I picked up a few computers from a friend at work, a B&W G3 and a couple of powermac 6100's, that reak of smoke. I knew he was a smoker, but I did not dream of how years of smoke can permeate a computer. I washed the plastic cases and cleaned the insides, but they still reak. Anyone have any tricks or procedures for "decontaminating" these machines. I have them out in the garage right now, untill I can find a solution. I just wanted the B&W for spare parts, but he made me take the others as well.
I had that problem once. I took a 'beige' computer from someone that was upgrading... And two hours, a bottle of rubbing alchohol and several rags later, the case was white!
rubbing alchohol does a good job of getting rid of the smell. Still took forever, i use it on everything, even the motherboard. I replaced the psu and the fans. I could not get out of them.
Try that if you havent already.
I will have to give the rubbing alcohol a try.
I was also thinking of using the rustoleum plastic spray paint and painting the cases black in hopes of sealing it all in. The big problem will be the power supply, as you said, since it would just blow out more smoke smell.
The power macs must not be very useful anymore, as I can find none for sale on ebay. I hate to just junk them, but I do not have any use for them.
Thanks for the tip
I once moved into a rental house where the previous owner had smoked like a chimney for years on end.
We literally cleaned everything. The wood floors, the walls, the cabinets, everything. There was litterally tar and smoke residue dripping down the walls when we cleaned.
Anyway, the stuff we used was called OdoBan and we picked it up in a gallon jug at Sams Club. It worked amazingly well. It got rid of the smoke smell, and after we rubbed everything down with it, we then cleaned it all with a mild soap to remove any residue. After all that, the place was basically livable.
So, to make a long story short, there are professional products for ridding things of odor like that, and I'd definitely recommend OdoBan. I'm not sure what's in it, and I guess there's always the possibility that it will discolor the case, but it should definitely get rid of the smell from the plastic in any case...