Discuss Wd40 and fuse boards.... Anybody tried it? in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Gavin John Hyde

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Had the WD40 out earlier cleaning my fiancees bike up.
Saw on the side they suggest it can be sprayed into mcbs on a fuse board.
Can't say I have ever thought of that. I know it can be used on contacts but it somehow seems wrong to be spraying a liquid into a fuse board as shown on the can!
 

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i'd not use it on MCBs. if necessary, switch cleaner is the better option.
 
Hmmm...it says it removes moisture from them, but if mine were wet I'd probably replace them.
Mind you, last year I bought a can of compressed air for cleaning dust from delicate machinery...think it was nearly a tenner...for air! It did work though...
 
Great... spray volatile flammable liquid into a source of ignition. I think that's a balls-up by their publicity department and they should probably replace that pic with something that is not directly prohibited by their own instructions. I suppose they meant to show a wet distributor cap or something.

A couple of newish cans I can see here do not have that pic though.
 
The flash point of WD40 is similar to that of diesel so as a liquid it does not evaporate at room temperature to enable combustion from a heat source. Obviously if sprayed direct from the can it is a vapour and mixed with oxygen you have the two of the three elements to start a fire. Sprayed into a protective device will only cause an issue if you introduce the element of heat which could happen if you were switching it on and off prior to spraying it to create a spark.
 
I have seen loads of HV circuit breakers that were completely gummed up because some nugget had sprayed them with WD40. The trip mechanism on a circuit breaker is quite delicate but WD40 leaves a waxy film which jams the mechanism and stops the circuit breaker from tripping.
 
I believe Plus Gas is flammable.
Yes , but it wasn't in spray cans in my day lol.
It was mainly the propellant that was flammable in most aerosols.
It was not unusual to get a flash spraying WD 40 onto the old arking plug leads on the older cars.
 
An aerosol will mix the liquid with oxygen hence it will ignite.In its liquid state WD40 does not vaporize at ambient temperature to create the vapour, it is the vapour which ignites due to the mix of oxygen. This is the difference between flammable and combustible liquids, flammable vaporizes at ambient like petrol combustible needs to be heated above ambient.
 

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