Question Is it ever ok/helpful to blow compressed air into the back fan intake of a laptop to get some dust out without disassembling?

[ShangWang]

Is it ever ok in general to use compressed air on laptop internals without dissassembling first if you just want to blow a little bit of dust out, or will it be dangerous since you can send whatever is flying inside on the mother board and you won't know?

You HAVE to disassemble your laptop?

Talking about here specifically:
Imgur: The magic of the Internet

 

[tennis2]

It's fine. Do short bursts so as not to spin the fan too fast.

 

[ShangWang]

It's fine. Do short bursts so as not to spin the fan too fast.

I see, would you say the opposite is true if you direct the air into the exhaust?

 

[USAFRet]

I see, would you say the opposite is true if you direct the air into the exhaust?

Either or both directions.
Use a toothpick to hold the blades stationary, blow.

 

[tennis2]

I see, would you say the opposite is true if you direct the air into the exhaust?

Large dust deposits are going to gather on the upstream side of the heatsink, so blowing air the opposite direction will have the best results in dislodging them**

** this hinges on the intake grille having enough open space to pass the dust bunnies OUT of the fan hub. Removing the bottom panel removes this restriction.

The [assembled] fan + heatsink channel is pretty well sealed off from the rest of the casing. Not perfect, but the majority of the air you blow in either direction should exit the casing.

 

[Randi Poling]

Should be totally fine, just dont go ham on it and constantly blow on it. Short bursts work best.

 

[dudio]

I agree with tennis2.. reverse direction is most effective.

 

[Nine Layer Nige]

I have taken dozens of laptops apart for refurbs and found that if it has come from a smokers/vapors house, the dust is sticky and needs to be properly cleaned out. If you dont smoke, then it should be fairly easy to encourage the dust out by blasting in both directions and hopefully a little dust bunny will come running out.

 

[Kona45primo]

I will say that using an air compressor is a bad idea.... Someone may have blown off all the fan fins trying that once....

 

[Karadjgne]

Large dust deposits are going to gather on the upstream side of the heatsink, so blowing air the opposite direction will have the best results in dislodging them**

** this hinges on the intake grille having enough open space to pass the dust bunnies OUT of the fan hub. Removing the bottom panel removes this restriction.

The [assembled] fan + heatsink channel is pretty well sealed off from the rest of the casing. Not perfect, but the majority of the air you blow in either direction should exit the casing.

Backwards. There's plenty of obstruction to airflow inside a laptop, and while it would normally make sense to blow in the exhaust to dislodge the dust bunnies from in front of whatever is collecting them, that just lodges the larger chunks on whatever the cleaner air of the intake must pass over. Like the heatpiping, drives, any chipset heatsinks etc. That's blowing dirt from the last 1/4 near the exhaust back into the first 3/4 nearer the intake.

Much care should be taken with compressed air in a laptop, it's extremely cold, and can/will form condensation almost instantly, the air coming out of the straw in an almost liquid form. Very short bursts, at most, and not on a running laptop or one that's been powered up recently. Best is to put it in the fridge for a few hours, away from the veggie draw, as fridges will not only chill the components ahead of time, but also remove a good chunk of the moisture from the air inside.

Seriously want to avoid condensation in any form. Condensation + dust bunnies = mud.

Best bet is regular blowouts, even weekly if around a dusty environment, and every 6 months-1 year pull the back off or whatever will come off, and give it a thorough blowout/dusting.