Is it possible to deep-freeze PCBs?(invasion of the bedbugs)

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I've been finding more and more what looked like insect bites mainly on my legs. Thought it would "just" be fleas, which still would have sucked, but now I found what looks like a bed bug - in the bathroom, which started to smell shitty about a week ago. I will probably move (the landlady wants me to), but eggs might still be clinging to the stuff I have lying around in this flat, which, among else, is PCBs.

What do you think - can I deep-freeze arcade PCBs without damaging them?

[Skykid]

Nasty.

I've heard of PCB's with chips desocketed being put in the dishwasher and being fine after drying out. Deep freezing might be a little much though.

[moh]

I would think that as long as its a gradual freeze/defrost, then it would be okay. Its never a good idea to thermally shock metals though. I doubt anyone will be able to give you a firm answer on this, but personally I wouldn't

WOULD YOU DEEP FREEZE YOUR CHILD?

[Friendly]

Freezing sounds like a really bad idea, especially at deep temperatures like -18 °C ( -0 °F).

How about filling a bowl with isopropyl alcohol and submerging each PCB for a while? Not sure how long it would take for the eggs to die, though...

EDIT: I googled it, apparently alcohol kills the bugs quickly, but their their eggs are more resilient.

[D]

Kill the eggs with fire. I wouln't worry about it too much. I've never heard of insects degrading pcb's. If those eggs hatch, they'll find your leg to hump soon enough.

[Friendly]

Here's an idea: The eggs hatch after 12 days. Get isopropyl alcohol and a sealable plastic bag for each PCB, fill some alcohol into each bag (doesn't need to be that much), put a pcb in, seal the bags and wait for 12 days.

Result: Very clean PCBs and no more bugs.

[Skykid]

Here's an idea: The eggs hatch after 12 days. Get isopropyl alcohol and a sealable plastic bag for each PCB, fill some alcohol into each bag (doesn't need to be that much), put a pcb in, seal the bags and wait for 12 days.

Result: Very clean PCBs and no more bugs.

That's a really good idea (for this particular, very odd issue.) Oven Pride works the same way, and well, too!

[STG]

Having dealt with this ANNOYING situation the past, the pest control guys have a safe way of putting your more expensive/temperature sensitive items in a sealed bag for a few days with a small strip to gas them out if you don't want to put them in a deep freeze or extreme heat. Although honestly, these things aren't going to be after your boards, they're going after your beds/couches/wherever you are laying around at night and sleeping, as they're attracted to carbon dioxide and warmth.

Thankfully I wasn't part of the problem and didn't have an infestation of them by me, but if you have bedbugs on your floor or apartment building, you gotta do what you gotta do to get rid of them.

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

Thanks people of the shmup board. So no deep-freezing. Kinda torn between doing the alcohol thang and just throwing away the carton boxes the PCBs came in; after all, yeah, those fucking insects go for good hiding places, which a PCB probably isn't.

FUCK. The final exams are coming up and I have shitloads of correcting and other work to do. This couldn't have come at a better time.

Kill the eggs with fire. I wouln't worry about it too much. I've never heard of insects degrading pcb's. If those eggs hatch, they'll find your leg to hump soon enough.

friend... just in case you weren't just making a shitty joke, let me explain to you that the problem isn't insects killing PCBs but getting rid of all insect eggs since if you don't, you'll soon have the same problem again and the hundreds or even thousands of dollars you spent on pest control will have been for nothing.

[STG]

friend... just in case you weren't just making a shitty joke, let me explain to you that the problem isn't insects killing PCBs but getting rid of all insect eggs since if you don't, you'll soon have the same problem again and the hundreds or even thousands of dollars you spent on pest control will have been for nothing.

This was my mode of thought as well, even though I wasn't directly being affected. Just be a team player. Your situation is a bit trickier since you're directly dealing with them in your place, but I'd ask a pest control guy about putting your kits/boards in a sealed bag with one of those bed bug killing strips to kill any eggs that could have possibly gotten in there. You don't need to throw anything out and it's totally safe! Takes about half a week if I recall correctly.

Remember, these things are going to be in your mattress or sofa's as they're attacking you (or your pets if you have any), not your PCB's.

But you know, I won't lie, ultimately I said "screw it" and I ended up taking a couple crates of my most valuable/near-impossible to replace vinyl to my office along with all my kits before they treated the place, and I then moved the rest of my vinyl collection out... Man that broke my back, but I decided to play it safe with certain belongings.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I had a bed bug scare when I stayed at a hotel recently - they disabled my key card when I was out so I'd know to go to the front desk. Apparently the last person to stay in the room called and said they had bed bugs, might've transferred some... all they found was one in the mattress with a sniffing dog, but we still packaged all our stuff, shoes included, into plastic bags. No alcohol or anything, just leaving 'em in there to die with time (it can take a while).

If you can resist using 'em, you can just do that with the cardboard boxes, etc, they'll starve eventually (even if it takes a while). Worse comes to worse, sprinkle some diatomaceous earth around your bed, or put down some double-sided carpet so any of 'em that try to get at you get stuck on the tape. Really, put it anywhere you think they might crawl up to bite (sofa legs, along the base of the wall if your bed is against the wall, etc). They can't jump, so if there's a physical barrier in the way of anywhere they'd need to crawl, they can't get at you.

