PC Cleaning

[Frank Jr.]

An old friend of mine replaced his almost two year old Dell XPS desktop PC that would no longer power up. He gave me the old one about two weeks ago. Upon initial inspection the cooling fans were coated with thick brown dust and the heat sinks on the cpu and video card were almost blocked with crud. I later found out that the power supply was dead. I installed a new one today that I ordered from Tigerdirect last week. It is running great! My Hp computers are the same off the shelf type boxes that have no air filters. Once every 6 months or so I open the cases on my computers and do what I call a DNC. (dusting & cleaning) I wish there was a way to filter the air on those type cases.

I wonder how many devices fail because of poor air flow caused by the dust and other junk they draw in over time?

I will give Charlie his old PC back if he wants it......Well maybe? Heck his has better specs than the one I am typing on.

 

[Rey]

I use these which help a lot .
Fan Filters | Page 1 | Sort By: Product Title A-Z - FrozenCPU.com  

 

[tstolze]

I have a Dell on my bench now with a bad hard drive, every opening for airflow is blocked with 1/4"+ coat of dirt, even the power supply grates....

 

[long_time_DNC]

For my business, I take all 3 PC's outside (nice day) once a year, open the cases and blow them out with an air compressor at a distance of about 2 feet. It gets all the dust out of every nook/cranny and they look brand new by the time I'm done. Then I let them sit for about 10 minutes before taking them back in and closing/hooking everything back up. Never had a problem with a PC doing this...

 

[Rey]

For my business, I take all 3 PC's outside (nice day) once a year, open the cases and blow them out with an air compressor at a distance of about 2 feet. It gets all the dust out of every nook/cranny and they look brand new by the time I'm done. Then I let them sit for about 10 minutes before taking them back in and closing/hooking everything back up. Never had a problem with a PC doing this...

i do the same with the pc's at work and i've never had an issue either. its so critical to keep these components clean. not enough folks take this seriously.

 

[Frank Jr.]

I use these which help a lot .
Fan Filters | Page 1 | Sort By: Product Title A-Z - FrozenCPU.com  

I have seen those, but I have no idea how they would work with the off the shelf cases that Hp and Dell provide.

 

[Rey]

I have seen those, but I have no idea how they would work with the off the shelf cases that Hp and Dell provide.

That's true.now I'm curious to see if there's something specific for those HP and Dell cases

 

[Rey]

What do you have frank? A grill instead of a fan?

 

[Frank Jr.]

That's true.now I'm curious to see if there's something specific for those HP and Dell cases

Maybe I could reverse or flip the case fans on those cases and use those type filters, but that may restrict the air flow. Who knows. I want to at some point build my own desktop. This one I am typing on is a Hp p6140f that came with a Q8200 processor. Just for giggles I replaced it with a Q9650 which is a beast. Maybe I will get something like this using what I have and build on it, slowly. Being retarded, whoops I mean retired I have to watch my wallet. Might be fun though.....

 

[Rey]

Maybe I could reverse or flip the case fans on those cases and use those type filters, but that may restrict the air flow. Who knows. I want to at some point build my own desktop. This one I am typing on is a Hp p6140f that came with a Q8200 processor. Just for giggles I replaced it with a Q9650 which is a beast. Maybe I will get something like this using what I have and build on it, slowly. Being retarded, whoops I mean retired I have to watch my wallet. Might be fun though.....

That's a very sweet case. I recently reduced the size of my case.I needed to go smaller.and with the micro atx board I have,it made it easy.I'll post that link tomorrow.you're gonna have excellent air flow with that case.you'll be able to use those filters on fans that pull or push.but incredibly enough dust will still seep through even though it will take waayyy longer to do so.

 

[long_time_DNC]

i do the same with the pc's at work and i've never had an issue either. its so critical to keep these components clean. not enough folks take this seriously.

Exactly...they need to be kept clean and using an air compressor seemed to be the least expensive and easiest means of doing so on a yearly basis.

 

[Frank Jr.]

That's a very sweet case. I recently reduced the size of my case.I needed to go smaller.and with the micro atx board I have,it made it easy.I'll post that link tomorrow.you're gonna have excellent air flow with that case.you'll be able to use those filters on fans that pull or push.but incredibly enough dust will still seep through even though it will take waayyy longer to do so.

Even though I clean mine, I would like to filter the air. Just seems like the right thing to do. I look forward to your link.

 

[navychop]

I've been using cans of air. But I think I'll bring in my small compressor to work. Thanks for the idea.

And I'm a good market for the filters.

 

[Rey]

Even though I clean mine, I would like to filter the air. Just seems like the right thing to do. I look forward to your link.

i can't find the link
its not as nice as what you're going to get but i like it. i especially like how it folds out in half to have easy access to the motherboard. the previous case was fantastic with plenty of ventilation but i got tired of the size after a few years. everything slid out of the case without having to remove any screws. 6 fans and plenty of air flow kept the components nice and cool

 

[long_time_DNC]

I've been using cans of air. But I think I'll bring in my small compressor to work. Thanks for the idea.

No problem. I used to use the cans of air, but they're expensive for what you get and go fast. With an air compressor, you plug it in and fill the tank and there's all the air you need. If you need more, it refills. I let the PC's sit for 10 minutes just in case a little moisture gets on the boards. Then I bring them back in, put the sides back on the cases, hook everything back up and power them up. I've been doing this (instead of cans of air) for the past 5 years without any problems at all...

 

[TheForce]

I don't believe in compressed air. I use a vacuum cleaner with a long 1/2 inch plastic tube and a brush. No airborne dust particles to get forced into the optical drives rear openings. When I get done with that process 3-4 times a year, the inside looks like new. My newest computer does have microfil open cell foam filters on each air intake fan. It's a gaming case.

 

[dfergie]

At work the pc I "share" with 4 others (swap out n every 12 hours & 7 days) is exposed to salt / potash dust, It was on the floor and I got a 6" x 8" x 24" block to at least get it off the floor... we (the guy I work the same cycle of 7 on & 7 off with) blast it as much as possible with canned air, be afraid to use the compressor as if the dual core died no telling what we would end up with.

 

[coinmaster32]

NEVER NEVER NEVER use compressed air when cleaning a computer!

I ruined a perfectly good motherboard using compressed air, it knocked off a surface mount diode (those tiny rectangular things you see on the board).

Always best to vac it out. Your gently sucking dust out, instead of blowing forced jets of air inside of it.

It's always best to take it completely apart to vac it out. Once you get everything out of the case, I always like to use 409, and wipe the inside of it out good.

 

[Rey]

this is why when you use an air compressor use it at a low psi. i have seen vacuums create static and you know what happens when static hits anywhere on the mobo or other components. i've been doing this for years like others have stated with no issues at all. it can be done as long as its done right.

 

[TheForce]

Yes, I used to use a small air compressor at low psi too until after a cleaning one of my DVD drives started causing bad disks. I replaced the drive as that was a fairly cheap and quick solution but decided to take it apart and have a look. The inside was pretty obvious around the back connections opening the dust had built up. Looked like I had blown the dust into the drive. Further inspection with magnifier head gear, I could see micro dust particles on the laser lens.

As for compressed air blowing a surface mounted part off- It seems that is impossible unless that part was not properly soldered and would soon fail anyway. And, while I'm no professional at this, just have a good education in electronics, I know that static electricity can happen so the best advice is to make sure your case and your tools are bonded and grounded and then the likelihood of a spark is quite remote.