Cleaning Inside Computer

[venomx]

Whats the best way to clean inside the PC, i heard compressed air is good ?

 

Also how often ?

 

I heard you have to keep the can upright else it can blow liquid into the PC ?

[vK 3 1 RON]

I usually use a can of compressed air -- you can get alternatives but the compressed air is good enough for me

[paddy-stone]

I use an air compressor, with a moisture trap fitted in-line. Also test the pressure before starting the clean, so as not to break any parts. Works very well, and works out a LOT cheaper than compressed air cans in the long run. The compressor was around £80, hoses, fittings and air blower came to around another £40 maybe...

I would be more exact, but at the time I also bought other additions for other purposes, like a nail gun, tyre inflator etc for my other hobbies and needs. If you don't have need of using it for other purposes you can get a smaller compressor, BUT they aren't much less expensive, and they also need to be ON a LOT more to keep the air coming into the tank.. whereas mine holds a lot of air in the tank, so it turns on after the initial fill much less often, depending on the PSI setting you're using and how much air you're using.

An example would be, had mine set to approx 6 bars pressure, it turned on for about 2-3 mins for initial filling, I filled the cars tyres, did some nailing for a minute or 2 (fixing some drawers), before it started up again for about 30 seconds to replace the air. With a smaller tank, it probably would have been ON almost constantly filling the tank, and making way more noise... which I hate. but for cleaning PCs out only, a smaller tank should suffice. If you do want to go with a compressor, just remember to factor in fittings and hoses, I would recommend going with quick couplers, rather than screw threads as they can be annoying to get the connections tight enough, and might have to use PTFE tape to seal them too, so won't make a lot of sense if you plan to use other tools and will need to disconnect them again.

[Foxtrot_Motel]

Compressed air gets a lot of it. I also use a disposable acid brush available cheap about anywhere. Any small soft brush for getting into fan blades ect. I use plastic cleaner on exposed case parts inside and out, works good on paint and metal too on a soft rag dont spray in case. Good luck

[RonnieOP]

I use a data vac (compressed air will also work but its not very powerful) for most the dust.

 

Then ill use a paint brush for the stuff that is being stubborn. 

 

Then ill use a rag and some degreaser for the fans, cables, backplates, case etc.

 

As for how often....thats up to you. 

[MadAnt250]

5 hours ago, venomx said:

Whats the best way to clean inside the PC, i heard compressed air is good ?

 

Also how often ?

 

I heard you have to keep the can upright else it can blow liquid into the PC ?

I use a 2400psi pressure washer, it cleans transistors and capacitors right off the motherboard and leaves nothing left.

 

JK, I use compressed air form an air compressor at like 40-60 psi.

[Founders]

This

[venomx]

Gonna go with one of these....

[NineEyeRon]

Canned air bad, air blower/compressor good

[PianoPlayer88Key]

On 11/26/2019 at 10:06 AM, paddy-stone said:

I use an air compressor, ... 

 

22 hours ago, MadAnt250 said:

I use a 2400psi pressure washer, 

 

JK, I use compressed air form an air compressor at like 40-60 psi.

 

8 hours ago, NineEyeRon said:

air blower/compressor good

So you mean something like this?

BTW we do have to be careful what circuit we plug it into or how we run it - we have tripped the 100-amp MAIN property breaker (not just for the house, but EVERYTHING) with this compressor - usually before the motor has had a chance to fully spin up.

 

 

Also it wasn't plugged in when I took that picture.

Oh and I hope it displays properly on desktop - I set the width to 768 pixels with a space between each, they should be side by side on a 1080p screen I think.  (Maybe I should have set it for full width on the Dell UP3218K instead, though.)

It doesn't look right on my phone due to limited resolution, or the site insisting on using a "mobile" interface even though my Pixel 3a is the same or higher resolution than my Clevo P750DM-G (1080p) or Dell U2414H.

[NineEyeRon]

9 hours ago, PianoPlayer88Key said:

So you mean something like this?

 

If you need that then I would hate to see your case without dust filters being used!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I used to use a DataVac blower and it did a great job but I had to deal with the 10' power cord. Ever since I got a small Ryobi 18v shop blower (it looks like a baby leaf blower), I've been using it instead. At low speed, it does a slightly better job than the DataVac (higher speeds would be ovoer kill and might damage something) and there's no power cord to horse around with.

 

I always clean frequently so I rarely need to use a brush to loosen any stubborn dust. Since paint brushes can generate static electricity, I got a set of static free brushes to use instead.

[venomx]

With regards to using the air blaster I bought.

When doing the heatsink on the CPU should I keep the blades still or not ?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

5 hours ago, venomx said:

With regards to using the air blaster I bought.

When doing the heatsink on the CPU should I keep the blades still or not ?

Do not let any fan blades spin.

[WkdPaul]

14 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Do not let any fan blades spin.

^ this, mainly to avoid sending current back in the MB and to also avoid overspinning the fan as it could damage the bearing (happened to me once).

[Lady Fitzgerald]

35 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

^ this, mainly to avoid sending current back in the MB and to also avoid overspinning the fan as it could damage the bearing (happened to me once).

Exactly. Thanks for clarifying. I was in a bit of a mood when I posted.