CPU Fan - dusty and dirty

[JonathanDeane]

Here is a [sort of cheesy, but interesting] site I found about static.

http://www.amasci.com/emotor/stmiscon.html#one

STORM CLOUDS ARE ELECTRIFIED BY FRICTION? No.
Some books claim that the separated charges in thunderstorms come about because the clouds rub against each other, or because the falling rain rubs against the air. This is not correct. In fact, the true explanation for storm electrification is unknown. There are several possible explanations, but none of them has yet been accepted by scientists, and all the theories have problems.

Here's one current theory:
In a mixture of rain and half-melted hail, the ice and water become oppositely electrified through contact. The large hail then falls faster than the small raindrops and spray. Two large regions appear in the cloud, a lower one that's made of hail, and an upper one that's made of rain. These regions contain opposite imbalances of electric charge.
So, what caused the clouds to become electrified? Contact between dissimilar materials, followed by wide separation of those materials.

My thoery on lightning... Sunlight and radiation from the sun ionize the the upper atmosphear and create free electrons by stripping them from gases. The earths core is also partly responsible due to its magnetic field. anyway thats my thoery

 

[Caboose-1]

My thoery on lightning... Sunlight and radiation from the sun ionize the the upper atmosphear and create free electrons by stripping them from gases. The earths core is also partly responsible due to its magnetic field. anyway thats my thoery

Not bad.

 

[michaelahess]

I completely drenched the MB. As long as you get it turned off quick enough and dry it out good it will work (toms kinda verifyied this in their oil filled case story.) Use compressed air if you're in a hurry. I've replaced numerous laptop mb's due to spilled soda and such, but never water. Keyboards are more finicky. I've washed some in dishwashers to see what happens and logi and ms boards seem to work fine after they are dry while generic ones give up the ghost.

 

[Pain]

I remember seeing somewhere, I forget where I saw it, that they recommended washing keyboards in the dishwashing, upside down on the top rack. I've also seen somewhere that you can cook a turkey the same way.

I've washed parts off in the sink, it doesn't hurt them as long as you let them dry.

 

[Caboose-1]

I completely drenched the MB. As long as you get it turned off quick enough and dry it out good it will work (toms kinda verifyied this in their oil filled case story.) Use compressed air if you're in a hurry. I've replaced numerous laptop mb's due to spilled soda and such, but never water. Keyboards are more finicky. I've washed some in dishwashers to see what happens and logi and ms boards seem to work fine after they are dry while generic ones give up the ghost.

Word.

 

[Panzerzero]

get a can of dust spray and go to work

 

[michaelahess]

My psu didn't fry, it just wasn't totally drenched like the rest fo the machine. I think it was a temp sensor on the mb going off. That article, if read closely, says they were going to try distilled water or some such but the computer wouldn't boot for long, but after removing the water it worked great. Then they say there will most likely be no damage from getting it wet.

The PS is a different animal as it's pulling way more power than the board or other parts, particularuy the 110v ac. I would not recommend those getting wet

Stop with the Errr, it's agrevating me :lol:

 

[Zoron]

Pure water doesn't conduct electricity... so if you drink bottled water, I don't see how spilling it could cause any serious harm to components. Generally I agree, liquids are bad. Fruit juice is one of the worst... even if it doesn't fry the component, it will leave a sticky residue. Can be a big pain in the ass with mice.

 

[Grimmy]

:lol:

I deleted my post.

Figured that there was no point in going on.. and on about it.

I understand pure/distilled water will not conduct.

But it did fry a generic keyboard from what I remembered, which was regular tap water.

Anyhoo... go ahead and keep water around your PC so you can spill it, and keep your reflexes sharp.

 

[Zoron]

Tap water isn't pure... chlorine, flouride and other additives. Plus traces of whatever minerals are in the pipes. You don't get distilled water out of the tap, that's for sure.

 

[Grimmy]

Tap water isn't pure... chlorine, flouride and other additives. Plus traces of whatever minerals are in the pipes. You don't get distilled water out of the tap, that's for sure.

No Schitt... Where did I say tap water is pure?

And still... even if it is distilled water, it still can cause a short.