[Ed Oscuro]

There is an old story about a bedbug that wouldn't die. After a litany of trials, our heroes tried to kill it by throwing it in molten iron. Years later somebody cracks the frying pan made out of said iron. Guess who crawls out no worse for wear?

I feel something between contempt and pity for the primitive cave insects. They often die because they have to fuck holes through each others' armor, and many (of indiscriminate gender) end up dying due to the wounds.

Anyway, onto the plan: All you need to do is put anything you might think is contaminated in a bag, and put the bag somewhere where they are not able to find a path to anything living they can bite. I would leave it there for a few months. If you can put the bag outside that would be ideal, although that doesn't seem a good idea for PCBs. In their environment they can follow a long path from their hiding places, which could be in another room, to where the delicious blood bags are sleeping. However I believe they need a few indicators to figure out where to go - heat and carbon dioxide from respiration. I also am not sure that they are silly enough to try to go after you while you are awake and moving about.

tbh I wouldn't worry about the PCBs, they might be able to crawl under some components but eventually you would spot the black dots of pooped-out blood, and they do get rather fat after they've eaten. The way I store PCBs - in antistatic bags and then in another container - wouldn't be very likely for them to enter.

I'd be more worried about books, whose leaves are easy to wiggle into for hiding. A couple local libraries had outbreaks recently, since declared bug free. I forget exactly what they said they used to kill them off.

Interesting news article about the use of a "folk remedy" to discover a way to trap them: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/0 ... -for-good/

[BIL]

It's silverfish I worry about. I'm in your SFC box eatin' all your manuals! Or not: Really Useful Boxes own. *snap*

What are a silverfish's favourite things to eat? Already an interesting topic for any curator, now experience it in Engrish.

"It comes to no surprise that silverfish will certainly eat on whatever foods we all leave on their behalf."

[Ed Oscuro]

Thanks for reminding me of that...I was thinking about that recently, it's too bad I have a bunch of filing cabinets though. Maybe I need to change that.

How did they know my food comes of discs?!

[BIL]

In total seriousness, R.U. boxes are awesome - with the caveat that the inert polypropylene ones are transparent, so you'll need a cupboard or closet if sunlight is an issue, and I don't know what's in the recycled opaque ones (they have an overpowering smell of new garbage bags, not something I'd keep vintage paper in).

The 18l XL ones can hold 33 MD cases or 30 SFC boxes in a nice snug fit and they're strong enough to stack no problem. Dunno how they'd hold up against bedbugs but they're good to have around in case a hurricane rips your roof off.

[Ed Oscuro]

Are they specially designed for archiving collections-grade materials (i.e. Natsume SFC games)? I've been picking up some ruggedized boxes for PCB storage lately, but I could get something else just for boxed games.

holy shit I just realized a lot of my stuff is begging to fall to the SILVERFISH GAME DESTRUCTION ORGY HOLOCAUST!!!

[BIL]

I know they're endorsed and sold online by Preservation Equipment UK, who seem pretty reputable (bought a few things from them in the past). Lots of other more general UK office supply places have them too. I think The Really Useful Box Company (mfg) might be UK-based, though, so it might not be as easy to source them in the US. Main thing for me is they're inert, tough and surprisingly well-suited to MD and SFC box dimensions (provided you get the XL lid for the 18l box - the regular lid isn't quite tall enough and won't be able to snap shut with those game boxes stood vertically).

Had an SFC Wild Guns living in one for the last couple of years, seems happy enough and everything keeps nice and dry (I'm studying in Europe and the damp is crazy compared to where I'm from in the Caribbean... where you have to worry about humidity eating metal parts and god damn cockroaches >_< so maybe this is an improvement).

holy shit I just realized a lot of my stuff is begging to fall to the SILVERFISH GAME DESTRUCTION ORGY HOLOCAUST!!!

I'm thinking of sprinkling some diatomaceous earth on the floor of my nerdbunker in the form of an ancient protective sigil. Something like "CHOKE ON IT MOTHERFUCKER"

[drauch]

I am your amateur Entomologist here, and I'd say Friendly probably has the right idea. Cleanest, safest, easiest way. The typical kill jar usually consists of the same method. A sealed area with a bit of poison will drop anything dead after a few hours, especially a small arthropod like the type you're mentioning. May be worth a try.

[Ed Oscuro]

I often soak things in quarts of alcohol

You know, I can't fathom any bed bug is going to hide from me very effectively on a PCB. I'm sure the PCB wouldn't mind an alcohol bath (well, maybe certain components might, and stickers) but it seems like crazy overkill to me.

Meanwhile the bugs are going to leave the apartment and attack all your neighbors. Best for everybody to do this by the book and get an exterminator (or, for the moment, you could experiment with the more traditional approaches including traps to set the bed legs in). The PCBs are almost certainly the least of your concerns; if you have anything like furniture, clothing, books, packages, they'll be hiding in there before PCBs.

[Battlesmurf]

If memory serves- most states the landlords are responsible for the exterminations. There are lawyers/people pretending to be lawyers all over google who will inform the landlords on your behalf for a small fee if need be.