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Cleansing Hardware Of Dead Pig Odors?
Chagatai writes "My company is one of America's largest beef and pork producers. Recently I took a trip to see a new computer room that had been built at one of our abbatoirs. While the new environment is nice and sanitary, the old computer room had air intakes that were adjacent to the rendering portion of the plant, and everything smells in an almost unholy way. Management is curious if there are any cleaning agents or means of deodorizing this equipment before moving it into the nice, new office. The only products I could find would clean the outside of the hardware, but the internals would still possess the lovely aroma of boiled dead pig parts. Of course, this is a race against time, as I am sure someone will inevitably squirt Pine-Sol into the system to try to make things better. Does anyone have any recommendations to remove the effluvium of post-mortem porcine matter from our machines?"
This has worked for me many times before, and I can vouch for it, but the obvious disclaimer is that there are a number of reasons why it's a bad idea, as I'm sure any replies to the post will inevitably explain. But it's worked for me before.
Power down all your machines and unplug them. Set up adequate ventilation (I use several cheap desk fans). Wipe down your hardware with rubbing alcohol using a lint-free cloth or a few old t-shirts; don't worry about your own, buy a big bag of them at Goodwill.
When you get tired of that, or you pass out from the fumes, just pour it in. Yes, I'm serious, you'll want to trickle it over the green hardware and get everything generally soaking. (Not the power supply or hard drive, just PCBs and the like. This is already a dumbass idea, so you don't want to be much more stupid about it.) Then leave, otherwise you'll probably pass out.
I discovered this trick while given the task of cleaning a friend's laptop. He smokes, a lot, and had quit and didn't want the smell. He also had sticky keys from God knows what, so I honestly just said "fuck it" and turned the laptop on its side, open, and poured rubbing alcohol into the ports, taking care not to let it get near the screen, which rubbing alcohol can damage. Using a lot of it allows the liquid to remove dust as it flows by. The excess flowed out the other side and into a few paper towels.
Rubbing alcohol is a great solvent and evaporates quickly, so the ventilation is more for the computers, not you. Make sure the insides are aired out before powering up, or you may find yourself battling a quick-burning alcohol fire.
Have fun!
This is one of the best ways to remove stuff down to the molecular level, and involves no chemicals.
It truly is "the hot setup" ( pun intended ).
Google "vapor cleaning" for more info.
There are activated carbon pellets that are designed to absorb odors. They do a pretty nice job of it.
I suggest cleaning up the equippement as best you can and then placing a few of these in or around the offending hardware.
You can't take the sky from me...
I'd suggest turning the 'puter off, laying the case on its side and pouring in a box of baking soda for a few days. Dump out the baking soda a few days later and blow out the residue, and your computer should smell remarkably "less bad." Mixing a little alum with the baking soda can't hurt, either.
The smell of a rendering plant will be hard to remove, but this is how I remove the "beef scent" from tallow when I'm making soap.
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
this happened when I bought a computer owned by a smoker. I could smell the smoke/nicotine or whatever it was the first day I had it in the house. I used a mixture of sulfur + salt + tabasco sauce + lighter fluid. Apply it with a lint free cloth, rub gently... works nice even on the motherboards. Give it a shot and see what happens.
Skype Me! username: john_allen_mohammed
An ozone generator like those from Alpine Air will remove odors and not damage the components.
By curious coincidence, I too am working (as a contractor) for one of the nations largest meat packing companies... and the rendering plants are just amazingly stinky!
hope this helps
This sig kills fascists.
What you need is an ozone generator. Park the equipment and the generator in a closed room for a few days, or weeks. Most ozone generators are built from a short-wavelength ultraviolet lamp in a box, sometimes with a fan. (Don't confuse ozone generators with negative ion generators. Ozone causes permanent lung damage, over time. Ozone generators also produce ions, but so what?.) The ozone will oxidize the aromatic organic molecules, over time.
If it's not too much hard work, then take them apart and wash them, hot soapy water should do, perhaps with a mild bleach.
As long as all the parts are *throughly* dry before reassemble, the water is no danger.
Once watched a sun engineer do it to an IPC after a colleague spilt hot chocolate into it...
