First of all, you are correct, it is corrosion. I have used plenty of
Kester Organic Core Solder, Flux 331. I still use it a lot.
The rules I follow are:
1) note the time the first solder joint is made.
2) not more than 1 hour later I take the work in progress to the sink
and run lots of hot water over it. Sometimes I use an old toothbrush to
be sure things are scrubbed clean.
My friend who builds spacecraft flight boards uses a 30-minute timer
rather than 1 hour.
3) I then dry the board and continue building, restarting the clock at
step (1) with the next solder connection.
***
I have had some luck cleaning up neglected, starting-to-corrode solder
joints by resoldering them with yet more flux and then thoroughly
rinsing with hot (tap) water. Alcohol doesn't work with this stuff, you
need warm-to-hot water. This may not work, but the grainy gray-green
corrosion will only get worse with time, so the additional risk is slight.
/* lawyer speak on
Naturally, the risk is yours and I am not advocating anything here!
This is not advice. It is only an indication of what I might do, not
what you should do.
/*lawyer speak off
A final point: never use this type of flux when soldering stranded wire.
It will wick up into the wire, you cannot clean it, and the wire joint
will corrode and fail. Probably on Field Day...
Enjoy!
Lyle KK7P
PS - this is *not* an endorsement or even a suggestion to use water
soluble flux!!! LJ
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