Using Canned Air Duster (Safe, or Dangerous?)

[tigidig2x]

Hi guys, i currently have my system getting cleaned. I am planning to buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW

But since i live in the philippines, i am not sure if amazon ships goods here in our country. May i ask do they ship here? if so, how much would i pay? and how long?

Now, for my main question, since i still cant use that metro vac, ill plan to use canned air for now. May i ask, is it safe? They say you should hold it upright while spraying to avoid moist mixed with the air. If i could do this perfectly, would there be no problems? Also, if ever accidentally i sprayed moist air in my hardware, motherboard, insides of psu, heatsink radiators, would it damage my system? I want to get a clarification in this since this is my first time to use. Because i always use brush and right now, its time to improvise i think since i have a new case and i have cable managed it so it would be a pain to use brush.. So please clarify me thanks..

 

[jay2tall]

I have found that canned air isn't the greatest for cleaning out a machine. It simply does not have the power to clean very well. The vac you linked looks really cool. I personally use our normal vacuum (dyson) and suck out the dust bunnies from time to time with the hose attachment. About twice a year I take it to my parents and use their air compressor, which really does a good job on it.

The liquid in canned air is what turns to a gas and is what comes out of the nozzle. Most of them use difluoroethane which in liquid form is really cold. It is actually a refrigerant. if you get this on a component it will just evaporate very quickly and not cause really any hard.

As mentioned above canned air really doesn't work that well. I'd just use a vacuum to suck out the majority of the dust. If you want to really do a good job an air compressor of the vac you linked looks like it would work well.

 

[xbooow59]

actually, compressed air has always worked well for me, unless it serious dirt, but if youre getting serious dirt in your machine you should clean it out more often, i recently had to clean my moms because there was a fan that went bad, probably because of the dirt because it wouldn't spin. if you clean your system regularly that compressed air should work fine

 

[twelve25]

I did PC support for a company with 2000 desktops and we always used canned air with no ill results.

 

[s3anister]

Compressed (canned) air will do absolutely zero damage to your computer, even if you get the refrigerant (the stuff that blows out the nozzle when the can is sideways or upside-down) on your CPU/GPU/RAM/Motherboard.

Fun fact: Law enforcement agencies around the world use canned air to spray the refrigerant directly onto a suspect's RAM to cool the memory and slow the movement of electrons so that the RAM is no longer volatile and thereby preserving the data stored on said RAM for data collection. Doing this allows them to remove the RAM from the system and still have the data (up to ~15 minutes usually) for possible incrimination of suspects.

 

[tigidig2x]

Wow, so i think i found the solution to my problem.. Now, one last question, can you guys please clarify my first question at the top? Thanks so much.. Cause i really tend to use canned air as "temporary" cleaning solution and i want to buy the metro vacuum i listed above please answer my first question thanks.. =)

 

[jay2tall]

Canned air is safe on a electrical components, that is what it is designed for. I've used it ALOT. As I mentioned it isn't the greatest on cleaning PC's, but as a temporary solution it can help. I've use it a lot when taking apart printers and small items when you need to blow out really small components and a compressor is to powerful and a vac would just suck up the pieces.

 

[millwright]

I know many people use vacuums, but vacuums produce large amounts of static electricity, in dry conditions.

Anyone that uses wrist straps, for assembling a computer, should be horrified.

I have never used wrist straps, but would use a vacuum with caution.

Oil lubed air compressors, have oil in the air, and will spread a thin film of oil all over the computer, making dust stick better.(water also)

I use a oil lubed compressor with a scuba filter, made to produce breathing air.

An oil less compressor, is another option.

You can also use an inexpensive oil separator.
edit
They make regulators to control pressure.

 

[xbooow59]

i wouldn't use a vacuum on or near my system... compressed air all day, everyday.

 

[unksol]

i wouldn't use a vacuum on or near my system... compressed air all day, everyday.

"data" vacs are fine. Used one all the time at work and it was great, although.it was this style

www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-MDV-1BA-DataVac-Computer/dp/B00006IAOR/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

And usually just used the blower. Way better than canned air

 

[tigidig2x]

hey guys! Thanks again for all your inputs and im gonna buy the metro vacuum ED500 i linked above. Can you please tell me now if amazon ships in philippines? If so, how much would i pay, and how long would i wait? Thanks.. This is just an additional question..

 

[xbooow59]

i wouldn't use a vacuum on or near my system... compressed air all day, everyday.

 

[tungleboomps]

I found one can of canned air blew what appeared to be water (gas I suppose) into the laptop and presto! A strange smell that resembled uranium 238 and then blue smoke ascended from the laptop. I think the canned air was old and it just blew liquid into the laptop to my great dismay. The results brought a great amount of despair. Personally now, I would use a strong vac turned wide opened and stick it to the vents long enough till the dirt and whatever were pulled out.