Corrosion around fans

Gnome

Gnome

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Hi all

I am taking apart my NAS to clean it today and do some long overdue upgrades.

The system has been running since about 2006 with 99% on time (has had hardware changes) and noticed today that while cleaning there is a serious amount of corrosion around the fans.

The fans themselves are 100% fine. The metal of the case however has started to corrode where the air blows past :wtf:

Anyone seen that before?
 
Sea air?

Post some pics bro...kinda hard to visualise what your idea of "corrosion" is.
 
I've seen this quite a bit along the coast and specifically around the Cape. It happens especially on and alongside the air flow pathways. As for the fans, watch out, they have internal circuit boards that may not be too well any more. Dust also assists the process, seemingly retaining moisture. In the process the oxide formed (normally white) can also blow into the server if the fans are on the intake side. This results in the oxide ending up on the boards, blowing them.

Some pics of a server I've got handy:
http://prntscr.com/97qgff
http://prntscr.com/97qho3
http://prntscr.com/97qig2
http://prntscr.com/97qj42
On this server some of the white corrosion eventually ended up on the system board. End of server.

http://prntscr.com/97qkyl
http://prntscr.com/97qlpc
Vent slots and fan intake area of an external tape drive.

Inside of a fan, showing corrosion on the PCB (next to the yellow line). It resulted in a SMD fuse blowing on the system board (rather fun to replace).
http://prntscr.com/97qo89

In a similar corrosion incident, I had a flash over between the 220V fuse and other components on a PCB after corrosion settled on the board.

What you could attempt:
Get Plastispray aerosol (or like) and a good quality electronic board cleaning aerosol that dries completely, leaving no residue, from an electronics shop.
Strip. Clear all corrosion as far as possible. Use something like Deoxidine or similar to convert the corroded area.
Spray Plastispray over the corroded area. You could probably use an aerosol paint as well. (Deoxidine acts as a primer).
Clean the electronics component boards with the cleaning spray. Let it dry. Coat the boards with Plastispray.
Reassemble when everything is dry.

I've had no repeat issues with my repaired patients near the coast using this approach, even saving a few.
 
Completely normal. I don't think I've ever seen a pc in dbn without rust in the fan area.
 
Gnome said:
Hi all

I am taking apart my NAS to clean it today and do some long overdue upgrades.

The system has been running since about 2006 with 99% on time (has had hardware changes) and noticed today that while cleaning there is a serious amount of corrosion around the fans.

The fans themselves are 100% fine. The metal of the case however has started to corrode where the air blows past :wtf:

Anyone seen that before?
Click to expand...

To be frank, I'm amazed your server is still running given that you live by the coast and it sounds like you've hardly cleaned it. My PCs in Durban start developing corrosion after about 2 months if you haven't given it a proper clean. The dust is the biggest killer in this regard, wherever there is a build up of dust left alone, corrosion will occur.
 
Interesting, my corrosion is not nearly as bad as the pics above.

But yes, this server hasn't been cleaned in over 3 years.

I mean I live in Sea Point which isn't as humid as Durban but the server was standing in my garage for 2 years (and Sea Point has some epic fog that comes in every so often)

The components on the PC are pretty high quality, including the fans, so good to see that getting quality components makes a difference.

No corrosion on anything except where air blew. It does seem to correlate with how much dust accumulated.

Thanks all for responses. Having lived in Gauteng for such a long time and never having seen that, it was really interesting to see it now!

EDIT: Looks pretty much like this:
http://prntscr.com/97qkyl
http://prntscr.com/97qlpc
 
Sollie said:
What you could attempt:
Get Plastispray aerosol (or like) and a good quality electronic board cleaning aerosol that dries completely, leaving no residue, from an electronics shop.
Strip. Clear all corrosion as far as possible. Use something like Deoxidine or similar to convert the corroded area.
Spray Plastispray over the corroded area. You could probably use an aerosol paint as well. (Deoxidine acts as a primer).
Clean the electronics component boards with the cleaning spray. Let it dry. Coat the boards with Plastispray.
Reassemble when everything is dry.

I've had no repeat issues with my repaired patients near the coast using this approach, even saving a few.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. Solid advice, I'll give this a try!
 
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