Dust Removal

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fantomau

2[H]4U
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Aug 25, 2007
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I'd like to know what would be the best way to blow out dust inside a case and accumulated dust on a hs/f?

My case isnt very dusty inside ATM, But I want to keep it as clean as possible.

I thought about the canned air, But sometimes the liquid may squirt out and hit the components and could fry them.

Is there any other alternative?
 
my suggestion would be not to blow it out, rather than suck it out, such as using a vacuum cleaner with a small nozel and being very careful. If you were to remove things such as Heatsinks and fans an air compressor or canned air should work just fine. It really just depends on how dirty it is. Also if you are cleaning heatsinks a good alternative is use soap and water but be shur and let it dry very well befor reinstalling.

Hope that helps, and all of this is coming from my experience with some very dirty computers.:D
 
A vacuum will work, but honestly, canned air is fine... just shut down your machine and unplug your psu before cleaning... any moisture that comes out of the can will evaporate very quickly and will not "fry" anything..... I've been using canned air to clean the inside of computers for years and have never once had a problem with it. If your really that worried about it, you can pick up a duster that used CO2 cartridges, you can usually find them at Office Max/Depot etc...
 
What's this crap about canned air!

If we're talking about general components, I get down and dirty with qtips and paper towels. A bit of water takes off the dust on fan blades easy. Otherwise, alcohol.

The only place I'd need canned air is on the graphics card; single slot coolers are impossible to clean with qtips.
 
Well... for really dirty components, I suppose you may need to take the steps outlined there, but I personally never let my machines get to the point that paper towels and alcohol are necessary... a quick shot with compressed air is all it takes to get the dust out.
 
unplug the computer and use the duster gas. The liquid evaporates within seconds of being exposed and only comes out if you tip the can. Difluoroethane, trifluoroethane, or tetrafluoroethane will not "fry" your components.
Honestly, you could put your entire computer in liquid and it would be fine so long as you let it fully dry before you turn it on.
Same with cellphones and iPods...if they get wet or go through the wash, they will be fine so long as you let it dry for a few days before turning it on.
They dont teach this stuff in highschool anymore?

The duster gas has more pressure and will clean out heatsinks much better then a vacuum will.

Vacuums also are a bitch for static...and the last thing you want on computer components is static.

Duster gas is designed for cleaning computers.
 
i use caned air at least twice a month. keeping up with it keeps the gunky dust from building up on the fans too much... alcohol and a q-tip quarterly as needed.
 
Same with cellphones and iPods...if they get wet or go through the wash, they will be fine so long as you let it dry for a few days before turning it on.
They dont teach this stuff in highschool anymore?
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Unless the battery is installed and there are electrolytes (such as are found in laundry detergent) in the water. Then galvanic corrosion occurs and the cell phone or iPod is toast.
 
digital_exhaust said:
Well... for really dirty components, I suppose you may need to take the steps outlined there, but I personally never let my machines get to the point that paper towels and alcohol are necessary... a quick shot with compressed air is all it takes to get the dust out.
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Its not that the components are at the point where its necessary, I just like being thorough. And getting the dust out of the case, instead of blowing it around.

Maybe I'm obsessive about it...
 
Leman said:
Its not that the components are at the point where its necessary, I just like being thorough. And getting the dust out of the case, instead of blowing it around.

Maybe I'm obsessive about it...
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DONT use a vacume cleaner ,i used one on my pc,then when i booted up nothing,the mother board had fried,with the static from the vac,costly repair,
 
bcham said:
DONT use a vacume cleaner ,i used one on my pc,then when i booted up nothing,the mother board had fried,with the static from the vac,costly repair,
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A very simple trick could have saved you much grief.
 
digital_exhaust said:
You really should share that simple trick after saying things like that.... really...
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I think one would assume to make sure you discharge the vacuum by letting the metal tip or what-not, touch the base of the case or any metal part, and make sure you discharge yourself too. (Or at least it's what I assume)
 
Droc said:
Same with cellphones and iPods...if they get wet or go through the wash, they will be fine so long as you let it dry for a few days before turning it on.
They dont teach this stuff in highschool anymore?

.
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What about pee? I dropped my cell into my toilet after I was done and it never worked again!! lol.
 
I use the blower side of my 12gal ridgid wet/dry vac with the car attachment. got it last week for $30 at home depot ;) way better then compressed air for cleaning the heatsink.
 
About every 4 to 6 months or so, I take my entire case right outside and blow the honk! out of it with the air compressor. Works great.
 
fantomau said:
I can only find a 16g ridgid on home depot, 100 bux :eek:
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I think you might be over thinking this whole thing... there is no need for a $100 shop vac... just grab a few cans of compressed air, take your time and get it over with:)

Honestly, I've been using canned air for years and have yet to fuck anything up doing so...
 
canned air is great and dont shake up your bottle or hold it at a funn angle and no liquid will squirt out. Also dont have anythign running when u do either and if their is liquid I'm sure it wont take long to evaporate. I use 3M Dust Remover w/out any issue.
 