Isopropyl alcohol does not damage the hardware at all and is a great solvent. I use it to clean everything from fans to NICs. Just let the hardware soak for a few hours and *boom* just like new. Just make sure it's comply dry before you use it.
If you are going to use rubbing alcohol, REMOVE THE HARD DRIVES FIRST, then soak everything in isopropyl alcohol. At least you'll have access to the data if the computers die from the deep cleansing process. You could gently rub the surface of the hard drives with isopropyl alcohol too, just be careful not to let too much alcohol get on to the hard drive.
On the other hand wouldn't it be interesting if nobody too the bait, and everybody made only Interesting and Informative answers.
There was one, but it got moderated "Troll".
For organics (blood, fat) your best bet is an enzyme detergent (e.g. http://www.deconlabs.com/skincare/enzyte.htm). That will deal with anything on the surface. You'll then have to wash the computer down with alcohol (just a bottle of the spray cleaner) near any sockets/connectors or the water and residue left over will cause problems.
I D=10). That will contain any volatiles and save you from having to replace the plastics. Obviously you can't shellac the entire thing, but doing the main panels will help.
Chances are that not much has actually penetrated the plastics. If it has, then use a shellac based sealer (e.g. http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?Product
You'll probably have to replace the fans -- the lubricating oil holds the smells and there isn't much you can do about it, except to try and flush it away with more oil.
Beyond that... you could try adding a charcoal filter to the cooling system to deal with the remaining odours, but I've never done it.
Relatively high concentrations of ozone are remarkably effective at removing terrible odors from electronics. To make a long story short, our home was destroyed by toxic mold a few years ago. In the process of assessing the extent of damage, we tried everything possible to remove the stench from our goods. One thing we tried was ozone. After a week or so in a room full of rather high concentration (enough that you couldn't breathe it comfortably and it burns your eyes), things smelled fine -- for awhile. Unfortunately, it didn't kill all the mold, so it grew right back. Since your odors are a bit less tenacious than fungal mycotoxins, and since yours can't grow back spontaneously, I would bet ozone will fix the problem. Try contacting a local indoor air quality remediation company for rental of commecial ozone generators. If your handy with high voltage electronics, you can build an even better one yourself on the cheap (the technique is quite obvious to any high voltage experimentor). That's what I did. A small ozone generator left in the computer room indefinitely will also help neutralize any odors that remain. Good luck!
I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
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Season 1 - Episode 7 - Stinky Car
More details here:
http://www.mythbustersfanclub.com/html/sti
They did clean it up, there are some companies that use special cleaners (don't know how abrasive they would be) to clean organic decaying material.
Ozone eats certain rubber parts in your computer.
A friend of mine was having CD-ROM drives die every two or three _months_. Seems that his consumer ionizer was putting out enough ozone to eat the belts away. He stopped using the ionizer, and the problem went away.
My guess is that ozone would also kill off hard drive gasket seals and even certain types of insulation material.
Bad idea. Don't go here.
O3 will eat and destroy plasics and is 1000% stronger then clorine for a disinfectent...I work with water treatment and it eats and destroys certin plastics and metals
Not a good choce for this espesaly electronics.
O3 will eat and destroy plasics and is 1000% stronger then clorine for a disinfectent...I work with water treatment and it eats and destroys certin plastics and metals Not a good choce for this espesaly electronics.
use gamma hydroxy butrate, or GBL, its a hydroscopic solution used for cleaning greebboards and such.
The charcoal wont clean the inside odor but you can put a charcoal filter on the intake vant of the computer room and it'll filter out any odor coming in. Also you could build small charcoal containers and put them infront of the computers exhaust fan which will filter out the smell. Anhter solution which im not sure how it will react with electronics is to put all the smelly items into a empty room and run an ozone generator in there. Ozoe will get rid of any smell there is but make sure no one is in hte room as the ozone will kill anything living. If you want the best charcoal filters get them from a company called Green Planet Hydroponics www.mygreenplanet.com They have access to some of the best charcoal for air filtration
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
The few times I've had to "disinfect" computers and other electronics with "creative" fragrances, I've used pure (reagant grade) ethyl alcohol [in a well ventilated and grounded work space] with solvent resistant gloves, an ultrasonic bath of coating safe electronics cleaner, tupperware dishes and miscellaneous hand tools (brushes, ball peen hammer, cold chisels, etc).. Ball peen hammers are very useful for removing encrustations and cooked on stuff.. You don't wanna know. Trust me.
