Blow or Suck? How do you clean your rig?

[DR2D2]

Using compressed air for the fans then vacuum the rest.

[FRD]

Vacuum the bigger parts/spots, dust off with a cloth and clean the fragile parts like motherboard with a bigger size modelling brush.

Never used compressed air, I dislike it.

[WihGlah]

I take off my dust filters and run them under flowing water. quick dry and back on.

 

[Mel0nMan]

I use one of those electric blowers 1-2 times a year to clean out my workstation. Guess the upside of having a case with few fans and not much open space is that I have less to clean! 

[GreatCrouton]

Blow for sure.  Used to use the cans of compressed air but they suck.  Kinda like my sex life, they start out strong but as time goes on they cool off and the power drops off a cliff.  Sad attempt to keep going but the oomph just isn't there.  Not to mention the can starts to approach absolute zero the longer you use them.

 

Bought one of those plug in hand-held compressor at Memory Express and haven't looked back.

[SolarNova]

Vacuums lack the necessary power to lift dust of the surfaces unless u use a brush, which can build up static, so its not ideal.

 

A combination of compressed air and a vacuum nearby is the ideal way whilst indoors.

 

If ur PC is portable enough to move outside then u can get away with just using compressed air.

 

That said, for the fan filters a vacuum with brush attachment is fine.

[Caroline]

My vacuum cleaner doubles as blower so I just set it to blow and aim it to the case (holding the fans), that ought to get rid of most of the dust in seconds. A smaller nozzle helps to get rid of dust trapped in heatsinks or the power supply.

[Featherblade]

I use an electric blower, moves more air than those duster cans and is much better for you/ the environment as well. If you tend to dust stuff fairly regularly they're def a good investment.

[Talamakara]

Both

 

A few years ago I was going through dust cans on a fairly regular basis and even buying them in bulk was getting expensive. So I bought the smallest tank air compressor i could buy which was about 100psi. I bought the model with the ability to turn down the air compressor psi and turning it down to 30 psi, i have used it to blow the dust out of my computers for years. (saved me a ton of cash as the compressor was like 150 bucks at the time)  I also bought a ton of chop sticks to stick in the fan blades so i wouldn't over spin them. Something like this

I also use my vacuum cleaner to suck up the dust on the other side of the section i am blowing out with the air compressor.

[Runaway1956]

Industrial maintenance guy here.  We operate a lot of computerized machines.  The CPU, backboards, cards, connectors, main power supplies for the machines, transformers, and peripherals, everything is inside of one big cabinet, usually at the front of the machine, beside the operator's station.  

 

Semiannually, we lock the machine out, open it up, and do preventive maintenance inside that electrical panel.  Best practices say, brush, wipe, and vacuum.  That leaves a new machine looking nice and clean - not so much older machines and/or machines that have suffered electrical breakdowns - anything from a transformer blowing up, to water spraying inside, to oil getting inside - you name it, I've probably seen it.  (Transformers run the gamut from 480V AC all the way down to your "normal" 12, 5, and 3V DC that all of you find inside your computers.)

 

So, I do the best practice first.  If/when I see that things don't look very good, I get an air hose, and blow it out. 

 

Be warned, compressed air can damage things.  I've blown peripheral controller cards loose from the backboards.  I've blown wire nuts and other connectors loose, then had to figure out where they came from.  I have driven particles of trash deeper into the electronics, and sometimes had to replace the card, transformer, wiring, sensors, and even fiberoptic connectors.  In more recent years, I've used air hoses with regulators attached instead of using 100PSI, but you're still doing all the same bad stuff by blowing.  It's just less severe using 40 or 50PSI.   Don't use air that hasn't been dried.  Test your air, to be certain that no water or oil is hiding in your hose, from some unexplaneble source.  

 

You're probably safe using a retail can of compressed air - but, you may not be either.  Stuff happens.  I will note that it can be extremely difficult to stick a vacuum hose into your computer, in some of the spots that collect the most dirt.  Nor is that vacuum going to suck out a year's worth of caked on dirt from a CPU cooler, especially in more humid climates.  

 

[Runaway1956]

On 12/8/2021 at 6:10 AM, LogicalDrm said:

If you have something heavier than regular house dust, you either aren't cleaning often enough or you have bigger issues. In latter case, try to fix the bigger issue first.

 

I use combination. Canned air to get dust moving and vacuum to suck it from air, filters and such. And ofc regularly cleaning the whole room.

Rural environment, complete with with dirt roads.  Can't fix / won't fix.  

[LogicalDrm]

5 hours ago, Runaway1956 said:

Rural environment, complete with with dirt roads.  Can't fix / won't fix.  

Well, there's your problem.