Edit:

Just to be clear:

it=water, and the kind of water.. tap

Edit:

And if anyone was wondering what I ment by distilled water can still cause a short, when you get distilled water on your MB, it is not going to be exactly clean. It will have dust particles on it that will contaminate the distilled water.

Thermal compound also can do this, and your warned by the instructions to wipe it off on spots other then the CPU core.

 

[michaelahess]

It's the only way to keep my reflexes quick these days, not enough time to play games as much as I'd like 😀

 

[Grimmy]

It's the only way to keep my reflexes quick these days, not enough time to play games as much as I'd like 😀

:lol:

 

[p05esto]

Still debating this huh. Okay, Toms or MythBusters. Time to conclusively test if a plastic vacuum cleaner attachment can produce any eletric shock whatsoever let along enough to hurt the insides of a computer that are already grounded to the case.

If the CPU is grounded into the motherboard with a big old METAL heatsick on it how could a little carpet spark do any damage anyways?

My air compressor spits out all kinds of condesendation when blowing air so that would be a real bad idea.

I'll take my risk (if there is any) with a vacuum. TOMS - time to do an article on this subject. I was some static-electricity benchmarks.

 

[Pain]

Well, for the sake of argument, I haven't seen very many heatsinks that are grounded, but that doesn't mean some aren't.

 

[Vile]

3 freaking pages of stupid argument about grounding ?

 

[Pain]

3 freaking pages of stupid argument about grounding ?

So what? There's just so much you can do to discuss how to clean a fricken heatsink. Lets see, there's: vacuum it, blow it with canned air, use a brush to dust it out. Hmmm. That just about covers it? Oh, dip it in hot oil wasn't discussed yet. Hot oil would probably work well, as long as the vat containing the oil was properly grounded.

 

[Grimmy]

Still debating this huh. Okay, Toms or MythBusters. Time to conclusively test if a plastic vacuum cleaner attachment can produce any eletric shock whatsoever let along enough to hurt the insides of a computer that are already grounded to the case.

If the CPU is grounded into the motherboard with a big old METAL heatsick on it how could a little carpet spark do any damage anyways?

My air compressor spits out all kinds of condesendation when blowing air so that would be a real bad idea.

I'll take my risk (if there is any) with a vacuum. TOMS - time to do an article on this subject. I was some static-electricity benchmarks.

LOL... Mythbusters, ya!!!!!

I'm still waiting on if BigFoot is a myth. :lol:

 

[Grimmy]

3 freaking pages of stupid argument about grounding ?

So what? There's just so much you can do to discuss how to clean a fricken heatsink. Lets see, there's: vacuum it, blow it with canned air, use a brush to dust it out. Hmmm. That just about covers it? Oh, dip it in hot oil wasn't discussed yet. Hot oil would probably work well, as long as the vat containing the oil was properly grounded.

Well... would the thermal compound be enough insulation to protect enough against static?

Edit:

And isn't aluminum a poor conductor of electricity?

I guess copper HS would have a higher risk.

 

[Pain]

If you are being serious, it's not the static through the parts casing, but across the pins.

 

[Grimmy]

If you are being serious, it's not the static through the parts casing, but across the pins.

Across the pins? The pins are not exposed when socketed.

So moving a vacuum brush across the HS will cause static that will get to the pins?

 

[Zoron]

My air compressor spits out all kinds of condesendation when blowing air so that would be a real bad idea.

Hmmmm... got it sitting near water? My compressor blows nothing but air.

 

[Pain]

Probably not. If you only use the vacuum on the HS only, and other fans etc then there is probably low risk as long as you keep the vacuum away from the MB and other boards.

 

[Grimmy]

My air compressor spits out all kinds of condesendation when blowing air so that would be a real bad idea.

Hmmmm... got it sitting near water? My compressor blows nothing but air.

I guess you never drain your air compressor? :lol:

 

[Grimmy]

Probably not. If you only use the vacuum on the HS only, and other fans etc then there is probably low risk as long as you keep the vacuum away from the MB and other boards.

I guess we are confusing each other again.

I normally don't vacuum under the CPU.

But I do vacuum the HS with the fan off, so I don't have to reseat the HS to the CPU.