Correct Method of Using Compressed Air?

EDIT: I don't need any more input about this; thanks for the replies. If this thread serves any purpose, it's to teach this: Don't use compressed air from the outside to clear dust in the exhaust vent if you're not going to get the dust out of the laptop anyway. Obvious? Yeah, blame my stupidity.

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I've had my Lenovo Ideapad Y530 for about a year now and until recently I haven't cleaned out the dust inside it. I've noticed the fan reaching increasingly high speeds over time while playing games, so I looked into cleaning methods and studied the use of compressed air a bit.

I originally planned to open up the bottom of my laptop and clean the fan and vent directly, but there were some screws that appeared to have some sort of attachment to prevent them from coming up. Having noted a few people who didn't open up their laptops and instead blew compressed air into the vent from the outside, I decided to do the same.

To be honest it worked great. I almost thought I broke my fan with the air since I had to open multiple 3D games to bring the fan to speeds that it would run at with just one 3D game. The laptop remained cool as well, so I know the fan is alright.

The problem is, though the airflow is increased, the dust moved to another location. I half-expected to see some dust come out of the vent since I blew some air across the vent at first. I figured I did nothing about the airflow, so I proceeded to blow air into the vent a little bit afterwards, as I saw a few others do. But I'm pretty sure I just moved dust deeper into my laptop, so I'll have to see what I can do about the screws. But just so I know, what's the correct method of using compressed air, that is, should I not blow it straight though the vent? Any other advice would be appreciated.

 

correct method of using compressed air


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the proper way to use compressed air is to not use it.

Seriously.

Unless you disassemble a machine and individually clean each piece, all compressed air will do is to force dirt further into your machine.

 

Not everyone has the technical expertise to disassemble and then reassemble a notebook.

As for how to properly use compressed air, just don't tilt the can so the liquid won't come out.

 

If its only light dust build up then you can use compress air to push it out. If theres thick fluff build up then compressed air will just push it to the heatsink fins and jam it there.

Point to intake vent and shoot, you can do it to the exhaust vent too and repeat till all the dust is dislodged. Never shoot the can upside down or else you get instant subzero freeze.

I agree with newsposter, the best method is to pull it apart, brush the dust off physically and compressed air to finish it off. Not everyone has the knowledge to to this, though its always good to learn.

 

Thanks for the input, everyone. I figured the screws weren't meant to come up so that's why I thought compressed air might work, though blowing dust in deeper would only cause bigger problems in the long run. I don't think sometimes I guess.

I just found some information about opening up the Y530 so I'll check that out and proceed to clean out the dust the correct way.

 

You can use as much air volume as you like, the pressure is what is bad. I have used my walk behind blower to clean laptops before. 4100cfm at 200mph winds. Thats enough to knock toddlers off there feet. Just stick a wire or a toothpick in the fan grill to prevent the fan from spinning. In less than 2 seconds all of the dust will be out of your laptop.

The problem with air compressors, is that many are too powerful. You only need like 15-30psi to clean your laptop out without taking it apart. Many are 100PSI + which can cause problems.

K-TRON

 

How about sticking a home vac cleaner to the vents. Less powerful but will that be OK?

 

be very careful with a vacuum cleaner... you don't want to suck any small component or to use too much power. I often use and it's great for cleaning. but make sure you are extra careful with that. using a filter in the tip of the vacuum may be useful.

 

I've had my Gateway 450ROG laptop for 6 years now, and I've never done anything about dust. I probably should try to open it up and clean it, but by now it's probably a biohazard, so I figure I'll just keep using it until it catches fire, send it to Homeland Security, and finally buy a new one.

 

As long as you have no loose components, don't touch any sensitive parts - and don't "overspin" the fan, no problem.

I've taken a Dyson to my Vaio great for the keyboard - but I'd recommned to keep of delicate parts with a vacuum cleaner.

 

rotflpmp, that's funny..
.

 

lol...DHS will arrest u for attemped murder and attempted bombing... LOL.......................................

 

Yup using compressed air along the outlet/inlet is going to just rearrange the dust.

Laptops have more confined paths for airflow and using compressed without exposing them will simply "push" dust elsewhere. The better solution would be to remove the keyboard first exposing the numerous heatsinks and blowing air over them. Often removing the keyboard is enough to expose them adequately.

And please don't use a vacuum cleaner! Gosh..

 

Nothing wrong with a vacuum cleaner if you use it carefully and don't touch electrical contacts

Also, it nicely collects dust - for example from the vent if you keep the fan from spinning.

 

The vacuum cleaner issue of static electricity is there, but like the exact same issue in woodworking dust collection (static build up potential cause for fire or explosion), it's overstated. I've not had a single issue with using a vacuum to clean desktops or laptops in 10+ years. Just as others said, be careful around delicate components.

 

There isn't any reason for a vacuum cleaner to build up static electricity - but let's assume the airflow does it - then canned air or a compressor would do the same.

I'm open to any scientific articles though

 

There's definitely a ton of info insisting if you use ungrounded ductwork (like PVC) with woodworking dust collectors there will be enough static electricity to cause an explosion/fire.

Real life usage says that unless you run your DC 24/7 you're fine.

I'm not sure about the science either. I stopped reading into it when I found there's little to no threat in home shop use.

Like I said, the problem is there, just way overstated.

 

Aha, but you're adding a component here - the dust from the wood