Cleaning dust from computers

[rwg]

I discovered today that a tyre inflator (I have a Ring RAC900, but I suspect any one will do) will do a great job of blowing dust out of computer fans, heatsinks, etc. All you have to do is put one of those thin needle bits onto the inflator that are used for inflating footballs - that brings the air down to a fairly powerful jet and away you go.

Obviously anyone who walked past while I had the back of the van open (to connect the inflator to the leisure battery), a compressor running and a computer with the sides of the case taken off thought I was a loony, but it got the job done

Best to work outside, as dust will go everywhere, and take all the sides of the case off so it can blow away rather than blowing into a corner of the case.

cheers,

Robin

 

[rod_vw]

Did just the same with our desktop computer last weekend although the compressor was the one in my garage. It's quite amazing how much dust collects in these things!

 

[St3v3]

This is potentially really dodgy as the air will contain moisture. That inside a computer is bad, very bad.

Buy a can of compressed air designed for the task.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

I used to use an adaptor fitted to a scuba cylinder hose. Fans on the CPU really didn't know what had hit it. Now have a small handheld compressor unit intended for it, much cheaper after used a few times than compressed air cans.

Yes moisture may be a concern with some compressors and environment they are used in, but you'd have to be unlucky in occasional domestic use when compressor is run for short time only.

 

[LithiumConvert]

Buy a can of compressed air designed for the task.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Gromett]

A couple of points.
Moisture may be an issue.
Hold onto the fan to prevent it spinning as it will generate current that could in theory damage the fan controller on the motherboard.
Static electricity generated by fast moving air is an issue.


BUT in reality. None of these things are too likely and cleaning the dust out of the fans and improving the cooling is likely to extend the lifespan of your computer or if not at least prevent early heat death.

Back when I was in the industry (building and selling PC's) We had one customer return his stating it didn't work any more. We asked for details and he sheepishly told us he was using a hoover to suck out the dog hairs and dust and he accidentally knocked something on the motherboard which came off and shot up the hoover. He retrieved it and had it/them in a plastic bag. He had taken a bunch of smoothing capacitors off the motherboard. So be careful when you are cleaning.

edit: Thought I had better add a picture to show what I meant by smoothing capacitors.

 

[Gromett]

I think JayZ must have joined us.