Re: Can dust inside an Apple IIgs catch fire?

[Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Steven Hirsch <snhirsch@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 02/01/2013 02:04 AM, Michael J. Mahon wrote:
> 
>>  From the description of the problem, it could easily be the line noise
>> capacitor. It's connected directly across the AC line inside the power
>> supply box.
>> 
>> The definitive diagnosis is that when it goes, there is a really strong
>> odor.
> 
> That's the understatement of the year, Michael :-).  I would liken it to
> being under chemical-weapon attack.
> 
> When the line cap on one of my IIgs machines went up, I had to air out my
> office with a couple of fans for most of the day to avoid being gagged by
> the smell.  Since this was mid-January in Vermont there were other
> considerations involved as well - starting by shoveling two feet of snow
> from the basement bulkhead hatch cover.
> 
> Whatever the oily substance in those caps is, I was unable to clean it
> off the power supply case pieces with anything at my disposal.  Ended up
> tossing the entire supply.
> 
> Steve

I found that airing it out with the tainted surface exposed to the sun
helped a lot--after a week or two!

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon