Cleaning our pc's......a shop vac on blow opinions

primetime

primetime

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
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Used to take me all day to clean my pc but one day i tried a shop vac on blow......anybody who has not tried it...all i can say is wow.......takes 5 min to make a dust box almost brand new........and those who smoke...do it outside cause it makes a tar that combines with the dust thats 100 times harder to clean.....I know most people here this is common sense but some might not know.....this isn't really a new idea to me just felt like getting other peoples opinions on the subject just for shits and giggles
 
I use an air compressor with an air gun attachment, works great.

When using high velocity air on a PC, make sure you stop the fans from spinning. Very east to damage fan bearings by spinning them too fast. I stick plastic straws in the fans so they won't spin. Also a water trap is a good idea when using a compressor, it's keeps the moisture out of the blown air.
 
Dude, you aren't ghetto enough unless you use your two stroke leaf blower to blast out the dust.

I just set mine on my patio table, block off the fans so they won't spin warp speed, and let 'er rip!
 
timta2 said:
I used to use a Shop-Vac as a blower, for dusting, back in the day, until I came across this…

http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW
Click to expand...

can that thing even hit 50% of the volume and speed a shop vac does? if so i would buy one for sure.....thing that makes the shop vac work so well in the shear volume of air being blown........so easy and fast.....but it will for now on try to keep the fans from spinning to fast....guess i been lucky so far not having problems
 
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I still use a 10+ year old Craftsman shop-vac about every 6 months or so.
Just take the whole case outside to blow the dust and you are done.

All my cases have fan filters so the interior does not get really dusty.
 
primetime said:
can that thing even hit 50% of the volume and speed a shop vac does? if so i would buy one for sure.....thing that makes the shop vac work so well in the shear volume of air being blown........so easy and fast.....but it will for now on try to keep the fans from spinning to fast....guess i been lucky so far not having problems
Click to expand...

Pressure > Volume if you're trying to get all the dust off. Shop vac might be able to blow out the dust bunnies in a hurry, but an actual air compressor with a blow gun is going to be shooting 90+ PSI out.
 
dr/owned said:
Pressure > Volume if you're trying to get all the dust off. Shop vac might be able to blow out the dust bunnies in a hurry, but an actual air compressor with a blow gun is going to be shooting 90+ PSI out.
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+1. Shop vac isn't going to do crap to get dust out from hard to get places like between fins on heatsinks or in the nooks and crannies. An air compressor gets all those places well, it make take longer as you have to run the nozel back and forth because its a smaller more direct area but it works much better.
 
Air Compressor = moisture, no???
Sounds like a bad idea for equipment you want to keep in good working order for a long time.

Compressed Air or Vac does it for me.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
Air Compressor = moisture
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There is moisture in the air, better seal your computer in a vacuum...

Unless you live underwater your air compressor isn't going to be spraying water on your electronics.

Do you have any evidence of people destroying computer equipment with moisture from air compressors? I've never seen it any where and never happened to me.
 
interestingly enough i also have a air compressor where i currently live......guess i fire it up next time to see if it gets anything the shop vac misses;) my 920 needs to be cleaned about once a month since im not using filters at all
 
munkle said:
There is moisture in the air, better seal your computer in a vacuum...

Unless you live underwater your air compressor isn't going to be spraying water on your electronics.

Do you have any evidence of people destroying computer equipment with moisture from air compressors? I've never seen it any where and never happened to me.
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Do you have any evidence to the contrary? Don't answer ... it's rhetorical.

I know moisture is in the air.
I know charged particles are in the air.
I know electronic devices have a range of humidity they operate in and it's needed.

Bottom line is it seems like an air compressor is not the right tool for the job.
Vacs and compressed air work fine for me. YMMV.

Key in on the word "seems". It's an opinion ..as requested by the OP.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
Do you have any evidence to the contrary? Don't answer ... it's rhetorical.

I know moisture is in the air.
I know charged particles are in the air.
I know electronic devices have a range of humidity they operate in and it's needed.

Bottom line is it seems like an air compressor is not the right tool for the job.
Click to expand...

Bottom line is most people with an air compressor have an air filter or can purchase one for $12 to remove the moisture.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
Air Compressor = moisture, no???
Sounds like a bad idea for equipment you want to keep in good working order for a long time.

Compressed Air or Vac does it for me.
Click to expand...

