Based on what I’ve seen over the years, most people shouldn’t spray anything onto or into their hi-fi equipment!

Sorry, but not really, because remember what my job is – SAVING classic hi-fi equipment, and that includes yours! I’ll qualify this by noting that if you have access to good commercial-quality products and are intimately familiar with how to use them, go for it. But… those people don’t need an FAQ, they’re not reading this, and they don’t represent 99% of hi-fi equipment owners.

For everyone else, and those who are wondering if a little forum research and maybe the can of WD-40 or CRC 5.56 they have tucked away in the garage is the way to go:

STOP, put the can down and s-l-o-w-l-y back away from the equipment!

The contact, switch and potentiometer cleaners and treatments I use are expensive, commercial and laboratory-grade products, applied as part of multi-stage deep cleaning and treatment regimens provided by the product manufacturers, and that I’ve designed. These regimens specifically cater for equipment that has often never been serviced, is usually long past its intended design life, and where official service procedures often don’t exist.

These premium contact cleaner and treatment products are very different from those found in hobbyist electronics stores. Most of those leave oily residues and offer only short-term relief. Even those cheap products are very different, completely unrelated in fact, to spray lubricants like WD-40 and CRC 5.56.

WD-40

WD-40 and CRC 5.56 are aerosol-delivered, low-viscosity, penetrating lubricants, water dispersers and corrosion inhibitors. These products consist of light oils suspended in volatile carriers that evaporate, leaving oily residues that protect metallic surfaces from corrosion for a short time.

However, one of the issues with these products, especially WD-40, is that they are marketed a little like the old radium water was: good for everything, but in reality, WD-40 is not much good for anything other than loosening stuck fasteners!

The residues these products leave attract dust and dirt. This is less important on external nuts and bolts, but becomes a very significant problem inside sensitive switches, relays and potentiometers containing human hair-thin gold pads, traces and wipers. Inside these delicate components, oily residues trap dirt, increasing friction and noise, and turning this residue into an abrasive paste, making such components dirtier and less reliable over time.

The use of pressurised aerosols containing oleophilic solvents can also flush out greases and oils that are part of the smooth mechanical operation of the switch/pot/etc. Where this occurs, these lubricants must be replaced with new premium products suitable for the role. WD-40 is not one of them.

At some point after applying WD-40 or CRC 5.56, deep cleaning to remove these contaminants and re-treatment and lubrication will be needed to restore proper functionality. That is assuming permanent damage has not been caused through wear over an extended period of operation. This follow-up work is time-consuming and technical, and sometimes it’s too late.

But Mike, WD-40 was developed for NASA, for use on rockets. You’re just saying this to generate work!

I’m not sure this was ever true, and either way, it doesn’t matter because it’s not a contact cleaner or treatment, the manufacturer doesn’t even claim that, and it wreaks havoc on electronic equipment. In terms of generating work, I’m fully booked for most of the year, every year. Trust me: I don’t need more work!

To summarise, hard-core WD-40-lovers are welcome to spray that sh*t all over their equipment and themselves. Just please don’t bring that equipment to me afterwards, and don’t be surprised when I explain that the use of WD-40 makes my job difficult or sometimes even impossible.