Cleaning PCs (1 Viewer)

[Malcy]

Hi
Can anyone solve a dilemma for me please?
One of my clients is a cabinet maker and as well as databasing I also do IT support. Every six months or so I need to clean the junk out of his PCs. I used to use a vacuum to clean out the inside but someone told me I risked upsetting the electronic stuff due to the spiral suction generating electrostatic.
Since then I have tended to just use compressed air from a can but it really just redistributes the muck. Last time I did his computers my office vanished under a thick cloud of sawdust which I am still finding.
Can someone definitively let me know whether there really is risk using a Dyson to extract the bulk of the grot, then perhaps using compressed air to finish. I don't know if I can handle another dust explosion but equally I do not want to have to replace RAM chips or motherboards at my own cost either!
Any help would really be appreciated.
Thanks and best wishes

 

[ChrisO]

Yes Malcy you have been told the correct thing but for perhaps the wrong reason.

Static electricity occurs when two dissimilar atoms separate. One side of the separated pair incurs an increase of electrons and the other a depletion. Each atom undergoes a change in electrical charge, Voltage, but in opposite polarity. (Granted that Voltage is not normally the equivalent of electrical charge but it is when we get to the indivisible electron.) The polarity is not important, in this case, simply the difference in polarity.

The Voltage change is small for a single electron transfer, about 4PI ^ -18 Volts but please don’t quote me. The thing is it’s accumulative depending on both the rate of separation and the number of electrons involved. The other side of the coin is it’s depletive and depends on the impedance of the separation and also the time to normalize Voltage differential.

A vacuum cleaner has two ends, one sucks and the other blows. Both ends process the same mass of air. By design the end that sucks has a lower velocity than the end that blows. This is achieved by restricting the cross sectional area of the end that blows. (Even if a vacuum cleaner had the same inlet and discharge cross sectional area the velocity at discharge would be higher because of the inevitable expansion due to heat.)

In restricting the blow end cross sectional area, the velocity increases and that increases the rate of separation between the two dissimilar atoms. Static electricity increases at the high velocity end and so should not be used to clean out Voltage sensitive equipment.

But it is not predictable, simply take it outside if it makes a mess.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Chris.

 

[Brianwarnock]

Hi
Our service guy was in today and I managed a quick word. He said

A rapidly moving mass of air will cause static electricity
He would not use a vacuum cleaner
make sure equipment is cool and earthed
use compressed air in short bursts, he said that he seemed to remember that the propellent helped minimize the static.
take it outside if nescessary

hope this helps

Brian

 

[Malcy]

Hey Guys
Thanks for the responses. So the gen was right even if the reason was wrong! I will stick with compressed air in short bursts but wonder if I could build a unit that could hold the PC and have a vacuum outlet - bit like a fume cupboard from my old school days - since Edinburgh weather in winter is rarely suitable for taking a PC outside. OK in Brisbane no doubt but liable for frostbite or drowning here.
I reckoned if the vacuum exit was far enough away and the unit was big enough to hold the PC quite easily then I could puff away with the compressed air and let the vacuum remove the clouds of dust into its bag rather than creating a major pollution incident.
Any thoughts?

 

[Vassago]

Hey Guys
Thanks for the responses. So the gen was right even if the reason was wrong! I will stick with compressed air in short bursts but wonder if I could build a unit that could hold the PC and have a vacuum outlet - bit like a fume cupboard from my old school days - since Edinburgh weather in winter is rarely suitable for taking a PC outside. OK in Brisbane no doubt but liable for frostbite or drowning here.
I reckoned if the vacuum exit was far enough away and the unit was big enough to hold the PC quite easily then I could puff away with the compressed air and let the vacuum remove the clouds of dust into its bag rather than creating a major pollution incident.
Any thoughts?

There are static free vacuums that are specific for cleaning electrical equipment, such as computer hardware. They can be costly, but well worth it if you work in a dusty area as it sounds he does.

You can also use antistatic wipes to clean off thick amounts of dust, and finish with a can of compressed air.

 

[Ron_dK]

Here's some info on cleaning your PC. This is reliable info.
http://www.computerhope.com/cleaning.htm#07
Want to clean the PC thoroughly ? Press Alt+Ctrl+Del

 

[Malcy]

Hi
Thanks for all the tips. I especially liked the link which seems quite handy.
I ended up using a clean compressed air line they have in the workshop to remove the bulk of the grot. We turned the pressure right down then stood the open PC on the feeding plate of one of the machines (nice and solid) then gave it 2-3 second bursts from the air line held about 15cm away from the PC. This seemed to shift a lot of the stuff and recirculated it into the workshop (better than into my office!).
After a thorough going over I finished in their office with a compressed air can which was OK since by then there was hardly any dust.
Managed to do their three PCs without any problem.
Thanks again for the help and have a good New Year
Best wishes

 

[laptopfan76]

Using compressed air is probably the best option. I would never advise the use of a vacuum cleaner. There is an previous people have commented specialist equipment to clean computers.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Some of the smaller hand-held computer vacuum cleaners with brush tips are low enough in power that they will pick up a lot of dust without causing much static. The anti-static brush on the tip helps considerably. Also, it makes a difference where you apply the tip. Heck, as far as it goes, I'd even use a commercial vac on sucking the dust out of the fan housing. But not for the card racks.

 

[boblarson]

Hmm, I've always just used compressed air with a vacuum at the ready. In other words, I have my vacuum hose right there with me and when I do a burst of air I put the vacuum in near proximity to the machine so as to bring in the particles that blow around and so they don't land, like they did one time to me, in a concentrated area across an electrical contact (the blank memory slot) and then short circuit killing the motherboard. So, since that time where I used no vacuum, I have now always used the vacuum cleaner in conjunction with the compressed air.