it is too much hassle.
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But you get a lot more for your money and thats the only reason Im doing it this way. Plus the tiny bottles of screen cleaner you pay £3+ for is only water and alcohol mixed anyway?

Ive spent about £10 in total for water, alcohol and 100ml spray bottle and I should be able to fill my bottle up 10 times before I run out. So it should last well over a year.
 
Ok guys, I risked it on my laptop as its quite old and I dont get it as it has seemed to of gotten in between the lcd, as the 3 of the 4 corners are blotchy.

This is what I dont get, If this IPA Isopropyl Alcohol get get inbetween the lcd, why cant water, as Ive cleaned it memy, meny times with water? But saying that, it could have been like that before, as I havent used the laptop in ages and I guess it could have gotten damp somehow. Ive used it on my tv, monitor and the plastic casings, and no damage at all with them.. Ummmmmm
 
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You can get it at your chemist. I use it for removing thermal paste, hadn't thought about screen cleaning as I think it would be too harsh.
 
HAMA LCD cleaning gel with the glove aint bad.Ive used a few and most apart from the Hama gel smeared.

The best thing ive found and im OCD on my cleaning is baby wipes or house wipe like flash soaked in water and then rinsed and squeezed by hand for a while to get rid of everything that is a chemical.

The end result is a great little wipe with nothing but water but it will smear sometimes also so as someone said i use one of those lint free cloths that you get for your glasses to polish the screen.
 
Yeah water and fibre cloths has served me well for years with other screens Ive had in the past, but this screen I have now is much worse to clean for some reason.

Oh yeah apparently my mum noticed those marks on my laptop scree a few days ago,, so I have no idea what happened there?
 
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