Jump to content

Cleaning cat barf out of a receiver?


Recommended Posts

Hi! I just moved. I hadn't gotten around to putting my stereo receiver on my entertainment center yet, so my wife's cat decided to barf all over inside of it.

 

its dry and should be easy enough to clean out...but I'm not exactly a great with electronics, and I worry that the caps may contain a dangerous charge.

 

any suggestions? Should I just throw it away? The cat, I mean.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, steventangent said:

Hi! I just moved. I hadn't gotten around to putting my stereo receiver on my entertainment center yet, so my wife's cat decided to barf all over inside of it.

 

its dry and should be easy enough to clean out...but I'm not exactly a great with electronics, and I worry that the caps may contain a dangerous charge.

 

any suggestions? Should I just throw it away? The cat, I mean.

If the powers been off for an hour then the caps will be fine.

The worry will be more that whatever you use to clean it has fully dried and evaporated before you put any power back on it.

If it has a reasonable value then time to get the rubber gloves and simple green out but if not well I think you know the answer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, steventangent said:

Hi! I just moved. I hadn't gotten around to putting my stereo receiver on my entertainment center yet, so my wife's cat decided to barf all over inside of it.

 

its dry and should be easy enough to clean out...but I'm not exactly a great with electronics, and I worry that the caps may contain a dangerous charge.

 

any suggestions? Should I just throw it away? The cat, I mean.

Wow, what a terrible nightmare come to life

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. I shouldn't be on the internet when I'm that sleep deprived.

 

I was just worried that, even after being unplugged for a while, it may not be safe to work on without using a shunt to discharge it. Any suggestions for products to use for cleaning vomit off of a PCB?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

Found these, apparently it's somewhat common.

 

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/my-cat-threw-up-into-my-receiver.250927/#post-6545222

 

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/cat-vomit-blows-up-yamaha-rx-471-receiver.275006/page-2#post-7352161

 

Gotta love the thread title in the second link.

Edited by vinyl addict
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I don't have any experience cleaning up cat puke other than on my carpet, but if it happened to me I'd start with an electronic cleaner and a small brush. I use MG Superwash, but some 99% ISO alcohol should do the trick if you don't want to wait on shipping (I don't know of any retailers that stock the stuff). 

 

I don't know how corrosive cat puke is, but you might need to use some DeoxIt as well. 

 

As for the caps, the only guarantee is the to use a voltmeter. If it's been turned off (and unplugged) for a long time, you should be fine, but as I said the only guarantee is to measure them with a meter. You can discharge them with a resistor across the leads. Head over to Radio Shack and find one with a low resistance and high power rating. Maybe a 50 ohm 10W? I just wouldn't go under 1W because it could get hot. You can go higher for the resistance, but it'll just take longer to discharge. 

 

All said, you still won't know that the caps are discharged unless you use a voltmeter. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist