Questions About Cleaning a PC

[Philip_PCGaming]

I'm planning to clean my pc (for the first time), but I still have the following questions:

1. I'm gonna use a compressed air can primarily to clean my pc, but for example on my PSU there is a layer of dust on a flat, even surface that would be easier to clean with some type of cloth. Is a microfiber clotch adequate for this? Or would this cause some type of static electricity?(what I read somewhere on the internet, but I think is incorrect).

2. Is touching an unpainted part inside the case enough to ground yourself?

If you have any recommendations/tips please also note them.

Thanks in advance.

Philip

 

[icehowler]

You should disconnect the cable from PSU. Then wait 1-2 minutes. Then you should be safe to clean with a vacuum + compressed air can. I use them both. Usually I put someone to handle vacuum and I do the spraying. It's much easier to get rid of all that dust. If you only use the spray, then dust will move one side to another.

 

[Solandri]

Just to reiterate what icehowler said, if you're cleaning this indoors I highly highly recommend using a vacuum first. If you just blast it, the dust will end up in your room, and the computer will eventually suck it all back in again. Better yet, just lug the whole thing outdoors and blast it with compressed air out there. Then bring it indoors and vacuum what's left. Be sure to blast between the fins of your heatsink. That's a prime area for dust to collect, and it severely impairs the heat dissipation capability.

Unless the weather conditions cause you to build up static just from moving around, touching the metal case should be enough to ground yourself even if the case is unplugged (the charge will be spread over the metal case instead of concentrated in your fingertip). I highly recommend Swiffer pads for picking up any stubborn dust which refuses to budge after you've blasted and vacuumed. But I believe they work with a weak electrostatic charge. So they're fine for non-electrical parts like the exterior of the case, fan, heatsinks, wiring, etc. but I wouldn't use them directly on electrical components like the motherboard, ICs, memory modules.

If the computer has built up a lot of dust in a short amount of time, you may want to consider putting foam or cloth filters in front of the intake vents. They will require cleaning or replacing, but it's a lot easier to clean them than the entire inside of your computer. If the computer has too many intake vents to cover, you can convert it to positive pressure airflow. That is, put all the fans on one side and orient them to blow air into the case. Put filters in front of the fan intakes to catch any dust. The fans will generate higher pressure inside the case than in your room, causing air to flow out the vents thus preventing dust from coming in through them.

 

[Philip_PCGaming]

Thanks for the responses! But I read multiple times that using a vacuum to clean a pc is a big no no, because it would build up static because it sucks in the air?

 

[icehowler]

This is how I clean the PC for more than 2 years. No worries Maybe if you have very cheap components it would be some sign of worrying. But the most modern parts shouldn't have this issue.

 

[synphul]

Even modern parts can suffer from esd (electro static discharge) and yes it can happen from a vacuum cleaner as a result of the air moving through the plastic nozzle. Air particles and 'charge' the plastic tip like shuffling on carpet in socks however you need to have the tip close enough to a component for the discharge to happen.

What people are saying is have a vacuum near where you're blowing out dust with the compressed air, say near the bottom or outside the rear of the case if blowing dust out of the case (dust exiting the rear exhaust fan area). The vacuum would be around 6-8" away to collect the dusty air rather than just letting it blow all over the place.

If you shuffle your feet on carpet and then touch a metal doorknob or touch another person you have to be pretty close. It doesn't build enough electricity to shoot an arc 6-12" away like a lightning bolt from merlin's staff. Esd doesn't necessarily fry components immediately, the effects can be minimal enough not to notice. For instance instead of a component lasting 5yrs, it may only last 4yrs and 6mo or 4yrs and 8mo. Someone may have exposed their system to esd and not realize it even after a year or two.

Touching the case should be enough to ground yourself yes, but leave the psu plugged in. The ground effect would transfer from your person to the case to the psu to the wall outlet (to complete the ground). Otherwise with the psu unplugged the case/chassis is isolated and any static electricity has nowhere to go.

So long as you wipe slowly and don't drag the microfiber cloth around the motherboard and other vital internals, simply wiping off the psu housing (large flat area, part of the external portion of the psu) should be fine.

 

[Philip_PCGaming]

Even modern parts can suffer from esd (electro static discharge) and yes it can happen from a vacuum cleaner as a result of the air moving through the plastic nozzle. Air particles and 'charge' the plastic tip like shuffling on carpet in socks however you need to have the tip close enough to a component for the discharge to happen.

What people are saying is have a vacuum near where you're blowing out dust with the compressed air, say near the bottom or outside the rear of the case if blowing dust out of the case (dust exiting the rear exhaust fan area). The vacuum would be around 6-8" away to collect the dusty air rather than just letting it blow all over the place.

If you shuffle your feet on carpet and then touch a metal doorknob or touch another person you have to be pretty close. It doesn't build enough electricity to shoot an arc 6-12" away like a lightning bolt from merlin's staff. Esd doesn't necessarily fry components immediately, the effects can be minimal enough not to notice. For instance instead of a component lasting 5yrs, it may only last 4yrs and 6mo or 4yrs and 8mo. Someone may have exposed their system to esd and not realize it even after a year or two.

Touching the case should be enough to ground yourself yes, but leave the psu plugged in. The ground effect would transfer from your person to the case to the psu to the wall outlet (to complete the ground). Otherwise with the psu unplugged the case/chassis is isolated and any static electricity has nowhere to go.

So long as you wipe slowly and don't drag the microfiber cloth around the motherboard and other vital internals, simply wiping off the psu housing (large flat area, part of the external portion of the psu) should be fine.

Ah okay, yeah I knew that icehowler meant it that way but solandri made it look like he only used the vacuum and that confused me. Thanks for your response though!

EDIT:

Oh you mentioned to leave the PSU plugged in but I suppose you would have to turn the switch of the PSU off?

 

[synphul]

Right, turning off the psu is fine. Leaving it plugged into the wall will keep it connected to ground. All grounds are connected to one another and eventually leads from say the motherboard tray to the psu housing to the internal wires of the psu, through the power cable to the outlet ground and so on. Eventually it should lead to the building's electrical ground (actually in the ground, hence the name). Otherwise the case and components would be isolated.