So I thought I'd found a great bargain on a Noctua cooler on eBay, almost 50% off new price.. the only problem being that once I received it both the heatsink and fan stink to high heaven of stale smoke! I gave it a scrub and lots of compressed air to try and dislodge the dust and 'grease' but besides the smell there is still a noticeable brown hue to the heatsink where normally it'd be silver. Does anyone know if this will affect cooling performance/spread the smell once the fan is up and running?
Smoking & CPU cooler performance..
- Thread starter risso
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 3 Feb 2012
- Posts
- 2,272
- Location
- Bath
Suggestion: buy a couple of bottles of Sainsbury's green own-brand multi-surface cleaner, dump it into a tub and soak the heatsink in it overnight.
I had to clean my pub after the smoke-ban came in (archetraves, skirting etc), and that stuff just melted the stains right away.
It's full name is Antibacterial Total cleaning spray, comes in 500ml bottle. One would probably do it. It melts ciggy tar with ease.
I had to clean my pub after the smoke-ban came in (archetraves, skirting etc), and that stuff just melted the stains right away.
It's full name is Antibacterial Total cleaning spray, comes in 500ml bottle. One would probably do it. It melts ciggy tar with ease.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 12 Jul 2005
- Posts
- 21,492
- Location
- Aberlour, NE Scotland
To be honest I would have sent that straight back without even installing it. That's a disgusting state to receieve something in.
Exactly which Noctua did you get?
For me returning it would depend on what I could get another one for. Cleaning the cooler is easy part. Cleaing smoke film off / out of the fan/s is the real challange.
I've had good luck using dish washing machine detergent. It has very high concentrates of cleaners specifically designed to remove greases and oils. I've even done it in dish washer.
It’s the Noctua NH-U12S, I could return it but for the sake of £20 I’d rather try and clean it up. The fan isn’t that bad, I left it out in the sunshine for a couple days and the smell seems to have improved plus it wasn’t really greasy to begin with. The cooler is another matter though! Do you just dunk it in a bowl of detergent? How do you dry it afterwards? I thought the dishwasher would be a nono since everywhere seems to suggest that heatsinks and water don’t mix?Exactly which Noctua did you get?
For me returning it would depend on what I could get another one for. Cleaning the cooler is easy part. Cleaing smoke film off / out of the fan/s is the real challange.
I've had good luck using dish washing machine detergent. It has very high concentrates of cleaners specifically designed to remove greases and oils. I've even done it in dish washer.
Will be a good cooler once it's cleaned up.
I use automatic dishwashing machine detergent and hot water in a tub / bowl just big enough to fit cooler and have it completely covered. Let it soak for awhile, then take cooler out of solution and look at it. It should be clean.
You could just use an automatic dish washer, but if cooler is really bad it will stink up house and dishwasher, so I suggest doing above first, then maybe run in dishwasher.
You could do the same with fan and dry it well in sunlight before trying to run it. Key is making sure motor is dry so it doen't short when powered up.
I have currently NH-U12S and that NF-F12 fan isn't worth of much cleaning efforts.
It's acoustically rather crappy design with very restless sound signature.
And with horrible vibration level was no better in that from NF-P12 bundled with preceeding NH-U12P, which at least was acoustically decent good.
(both fans never went to cooler)
Arctic P12 should be very good fan for the price.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-p12-black-case-fan-120mm-fg-04g-ar.html
Heatsink itself is pretty durable and you can try washing it with pretty much anything you would feel comfortable sticking your own hands into.
It's stronger reagents which could start damaging aluminium fins.
Though if left damp for long duration that could start causing some corrosion.
So after washing put it somewhere with good warm airflow.
Using compressed air to blow most water out from fins would be good start for speeding up drying.
Thanks so much guys, I put it in the dishwasher and it's come out looking great with 90% of the smell gone (only noticeable if you get close up). I'll check out that fan too EsaT, this cooler will be going in a build for someone else so I'm sure they'll appreciate having something other than a Noctua fan for the aesthetics 
Kitchen equipment can be useful with PCs.
Oven is another useful.
Jeez, that brings back memories - I haven't used an oven to reflow a graphics cards in years. Certainly don't miss the smell. Would always be amazed, once reassembled, when/if it worked...
Made unlocking the L1 bridge on the T'bird with my conductive pen (I snubbed the pencil) seem so boring...