If you can replace the cases, do so. If not, dissasemble, remove power supplies, remove encrustations, and wash with bleach and hot water, then surgical soap and water.
Standard floppy drives are replaceable. Too much of a hassle to clean.
Harddrives are basically going to have to be removed, wiped with alcohol wipes, and then wiped down with some odor-neutralizing spray. Replace the drives after you get complete backups if any have errors.
Powersupplies, if not replaceable, should be discharged (those caps can kill), blown out with compressed air, and then wiped down with alcohol wipes.
CRT Monitors are going to be a bitch to clean. Replace if you can. If you can't replace, discharge all the capacitors, coils and the tube. Blow out with compressed air. Wipe down any sealed board level components and sealed surfaces with alcohol wipes. Don't get anything on any coils. Allow everything to air for 24 hrs before reassembly.
LCD monitors should be disassembled, their cases washed with alcohol. Spritz down the electronics with coating-safe board cleaner. Use monitor-wipes on the LCD itself.
Cables can either washed by hand, in a dishwasher (NOT HOT WATER! Max temp about 80F) or replaced. Replacement is easier.
Keyboards, if replacements are not available, should have all batteries removed, large encrustatios removed by hand (use gloves!), blown out with compressed air, and be run through a dishwasher, again with no hot water, or washed with large amounts of alcohol. Allow to drain for at least 24 hrs (alcohol) or 48 hrs (water) under a fan before reusing.
Boards: Remove any major encrustations of hardened tiss.. err.. organic matter by shaking, scraping, or chiseling. Soak in ethyl alcohol to loosen clotted material (in my case, literally.. again, don't ask) enough to brush/wipe most of it off. Immerse in electronics cleaner in ultrasonic bath on low. Board comes looking almost brand new. Allow to dry under a fan for several ours. Test, and reinstall.
Replace all fans and filters if possible (easier than cleaning the damn things). Reassemble. Before closing the case, hang a couple of those pine-tree shaped air fresheners in the case.
There are also a lot of forensic clean-up information websites out there.. Google is your friend. Hope this helps..
ACL Staticide is the stuff you're looking for. It is just as good as isopropyl as a solvent but is also an antistat... computer shops use it to clean computers (we use #1010 where I work). If you have any left over, you can mop your floors/clean your carpets with it to make them static-free.
And it's even cheap!
My email is real.
Borax, when it comes to external plastics. Either a soak in a standard laundry dilution, or a 'scrubbing' with a damp sponge and the granules as cleanser. It's the best thing I've found for removing cigarette tar and other yellowings from white/beige casings; Pine-Sol or equivalents tend to leave sticky residues, alcohols don't dissolve everything, and bleach will tend to yellow stuff on its own.
... on through to my personal favorite: a hosing-down with WD-40, which will probably lift any lipid gunk right off, though you'll have to let the equipment air out for a week until it all evaporates off.
Obviously, don't get this anywhere near internal components when wet, as it'll be somewhat corrosive. For the circuitry, I'd probably risk anything from soap-and-water cleaning if it's hardware that's easily replaced if you kill any -- rinsed quickly with distilled/deionized water and dried in a hair dryer or sauna -- to a quick soak with alcohol + a small amount of Febreze or an enzymatic odor neutralizer (hopefully enough to nail the stink without leaving noticably conductive residue)
As a tip, don't clean hard drives by immersion; they generally have filtered air vents to let them equalize to atmospheric pressure.
there are a number of companies that do cleaning using frozen CO2, or a glycol based fogging agent (similar to fog machines used at concerts) It doesn't harm electronics and it cleans well. I don't know how it does with odors, but I work in an industrial facitlity and have seen it used on welding robots and related equipment. It makes grimy, sooty, filthy dirty machines look new
Open up the cases, seal the room and run an ozone generator for 24 hours. Ozone generators can get rid of any odor permanently.
and see what they use to get rid of smells like dead possums in the air conditioning ducts. They gave me some powerful one-drop-at-a-time stuff that worked.
I worked in a large surface mount production facility. In the final stage of assembly, they would in fact go through a fancy dishwasher. Early on we didn't even use deionized water. They did switch to deionized water not so much for the fear of conductivity, but to not leave spots behind.
