Vent Cleaning

Hello There!

I have a question about vent cleaning. I know many guides say that to clear the dust, use a can of compressed air on the vents. But that seems counterintuitive to me. Won't that just push the dust further down into the computer?

Is it really necessary to take apart the computer and possibly void the warranty in order to clean all the dust?


How do you do it?

Thanks!

 

I pull off the bottom covers and blow it out from the inside through the fans and vents, and every so often I open the keyboard too and really make sure it is clean. I have a Sager, so it doesn't void the warranty, I know there are a few others that allow the same.

 

A can of air does work. It can't get it all out there, and nothing is as good as removing the heatsink from the computer and washing it, but it gets the job done. Unless you have a major furball in there, a can of air is going to get out most of the dust. It will blow out from all the vents and holes on the computer.

 

its not going to really go deeper into the computer.... if you blow it in the intake dust comes out vent. If you blow it into the vent dent will come out the intake. I usually blow in the intake first then the vent. Ive done it for years and as long as you do it pretty often once every week or two it will stay very clean. Ive done it like that for a couple years and opened the computer and it was clean as a whistle! Issues come up if you let it go too long and the dust gets a chance to cake onto stuff....

I also take my cpmuter apart when Im bored to give it a good blow out also but thats just me...

 

Dust tends to clog up around vents. Using compressed air you destroy those clogs to tiny dust pieces which either goes out the vent without clogging it up or the dust find other ways, like through the holes in the bottom of the notebook

Its also very difficult to clean a fan properly without removing parts, but compressed air does a pretty good job there too

 

So is it better to blow through the vent or the intake?

 

Blow through the intake, then the vent, then the intake again if you don't open it up. You can not see inside, so make sure to be redundant in blowing air through, just to make sure if there is a buildup you can get everything. I would keep blowing through each until you see nothing coming out. If you see any dust or whatever, keep blowing. It is better to use a can of air than risk your CPU and GPU or other hardware.

 

I heard that compressed air could lead to condensation forming on the internals?

 

Those air cans contain a light hydrocarbon and if you follow the instructions on the can (use short bursts, not prolonged ones), you won't run into that. Long burst with the "air" can results in a frost gun so be careful.

 

Do you recommend using those short air bursts to clean off the dust?

 

Like Tijo said, longer bursts will eventually shoot out the compressed gas in more condensed form, meaning condensation on the internals. Turning it upside down will do the same thing, only more so. If your heat sinks are badly clogged (so the dust on the inside is cohesive like a quarter-inch-thick layer of felt) you're in danger of putting chunks of dust-felt around your motherboard, so you might want to open up for a full cleaning, but if you use compressed air once every couple months you should never run into that problem.

The dust-felt thing is what has always led to overheating and shutdowns in my laptops, so if you're not having temperature issues with your laptop you're probably alright to use canned air.

 

its always best to check with your supplier first as its come to light in the last few weeks that a MSI owner was warned that removing his base plate even just to clean out fans and vents will void is warranty which is outratgious.
after speaking to xoticpc about this they said as long as no seals are broken it should be ok and not void warranty.

now if you own a clevo/sager then clean away to your hearts content as these lappys are user upgradable so wont void your warranty.

 

About squirting liquid propellant into there, that is impossible if you follow the directions of the can. You hold it upright and do short bursts. If you have it upside down, the liquid propellant will come out, and freeze whatever it touches as it quickly evaporates. Also you are forced into using short bursts, as a prolonged burst reduces the internal pressure faster than the liquid propellant can evaporate inside the can. So the velocity of the gas being expelled is reduced over time during a prolonged burst. Also this cools the can, and the cooler temperature reduces the gas velocity as well, but for a longer time until the can gets back to room temperature.

So really, don't worry. If you follow the directions on the can, it will work out great and you can't mess anything up.

 

Mu .02 is that if the laptop is overheating or constantly shutting down that would mean your cooling fins are clogged with dust bunnies and will need a complete take down to clean out the fins and fans of dust to improve thermal heat flow and also you will most likely have to redo the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU if dedicated because once you remove the thermal plate the original paste will need to be replaced and if you have separate GPU cooling that will also need the same attention as well. But if your lappy is still running fine and you can feel the air flow out the vent(s) then you should still be ok with a little air can blowing it out toward the back not into the laptop that would only invite problems.

 

I'd recommend testing the air bursts on something non-electronic the first time so you get the hang of what causes frost and what doesn't (if you're doing it right, you won't get frost - but if you make a mistake the first time, better that it be against some non-electronic piece of metal that won't care). It's easy enough once you get the hang of it, but you're right to be cautious at first.

 

The little bit of "frost" the canned air makes is'nt going to hurt anything you could get it on with the case on unless your sitting there with the can upside down spraying nothing but "frost" into a hold somewhere. I've frosted things before and it never did anything to it. Basically holding the can at too much of an angle is what will cause the "frost" to come out. Like the above poster said try it out on purpose just so you know.

Maybe we can cool CPU and GPU this way for some uber OCing!!! lolz

 

I use once of these simple paint brushes:

Paint Varnish Brushes 1 inch Width New | eBay

Just pick one large/long enough for your heatsink... Also good for cleaning the fan blades, keyboard (including liquid spills, just dip it in isopropanol), display and the whole laptop

 

I just cleaned my fan and vents last week. Had to disassemble most of the laptop, but didn't remove the heatsink/fan from the mobo. Sprayed compressed air in and out of fan and vents from all directions, usually with small bursts. Did wonders for my temperatures!

 

That's what you have you also dissemble if you really want to clean any dust or dust stuck on the cooling fins or clean the dust off the fan blades themselves. That complete dissembly and cleaning and new thermal paste would help with cooling if the problem is overheating from too much dust itself but if the problem is motherboard related with GPU failure not amount of cleaning or paste will do that will require new motherboard or reflowing of the GPU to fix it.