Be carful with a air compressor, the tank accumilates moisture, and will blow water on your computer. You can stop this with in-line water traps.

So whats the deal with vacumes? Where is all this static electricty coming from I would really like to use a vacume on my PC, are battery powered vacumes ok?
 
Rycon said:
Be carful with a air compressor, the tank accumilates moisture, and will blow water on your computer. You can stop this with in-line water traps.

So whats the deal with vacumes? Where is all this static electricty coming from I would really like to use a vacume on my PC, are battery powered vacumes ok?
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Agree with the air compressor moisture...Its usually to small an amount to worry about so long as the PC is off.

As for the vacuum, it doesnt really matter if its AC or cordless, its still a plastic device that moves air around...apart from a vandergraph, a vacuum is one of the best ways to produce static electricity.
 
Sux, I really wish i could vacuum my computer out instead of just blowing it around, I was thinking of a cool idea of a vacuum mod you could attach to your computer to suck air into a little bag when the computer is turned off or in standby, and then its easy to detatch to clean, would cut down on the dust alot, if only it were possible.

Whats the deal with holding a fan while you blast it with air, i blast my fans all the time and they seem fine, exept my PCI exhaust fan which i made go really fast and now it makes a anoying noise but i thought it was because it was really old, mabye not?
 
Rycon said:
I was thinking of a cool idea of a vacuum mod you could attach to your computer to suck air into a little bag when the computer is turned off or in standby, and then its easy to detatch to clean, would cut down on the dust alot, if only it were possible.
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Yeah really.
 
air compressor is better for the world than canned air.. and cheaper in the long run. Never actually heard of it causing problems... actually I was at a motherboard manufacture's RMA facility and they would use a generic air compressor on boards customers sent in.
 
Well like i said its not going to cause problems unless theres moisture inside the tank, it will just start spitting out water, not a whole lot of course but if sprayed directly on computer parts it can cause corrosion, worst if the tank is rusting on the inside and the water has rust in it.

Its not a huge problem, but it defintly can happen, if your worried get a inline water trap there cheap, or just be carfull when you spray, short bursts is all your going to be doing anyway.
 
I was curious if any of you guys knew of any small and cheap air compressors you could use on a computer. I'm just thinking of something small that I could store in my room till I need to clean the computer. Would there much risk of water building up in it if stored in side the house vs the garage?

My normal dust removal procedure is using canned air to blow out the case and sucking it up with a vacuum.
 
smallest air compressors are the 2 gallon 1/3hp 'pancake' ones... usually you can find them at walmart or an autoparts place for ~$50-ish. Not really that small tho... unless you had a huge room i guess ;). If you have very humid air you're probably more like to have problems with water.
 
I'm unlucky enough to work in a car dealership, I blow mine out every few months using the workshop compressor and air line.
Probably the best thing ever.
I'm sure the local garage would let you guys blow a bit of dust out of a case :)
 
fantomau said:
I'd like to know what would be the best way to blow out dust inside a case and accumulated dust on a hs/f?

My case isnt very dusty inside ATM, But I want to keep it as clean as possible.

I thought about the canned air, But sometimes the liquid may squirt out and hit the components and could fry them.

Is there any other alternative?
Click to expand...


the best way to clean it is use a vacuum, with a hose attachemnt and crevice tool, canned air is risky due to it's content and just blows shit around, vacuum that baby, I do mine this way on a regular basis, just be careful and use a crevice tool, turn the computer off as well. occasional removal of the fan from the heat sink to suck out the dust from the fins is also very beneficial. Regular vaccuum cleaning is the best way to clean your computer.

I use a canister vac, a fantom model, there are no static electricity issues, I always ground myself on the computer chassis when working inside the case as you all should be doing anyhow, besides that . plastic hose, plastic tool........plastic vacuumm cleaner, you do not need to touch motherboard components, hold crevice tool above sensitive areas, focus crevice tool on fans, heat sinks and where dust bunnies accumulate, never had a problem using a vaccuum cleaner in seven years on computers. NO chemicals, no compressors and a vacuumm can obviously be used for other things as well.
 
you do realise dust spinning in a plastic/metal tube does indeed build up static???

Sticking a static tube inside your computer inst the brightest of ideas. I've arced on my vacume cleaner in excess of 2" cleaning out old cases with no parts inside. I think it would be safe to bet that even holding a tool within an inch is risky...but hey, thats just me.
 
DON'T use a vacuum cleaner. They produce heavy static electricity which may zap your chips and ruin your life!
 
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