You want to put tape (waterproof - packing tape might work) over any speakers, piezo devices, potentiometers, dip/pushbutton switches. Remove any batteries and button cells.
Then stick it in the diswasher, I'd use electrasol. Also, skip the "drying" cycle and let it air dry. Where I live (Utah) the air is quite dry. It would be ideal to let it sit for a day in the summer sun. Then you are good to go.
If you are not blessed with dry air but humid air, it may take more than a day to safely dry before you can plug it in.
Under no conditions would I do this to vintage equipment, esp. tube equipment or even vintage transistor equipment. Old equipment will tend to crumble under the stress as old capacitors like to die (if they haven't already - google/get an ESR meter) and plastic will tend to crack. I would only do this for equipment from the mid eighties on. Before this time I would be judicious with the cleaning process. Like maybe not using hot water.
Modern components however are made to face a dishwasher, and can withstand it nicely, unless the components are defective to begin with (like some bad electrolytics on motherboards).
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
They handle many nasty smell situations at beef packing and rendering facilities. Solution would probably include some enzymes to chew up most of the stuff and chlorine dioxide to kill off the bacteria, etc. They probably handle the odor control systems for stink exiting the plant too so there might be a tech at your plant every week or so who'd help you.
There are several other companies that handle this type of situation as well.
http://www.ashchem.com/ascc/drewind/
Firefox &
I can definatly agree with this, worked for DEC in th 80's and a PDP 8 came over from russia ( eventually due to customs ) that had been used in a knitting factory. The refurb included up grading the boards. We washed them in a very mild washing liquid /water solution and then hung them on a washing line (no I am not taking the piss) then did the job. As long as the discrete parts are not live they will survive. As to all the other parts, the floppy and cd will live but the HD's you're stuck with the smell. Time to upgrade those.
In the end, It's all bovine dung you know
Just remember to seal off the area during the process, and ventilate it well before re-entering as pure ozone can be just as deadly as carbon monoxide.
You can also use a steamer instead of a dishwasher.
;)
You should follow everybody else's instructions about drying. Like everybody else says, don't do it on hard drives or batteries. Everything else should be Ok. My guess is most of your stink is going to be in the power supply and in 'soft' components like the rubber feet. In that case you might want to just buy new el-cheapo $20 cases while washing the rest of the components.
It probably won't hurt to stick an air freshener to the inside of the case either
I had to deal with this problem when I worked in an experimental physics environent -- and found that mice liked to live on the heatsinks for the magnet drivers. Guess what: mouse piss conducts! This is really bad when you're running delicate high gain amps. So....
We tried everything. Alcohol. Solvents of all different kinds. Nothing worked until I brought some simple green in from home. This is what you do:
Remove all the water sensitive components from the case (hard drive, CDROM, etc,...) Leave the cover off of the case. Put it into a deep sink and wet it with warm water. Then scrub it out gently with a 10:1 solution of water and simple green. Use a large soft brush for the major areas and acid brushes to get in the the corners.
Rinse it out a few times with warm water.
Get a heat gun (used for shrink tubing) or a really good hair dryer or space heater and blow dry the unit for about 45 minutes, turning as needed. Allow to air dry for 24 hours. Re-install/replace HD, CDROM. Smoke check.
Our chassis always looked brand new after this treatment.
-- Loudog
The picture tube is a giant lead lined piece of glass which contains a vacuum and doesn't hold a charge. What you have to watch out for is the capacitors on the high voltage power supply, which contain several kV of potential. And most picture tubes are amazingly tough (the older it gets the more fragile of course).
Our company still has wash machines for a few products that can't use 'no clean' solder flux for whatever reason. Almost every product I've designed went through a de-ionized water wash at some point.
Contrary to any widespread notion, almost every electronics component can survive being completely immersed/soaked in water. (It can even be beneficial, like when washing off acidic flux residues, or perhaps interesting smells.)
What electronics cannot survive is being -powered- while wet, as the shorts could cause currents that could burn out semiconductors. So, make sure there are no batteries, or even charged capacitors, anywhere on the hardware.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
After scrutinizing everything else posted, I'm surprised no one mentioned MythBusters - particularly because they've used dead pigs on several tests - detect buried bodies when the ground, including sidewalk, is ripped up, bodies buried, and sidewalk replaced - stench bubbling up through.
