How should I clean my components?

[Chaicho]

I wanna clean my components with compressed air but idk if its a good idea.

They have a lot of dust and idk if cleaning them like that will damage them in any way.

If not, what else can I clean them with?

[Mira Yurizaki]

Unless you're blasting them with F5 category tornado winds, compressed air (either from a can or an air pump) is fine.

[Chaicho]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

Unless you're blasting them with F5 category tornado winds, compressed air (either from a can or an air pump) is fine.

Aight, I'll just gey if from afar since its a tank.

[RAM555789]

27 minutes ago, Chaicho said:

Aight, I'll just gey if from afar since its a tank.

DO NOT, blast the CPU fan, that could damage it, clean that manually, then clean the heat sink with isopropyl alcohol and reapply thermal paste, otherwise leave it alone. (other than manually dusting off the fan.

[intelCore]

5 minutes ago, RAM555789 said:

DO NOT, blast the CPU fan, that could damage it, clean that manually, then clean the heat sink with isopropyl alcohol and reapply thermal paste, otherwise leave it alone. (other than manually dusting off the fan.

He can blast the CPU fan too. If he wants to be sure not to damage anything he can just hold the blades and make sure it does not start turning. Other than that I recommend:

 

[RAM555789]

4 minutes ago, intelCore said:

He can blast the CPU fan too. If he wants to be sure not to damage anything he can just hold the blades and make sure it does not start turning. Other than that I recommend:

 

Meh, its what they teach us in cisco when it comes to hardware maintenance, I would not recommended it. Oh course cisco would also tell you to have an antistaic wist strap, for just blowing air into a case. Its also about covering your ass as an IT worker so you don't get blamed when something breaks.

[intelCore]

Just now, RAM555789 said:

Meh, its what they teach us in cisco when it comes to hardware maintenance, I would not recommended it. Oh course cisco would also tell you to have an antistaic wist strap, for just blowing air into a case. Its also about covering your ass as an IT worker so you don't get blamed when something breaks.

I know that all too well. We've been taught so too hence why I still hold my fans when blowing them.

[RAM555789]

4 minutes ago, intelCore said:

I know that all too well. We've been taught so too hence why I still hold my fans when blowing them.

Right now I'm in CCNA2, we learn CCNA1 in 3 weeks and CCNA2 in 3 weeks and my head was spinning at first from ALCs but now I see how simple it is.

[Ruffleduffle]

just get some canned air and a few q-tips and some isopropyl alcohol, blast averythign to get rid of the dust and maybe use the q-tips with some alcohol for those hard to reach places.

About those ppl saying you cant spin a fan or else it will get destroyed: that is total BS as @intelCore already said and sourced, it is good practise to hold the blades in place though. Holding them in place also makes cleaning them easier.

If you are using an aircompressor i highly recommend that you wait about an hour or so to let the parts you have just cleaned dry off. Air out of an aircompressor often contains water because the water that makes up the humidity of the air gets removed from the air while the pressurisation and depressurisation of the air. The amount of water is not enough to cause corrosion but if you are unlucky and turn on the system right away you might short something important.

Also while you are at it, depending on the age of your computer, you may want to use this oppertunity to renew the thermal compound on your cpu and gpu.