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    Cleaning Dust from Laptop Without Disassembling

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by touchtoplay, Jul 18, 2013.

  1. touchtoplay

    touchtoplay Notebook Consultant

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    Hello everyone, as the title states I was looking into cleaning the internals of my laptop without opening it up. I know opening it would make a thorough clean certain, but I really don't feel confident in putting the laptop back together safely. I was wondering if I could spray a few bursts of compressed air in the vents to rustle up the dust sitting around and then use the tube extension of a vacuum cleaner to suck out the bits of dust from the vent. Will this still be an efficient way to clean and safe for my laptop?
     
    touchtoplay, Jul 18, 2013
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  2. Ajfountains

    Ajfountains Notebook Deity

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    I wouldn't recommend that. Dust tends to accumulate around the vents and fans of a notebook; basically along the route of airflow. By keeping it enclosed and just spraying air, all you will do is move it around. Depending on the size of the clumps of dust and the size of the vents on your notebook (which you didnt list) you may not be able to even get anything out with a vacuum.

    Take off the backplate of your notebook and do a careful cleaning. make sure you remove the battery and that the notebook is unplugged.
     
    Ajfountains, Jul 19, 2013
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  3. tocirahl

    tocirahl Notebook Consultant

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    Depending on how your fans are laid out, sometimes you can spray air in the exhaust vent out towards the intake vent and have that work (I've done that before), but it would really depend on your fan configuration.
     
    tocirahl, Jul 22, 2013
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  4. touchtoplay

    touchtoplay Notebook Consultant

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    Sorry, forgot to mention what laptop I have. It's an HP Pavillion dv6tqe; it has a vent on the left side which seems to be the main one and a few on the underside. The side vent would seem the most accessible if I wanted to vacuum out the dust though.
     
    touchtoplay, Jul 23, 2013
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  5. KLF

    KLF NBR Super Modernator Super Moderator

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    If you are going to use compressed air, be sure to block fan from spinning first. Use a long needle or straightened paperclip.

    Blowing air into the laptop causes fan to run backwards and way too fast, it has a good chance to damage bearings. Then you really need to open it, since those Pavilions have their cooler assembly on the underside of the motherboard ( = take everything apart).
     
    KLF, Jul 24, 2013
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  6. Diamondback Six

    Diamondback Six Notebook Geek

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    Won't help now, but once it's clean, you might consider adding an air-filter made from a used dryer-sheet on the intake. Cut down the amount that gets in in the first place, and that cuts the amount you have to get out...
     
    Diamondback Six, Nov 23, 2013
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