... you can guess the response. They finally sold it for parts.
One episode dealt with the issue of "...can a car which someone died in be cleaned up enough to be sold again?" They bought a fairly nice Corvette (although the owner was a bit hesitant when he heard what his baby was going to be used for), tossed two dead pigs in it, sealed the car as much as possible, then stashed it in a storage chamber to keep it out of the way.
After some period of time (I don't remember how long it was), they donned bio-hazard suits & masks & set to pulling the car out & rescuing it (the car). Even with the masks on, it seemed pretty unbearable for Adam & Jamie. They worked pretty hard, using practically any suggested remedy they had heard of (and some of their adjunct folklore consultants).
IIRC, they brought in a specialty firm to look at the situation. The owner didn't have any "assistance" for dealing with it (no suit, no mask, seemed unaffected -- they didn't say if he was one of those without a sense of smell). Anyway, his crew spent a lot of time using their proven techniques and nothing worked. They finally stripped the car of anything capable of holding an odor: hard & soft plastic, foam, straps, you name it. By the time they were done, all which was left was metal.
Finally, it was time to [try to] sell it. People were rather inquisitive (regarding price and why they were so coy) and of course, the windows were up so as not to provide any advance notice to a prospect what might be lurking. Every time the door opened, however,
You can rent an Ozone generator which is comonly used for removing smoke orders from hotel rooms.
Ozone destroys biological materials, and is used for sterilizing water and other materials.
Because this is all computer hardware you could probably seal the room, crank the ozone generator up to max and give it a good week long exposure. That ought to put a significant dent in the smell problem.
NOTE: We aren't talking about those cheap air ionizers here, those wont touch this problem. A professional ozone generator can be rented from a industrial equipment rental shop, and the ozone output will be high enough to be dangerous! Don't go into the room until after the ozone has cleared.
You probably want to use "denotation" not "connotation". Denotation is what the word means. Connotation is what you imagine a word to mean by metaphor and allusion. Since the dictionary definition of "aromatic" specifically contains the very facts you cite, "aromatic" denotes, not connotes, the facts.
I'm an ER nurse. I deal with stong smells on a daily basis. Rank, rancid, fetid, rotten infected... you name it I've smelled it and probably cleaned it up.
Let me tell you, that nothing but nothing sucks the smell out of the air better than idoform gauze. Yup. It's gauze intended for packing abcesses. Just hang some from the ceiling or wave it around in the air... pulls the smell right out. Hang it next to whatever befouls your nostrils and the stench will be gone. No liquid vs electronic componets needed.
You can find it here.
consider what the dag coating of a CRT really is. you have an inside metal shield of vaporized aluminum on the CRT inside the vacuum. you then spray the outside of the tube with conductive graphite lacquer to create a dag coating -- that stands for Deposited Anode, Graphite. the anode is the positive accelerating charge for the electron beam. it's half of (in the case of large color tubes) 45,000 volts, or half of (in smaller tubes) 15,000 volts. the aluminum shield inside is grounded, that's the other half of the 4th-anode power circuit.
two conductors with an insulator between them, last time I read my basic electricity, is a capacitor. 15 minutes to several hours after you turn off a color set, the 4th anode voltage can still knock you on your ass, if you're lucky and that's all that happens. I've got a screwdriver that might still be stuck in a rafter in devils lake that proves it, if you can get into the tv station up there to see for yourself.
no, you better use a good insulated HV fishpole grounded to the chassis before you go poking around CRTs. slip it under the anode connector and touch the metal clip there for 5 to 10 seconds before you remove the anode connector.
oh, it's not nice to hit the dag coating with lots of hot soapy pressurized water... you'll peel it off, it's lacquer. cold, low pressure, don't work it hard. or you'll lose the dag and won't raise a picture on the screen again.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Sure we all have an affinity for our favorite toxic cleaners, who doesn't I love gasoline. However many of them dissolve various parts of the computer..
I recommend that you take some of the less used components, ie some old video cards or nics or whatever and do test batches. You'll need to clean and then TEST the components to know if there is damage.
