Cleaning the dust in your computer

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heiso

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Mar 1, 2011
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So I built my first computer a little over two years ago. I haven't cleaned it much and by that I mean only wiping the grills on the case.

How often do you guys clean your computers? I recently opened mine and noticed that the inside blade of the fans is caked in dust. I couldn't reach it unless I unscrewed it. Also, the GPU has dust on it as well. My case has an opening on the top for two 120mm fans but I don't have any on there. Should I have covered it up?

I guess my question is what is the easiest way to go about cleaning it? If I use compressed air, how careful do I have to be when dealing with the GPU and CPU? Can I use a soft brush on it?

 
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Solandri
Does anyone have a first-hand account of actually getting a static discharge from vacuuming up dust in a computer? Given the number of vacuum cleaners that are in use in the world, you would expect there to be lots of first-hand accounts if this were a real risk. (In contrast, almost everyone has experienced static discharges from touching a doorknob, and I have personally fried electronics with a static discharge from my finger.)

There's a similar story with sand blasters, which has mostly been debunked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2004_season)#Static_Cannon

The theory is that the dust particles rubbing against the plastic vacuum nozzle builds up a static charge just like rubbing a balloon in your hair. The basis of...
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Berkin

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Jul 4, 2016
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Compressed air is the way to go but make sure that the room doesn't get dusty after. You can do it in a place where you don't mind getting dirty. Using a vacuum cleaner is supposed to be dangerous for your components but if you have to just make sure you drain the power, shut your PSU off and unplug it from the wall. I never had any problems in the past like that but don't count on it. Also, compressed air is safe for CPU and GPU of course, and I wouldn't use a brush or basicly touch it with anything.
 
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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Does anyone have a first-hand account of actually getting a static discharge from vacuuming up dust in a computer? Given the number of vacuum cleaners that are in use in the world, you would expect there to be lots of first-hand accounts if this were a real risk. (In contrast, almost everyone has experienced static discharges from touching a doorknob, and I have personally fried electronics with a static discharge from my finger.)

There's a similar story with sand blasters, which has mostly been debunked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2004_season)#Static_Cannon

The theory is that the dust particles rubbing against the plastic vacuum nozzle builds up a static charge just like rubbing a balloon in your hair. The basis of the theory is sound, but I'm skeptical of the magnitude of the effect. While I've felt static on plastic (tugs on your arm hairs), I've never seen a static discharge from plastic. And if that theory is correct, then compressed air should be even worse because blasting the dust causes it to rub against the PCBs inside a computer, generating static there directly.

Since plastic is an insulator, you'd expect any static to remain where it is on the plastic, instead of collecting at one point to discharge into electronics like it does from your finger to a doorknob. In fact, to remove the static charge on a plastic hose, you have to run your hand over the entire length of the hose. Simply touching the hose to metal in one place isn't enough.

This is the closest I could find to a first-hand account. Except it's a vacuum attached to a saw, so has been sucking up sawdust for who knows how long. Nothing like the 10-20 seconds it would take to suck the dust out of a computer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt2oX64-amg
 
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