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Swiffer mop + dust in computer = tragedy?
emnmnme
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I was cleaning out some accumulated dust from my aunt's computer today with compressed air and cotton swabs. It was a mess - dust on the power supply, in the fans - and my aunt suggested we use a Swiffer brush to collect the dust. I told her that might be a bad idea because of the static build up but was I right to suggest that? How do Swiffer brushes work?
I finished cleaning out the dust with just cotton swabs.
I finished cleaning out the dust with just cotton swabs.
emnmnme on
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Compressed air and cotton swabs is the exact right way to do it. Make sure to stop fans from free-spinning though when you blow them out though. In addition to it not really cleaning the surfaces, I hear it's bad for them (something about certain types of motors having their life reduced/getting louder?)
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Correct. I always warn people about this - I've known folks who have had to learn this the hard way.
Compressed air can get those teeny fans spinning pretty fast, which can overheat the bearings rather surprisingly quickly. It causes the plastics that encloses the bearings to sag or melt. With the bearings now siezed or perhaps out of alignment, the fan will either just die outright, or will exhibit other problems (louder, since it's out of balance; or shorter life since it's out of alignment and now operating under increased friction).
I take mine outside and use and air compressor and use a pencil or something similiar to brake the fans while I'm blowing them out. If all you have is canned air it's still better to do it outside, otherwise you're just putting all that dust into the air just to get sucked right back into the computer (or your lungs).
In addition to the fibrous weave of the cloth just trapping and holding dust in its nooks and crannies like an english muffin, cleaning wipes like Swiffer build up a static charge by themselves just by the mechanical movement of the cloth against a surface of a different material. In fact, a lot of those products build up a charge intentionally, since the eletrostatic charge on the cloth will attract and trap dust - a pretty desirable feature for a dusting cloth to have! No so great for working on and around ESD-sensitive devices, however.
Vacuums have similiar risks, as the plastic hoses can store a static charge as well (often enhanced by a belt-driven fan). There are vacs made for working in ESD-sensitive environments, but they're somewhat specialized, and unlikely to be present in the average household.
There are safe vacuums for electrical items, you can buy them pretty cheap.
Good God man, how big is your house?
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I mean, that's what I've done. I hope that's okay.
Yeah, that's fine. You don't need a special tool or technique. I use a pencil because it keeps me a little farther away from the cloud of dust. The main thing is don't let the fan pinwheel in the blown air, since it'll get going a lot faster than it would ever spin while powered under normal use.
... Oh my.