Desktops: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC?
- 3/14/08 11:39 AM
How Ofter Do U Clean Your Computer?
by wwright69cu - 3/16/08 1:13 AM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Invest in a Whole house Air Purifier. My first Computer I had a Lot Of trouble with the Monitor collecting dust and i would have to wipe the moniter clean every couple of days. I purchased an Oreck Air Purifier and neven had to clean the moniter from dust again. Air Purifiers work.
bunnies and compressors and vacuums, oh my!
by guywayne - 3/16/08 6:07 PM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I clean my computer when I have it open for some other reason. I like to play with it, so that seems to average once every 4 or five months, and that is more than enough. Our house seems to be dustier than average, but I keep the area around the computer clean.
You can purchase vacuums and compressors made specifically for electronics, but for occasional use the cans of 'compressed air' are a lot cheaper and work just fine. If you have some especially tenacious dust, try loosening it gently with a soft paintbrush.
Using household or shop vacuums is hazardous because of static and also the physical hazard of using the large/awkward hoses and attachments that come with them.
Using a compressor that was designed for shop/industrial use is also quite dangerous for electronics. These compressors can spit quite a lot of water, and rust and debris from the tank and hose come out at very high speed. Even at 30 psi, you are applying more force-per-area than if you were standing on your motherboard on one foot.
$8.00 for a can of air seems like a lot, but it's a lot cheaper than a broken computer.
If you don't have, or can't get the right tools to do the job, you should probably either leave it or else hire a professional to do it for you.
Clean the filters every three months
by Matt C - 3/16/08 8:12 PM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have a Thermantake Xaser3 tower full of goodies. I clean the case fan filters every three months and when I crack the case I check for anything that has happened to get inside. I do a detail check of the innards once a year, but dust accumulation hasn't been an issue with this case. I have serviced other machines including laptops that have been a very different story. I use canned air and a basting tool and occasionally plastic tweezers on those ones to get them clean. Keep it clean and cool and keep it alive.
Use The Straw force.
by BravoFxTrt - 3/17/08 4:32 AM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
OK I have a Plexiglas side, and when I see furry critters enjoying the coolness of my fans, which I might add are not shy to reproduce as soon as they can, I go into "Operation Straw", yes Ive tried Compressed air canisters, but the liquid Ice worries me more than the Fuzz Balls, so with just a thought I took a Soda Fountain straw and blew first into my Video Card fan and dudes I couldn't believe the chunks of built up fuzz I blew out, then I removed my CPU fan/heatsink repeated the straw procedure and I still don't know how much dust and fuzzy material can claim such a small area and not be noticed. That said, I disassembled the PSU casing and eek that's the mother ship for the reproduction of its Fuzz invasion tactics, I strawed them to their nonexistence, smokers you may need to use caution as it takes a long hard exhale to make the straw a powerful force to rid the components of said Fuzz/FOD and lots if dust. Goodluck, "Bravo"
when i hear the CPU fan 'ploughing' the dust
by jonah jones - 3/17/08 8:43 AM
In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
that is clogging the cooling fins 
i take it in to work and blast it with 8 Atm. (140psi) of air....
*shame on me*
jonah
.,
Never.
by Ed-duh-win - 3/17/08 6:43 PM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Because it's a laptop.
Talk to a service tech
by LionsMike - 3/17/08 8:46 PM In reply to: Never. by Ed-duh-winAny service tech will tell you the number one problem found in laptops is overheating due to accumulation of dust.
Use an auto air filter
by proofistruth - 3/18/08 4:13 AM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Cut one or two 120mm holes in the floor of your box. Screw the box to a two or three inch tall wood frame the same size as case. Add casters, the biggest auto air filter you can fit on the underside of the frame, and up-firing fans. Had to spot cool the northbridge and memory. Block exhaust except where it can help cool something, like front panel holes around DVD drives, etc. With no exhaust fan running, a positive pressure of cool, filtered air will fill the box as long as the system fan lead is hot. By the way, I use duct tape and weatherstrip foam to mount fans, no reason to obcess when tape works great.
dust bunnies
by scwuffy - 3/21/08 2:17 PM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
dust is a huge problem for me as I live in an agricultural part of Australia. Airborne pesticides, sorghum & cotton dust as well as animal hair cause me to use compressed air, CRC CO contact cleaner and cleaning fan blades with alcohol soaked Qtips at least monthly. The idea of fittinga house air filter is looking very good...but costly.
Once every few months
by 583casper583 - 3/22/08 5:30 PM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I clean once every few months when i open my computer to add more parts.
Sometimes I just want to look inside because I am bored and end up cleaning it.I clean it with a cloth most of the time.
I would never put a vacuum cleaner in their unless if it was one of those keyboard ones because I am scared of it damaging the computer.
There is normaly a little bit of dust bunnies but not much.
Most of the dust is on the fans and on the grills.
How often do I clean out the insides of my PC?
by lathompsonjr - 3/23/08 7:34 PM In reply to: Poll: How often do you clean out the inside of your PC? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Last week my Sony PC started re-booting itself every 10-15 minutes. Very annoying.It is about 4 years old and I've never had it apart. Knew it needed to be done but was procrastinating. So, I bit the bullet and pulled it apart and BOY, was it nasty. Cleaned it out with vacuum cleaner (DustBuster) and compressed air. Be careful, if you aim the air can downwards, water may come out. Not nice for your electronics. I used an old toothbrush and flicked the dust out where the vacuum could grab it. While apart I powered it up just long enough to verify that both the rear fan and the processor fan were running up to speed.The fins between the fan and processor were really clogged up and was probably the cause of my problem. No problems since!
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