? How to clean a set from a smoking household ?

[RobtWB]

Hello,

Recently picked up a neat looking Coronado (Gamble Skogmo) solid state b/w set.

Came from a chain smoking home. Removed cabinet, mask, knobs and gave them a bath with foaming bath cleaner. They look as new.

Now, how the heck do I clean the chassis?
A lot of old radio restorers use the dishwasher method. Anyone tried it on a solid state b/w tv? (CRT removed of course.)

Am very tempted to try the foaming bath cleaner method on the chassis.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Robert

[Eric H]

Hi Robert, While I can't promise what will happen if you do this I have put the chassis in the bathtub, sprayed it with some Simple Green or similar, brushed it clean and rinsed with warm water, I avoid power transformers where possible, especially if they have openings where water could get in and stick around.

I let it dry for a couple days and have even put the chassis in the oven on a low setting like 150 degrees for 30 minutes or so to drive out the wetness.

A solid state set probably has plastic i.f. coils and epoxy sealed capacitors and transformers and will withstand this better than an old set that has lot of paper parts.

I had a 70's solid state Zenith I took a garden hose to once as an experiment, let it dry in the hot Calif sun for a couple days and it still worked fine.

Dishwasher no, too harsh and the detergent is pretty corrosive plus you have no control over the process.

Of course as always you do this at your own risk! Oh and be sure it's unplugged when you do this.

[Philcofan42]

Originally Posted by RobtWB

Hello,

Now, how the heck do I clean the chassis?
Any suggestions?

Thanks

Robert

I work for a property restoration company and we often clean TV's and other home electronics after they have been smoked up from a fire. We use a mild solvent to clean the chassis, we displace the water with compressed nitrogen and then put the TV in a wooden crate with a dehumidifier overnight to dry. We follow-up with a night in the ozone chamber to ensure deodorization. For DIY, I'd go with the Simple Green as Eric suggested. You can rinse the chassis with pure (distilled) water as long as you're able to dry it afterwards. If you have a portable roll-around air conditioner, they double as a dehumidifer. What you really want is dry air and some kind of fan to promote evaporation. Heated air is not as important as dry air as long as you have air movement to go with it. That's the formula for drying things out.

[Phil Nelson]

If you don't want to hose it down with water, you could try rubbing alcohol and a soft toothbrush. I put some alcohol in a spray bottle and stand the chassis on its side on a newspaper, working from the top down. The alcohol evaporates without leaving a residue, and you can just let it air-dry.

I'd avoid the dishwasher, as already mentioned.

Phil Nelson

[bgadow]

I have an old Sylvania color set that looked like it came out of a bar. The spray cleaner I used was likely very similiar to Simple Green-it was harsh stuff and I didn't dilute it. It cut the dirt on contact. I didn't get too detailed with the chassis, though-I stuck to getting the metal perimeter and then used a vacuum to get rid of the dust.

[marty59]

Bug and Tar Remover works great..just use in a ventilated area and make sure no vapers/residue exist before any power ups!