Even if there was water vapor shooting out of a compressor for some reason, it wouldn't really do any harm. Plus a $30 filter/water separator deal will dry the air out well enough, which you kinda want to have installed anyways since pneumatic tools don't like water.
 
I take my computer outside and blow it out with the air compressor. I only do this a couple times a year because the filters keep most of the dust out. I suck the dust off of the filters about once a week with the vacuum. We have cats, so lots of kitty hair.
 
Netwerkz101 said:
Air Compressor = moisture, no???
Sounds like a bad idea for equipment you want to keep in good working order for a long time.

Compressed Air or Vac does it for me.
Click to expand...

I've been using an air compressor for almost 20 years to clean the dust out of computers.

As long as you don't stick the nozzle right up against stuff , it is fine.

The tiny bit of moisture that comes out of the nozzle is not going to hurt anything and is going to get dried off right away.
 
cyclone3d said:
I've been using an air compressor for almost 20 years to clean the dust out of computers.

As long as you don't stick the nozzle right up against stuff , it is fine.

The tiny bit of moisture that comes out of the nozzle is not going to hurt anything and is going to get dried off right away.
Click to expand...

Same here for a similar length of time.
 
ep0x73 said:
I still use a 10+ year old Craftsman shop-vac about every 6 months or so.
Just take the whole case outside to blow the dust and you are done.

All my cases have fan filters so the interior does not get really dusty.
Click to expand...

QFT, vacuum always worked fine for me, and compressed air can get expensive.
 
primetime said:
can that thing even hit 50% of the volume and speed a shop vac does? if so i would buy one for sure.....thing that makes the shop vac work so well in the shear volume of air being blown........so easy and fast.....but it will for now on try to keep the fans from spinning to fast....guess i been lucky so far not having problems
Click to expand...
Canned air doesn't have much volume of air either, but that doesn't stop it from being effective. It's all about how you direct that air.

It has several nozzle attachments. I only use one of them. Trust me when I say I it works extremely well. The thing even has a small washable foam air filter because it sucks so much air to prevent dust bunnies from being sucked up again. :D
 
I've used all 3. Canned air, Shop vac, and compressor. The air compressor is the most versatile. The canned air works in a pinch and is portable. The vac is just ok. Compressor is what I use now about 95%.
 
I use a 3-gallon electric air compressor that I also use for inflating car tires. Never noticed any moisture blowing out the nozzle.

I work in hardware design, and we sometimes use iso-propyl alcohol to soak our boards, then rub it in with a brush, then blow it off with an air compressor. That works to get any flux off, so I assume you could try that on smoker's tar. Just make sure you hold the board tight when blowing it if you remove it to avoid it flying out of your hands across the room.

Not stopping your fans while you hit them with compressed air also induces current in the opposite direction and may be harmful for your fan controller. I always stop mine before dusting or disconnect them.
 
Always used a compressor to blow mine out.

The one thing I will always caution with a compressor - if your computer looks like lint trap of a dryer after 3 straight cycles, your computer is not going to work after you blow it out with a compressor. I've never understood why that may be, but it's always been the case when I blow out 3 year old, disgustingly dirty computers. They never boot after cleaning them out.
 
SRTie4k said:
Always used a compressor to blow mine out.

The one thing I will always caution with a compressor - if your computer looks like lint trap of a dryer after 3 straight cycles, your computer is not going to work after you blow it out with a compressor. I've never understood why that may be, but it's always been the case when I blow out 3 year old, disgustingly dirty computers. They never boot after cleaning them out.
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I always just assumed it was built up static from the dust bunnies collected over time that shocks some components when blown out.
 
Cataulin said:
I always just assumed it was built up static from the dust bunnies collected over time that shocks some components when blown out.
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If that were the case it might be safest to do the blow out with the desktop running. That way at least everything is supposed to be grounded to the power supply and wall outlet.
 
dr/owned said:
If that were the case it might be safest to do the blow out with the desktop running. That way at least everything is supposed to be grounded to the power supply and wall outlet.
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no way im blowing all that dust back into my house.....i do mine outside...also it wouldn't have to be running to be grounded....you could plug it into an ext cord and leave the power switch on the supply off....it be very bad idea while powered on imo
 
Cataulin said:
I always just assumed it was built up static from the dust bunnies collected over time that shocks some components when blown out.
Click to expand...

Right after you unplug the PC, try turning it on. This can discharge some of the energy in the power supply and system before blowing it out.
 
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