Cleaning is going to need to be done in agitated baths, scrubbing can be harmful, especially if damp fibers remain on the boards and soaking generally isn't as good as it doesn't lift contaminants off.
Place one part into each bath and let them soak rocking the bath for 20 seconds every 15 minutes then take the parts out and let them dry depending on the cleaning agent. I recommend the following.
Please note I take no responsibility for the outcome of any of these also please watch for toxic vapors and combustible agents.
!! DO NOT USE HYDROCARBON BASED CLEANERS !!
!! DO NOT CLEAN MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICES !!
this includes, tapes, hard drives, disks etc
90%+ tetraethyl alcohol for 2 hours, let dry for 48 hours in a well ventilated space
Hand Dish soap (DO NOT use dishwasher soap) in filtered water for 1 days, let dry 5 days
25% White Vinegar for 1 day then rinse with water, let dry for 5 days
10% Chlorine bleach in water for 1 hour. let dry for 5 days.
Remember the value of old components is typically pretty close to their weight in water so don't put too much effort into saving them, you could replace then with far fewer new computers, maybe just one if you plan well, obviously we don't know your setup
Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.
short out the contacts of the Caps with a resistor or maby a small light bulb. I don't recomend this on the higher current Caps it will most likely heat that resistor up like a soldering iron. which would hurt if it was in your hand. not to mention you will need to have access to the bottom of the circuit board.
I am an Architect and Have heard of a few cases like this. From what I understand in cases like this it is decaying fats/organic material that cause much of the annoyance. I am familiar with one case in which a chicken feed factory was converted to office uses I believe that they used a mild acid solution to etch the concrete (majority of surfaces). This helped but did not solve the problem. Three years later the smell had largely dissipated thanks to bacteria and house keeping. In another case a house was filled top to bottom with trash. All interior surfaces and insulation were replaced. The place still smelled. It should have just been burnt. Perhaps time will solve that problem too. Not a lot of hope but smells are a tough problem to solve. You could try turning up the HVAC to light wind just keep the air moving to remove the worst. In the end time is your friend you just have to wait for the decay cycle to run its course. Good Luck,
there's not much you can do. After a relatively short time, strong odors will permeate the many slightly porous surfaces. A very thorough de-greasing, and a very thorough blasting with compressed air to remove dust (which traps a lot of odors) may help.. but it's going to be really, really, really hard to get them to pass muster in a non-agricultural office setting.
Now, I've got this Corvette for sale, you see...
Propanol [C3H7OH] = bad
Ethanol [C2H5OH] = good
Methanol [C1H3OH] = bad
Note the number of carbons.
Dead pig flavored jello?
You do know what Jello is made from, right?
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question557.htm
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Baking soda? No way, it's caustic (alkali), so any powder remaining on the board can rehydrate from atmospheric humidity and cause damage to the PCBs. You cannot remove all traces from under components and in thru-holes, not even with canned air. It also combines with most lubricants, so you will write off any mechanical components you haven't removed. Alum exacerbates this, and acts as a moisture trap making the chance of corrosion even worse.
Do not, repeat, DO NOT use baking soda! A computer is not a candle!
I should mention that isopropyl is also not ideal, since it dissolves the component labels (not that many people do component level repairs anymore, but you may need to check chipsets at some time in the future). However, a weak solution with distilled water is safe enough.
I've worked as an electronic tech in the music business for 18 years, and in that time I've cleaned just about every substance imaginable out of electronic equipment (example: a singer, very well known in Australia with the initials JB, once emptied a bottle of bourbon into one channel of a mixing desk, which wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't drunk it first! There are just some things you don't want to clean out of edge connectors. And don't get me started about cats; does an amplifier really look that much like a sandbox?). What I've found is that if you spend a few extra dollars on a product specifically made for electronics you head off future disaster. This makes a huge difference when you're dealing with vintage equipment (like original Pultec EQs or LA-2As) which are near irreplacable, or must have near 100% uptime.
I suggest Electrolube's Potclene, or similar products made by 3M and Riston (the cleaning solutions for PCB production are ideal). But unless you are 100% sure whatever you're using is safe for metals, or you can afford new computers, DON'T USE IT!
Other than that, try one of those pine tree thingies for cars: fold it over, and wedge it (edge on) in the path of the fan exhaust. Your server room will be mountain fresh in no time!