Dust off Time!

[Freecare Spiritwise]

This is the time of year when I take my desktops out to the garage to blow the dust out of 'em so they don't overheat.

I believe someone here last year (Kulaf maybe?) was *strongly* disagreeing with my technique of using the shop air compressor to blow the computers out. Why pay for cans of air when I can make my own lol.

So a few months ago I asked my dad, a retired electronics engineer who used to own a chain of computer stores and even used to design and market his own motherboards at one time. That's before the big chains like Best Buy put all the smaller chains out of business.

I told him that someone had told me about air compressors generating too much moisture and my thought that by that reasoning, a humid day would be bad for your computer. He said that he has used air compressors to unclog computers for pretty much as long as modern computers have been around and that most of the components on the motherboard could probably be operated under water.

Not only that, but he said he's been doing that to unclog dust from electronic components for his entire 50 year career, part of it even for the space program when he worked for NASA.

I've been using the air compressor for about 10 years out of my 20-odd years of experience with computer hardware (not counting all the ones I helped my dad build as a kid) and other than one of the first times where a fan spun at ridiculous RPM and cut the fuck out of my hand when I accidentally touched it, it's worked like a charm.

But I did check into it and the most authoratative person I know told me it was OK. Out of my network/electronic engineer friends I have a couple friends who do use air compressors also and one friend who swears that anything other than a can o'air is bad, so the person here wasn't the only one who told me that.

[Arathena]

The major issue with home air compressors is that they are generally of the oiled construction. This means that every blast of air contains microdrops of oil. If you want an indication of how much risk there is, set a newspaper down, put some heavy stuff on the corners, and spray it down with your compressor. Then decide if you want /that/ on your computer parts. If it's oil-less.. have fun until the cows come home.

Edit: Probably a good idea to do something similar anyway, even if it's oil-less, just to see what does come out. Your compressor /probably/ isn't going to spit out iron filings, but you never know.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

Hmm that's a really good idea. I've been blowing out my desktops about 5 years with this one, but I'll still try it.

Here's what I'm packin'

[Ddrak]

My Dad had this compressor that was an old VW engine with two cylinders converted to pump air instead of fuel. It would fill a tractor tire in no time and would pretty much knock you over if you pointed the hose at someone. I don't think I'd want that anywhere near my PC for fear of the components all going flying off the board...

Dd

[Embar Angylwrath]

This is the time of year when I take my desktops out to the garage to blow the dust out of 'em so they don't overheat.

I believe someone here last year (Kulaf maybe?) was *strongly* disagreeing with my technique of using the shop air compressor to blow the computers out. Why pay for cans of air when I can make my own lol.

So a few months ago I asked my dad, a retired electronics engineer who used to own a chain of computer stores and even used to design and market his own motherboards at one time. That's before the big chains like Best Buy put all the smaller chains out of business.

I told him that someone had told me about air compressors generating too much moisture and my thought that by that reasoning, a humid day would be bad for your computer. He said that he has used air compressors to unclog computers for pretty much as long as modern computers have been around and that most of the components on the motherboard could probably be operated under water.

Not only that, but he said he's been doing that to unclog dust from electronic components for his entire 50 year career, part of it even for the space program when he worked for NASA.

I've been using the air compressor for about 10 years out of my 20-odd years of experience with computer hardware (not counting all the ones I helped my dad build as a kid) and other than one of the first times where a fan spun at ridiculous RPM and cut the fuck out of my hand when I accidentally touched it, it's worked like a charm.

But I did check into it and the most authoratative person I know told me it was OK. Out of my network/electronic engineer friends I have a couple friends who do use air compressors also and one friend who swears that anything other than a can o'air is bad, so the person here wasn't the only one who told me that.

50 year electronic career????

Not to piss on his parade, but dustintg off vacuum tubes is maybe different from circuit boards.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

The transistor was invented in 1947 smart ass

My dad has the distinction of being the first person to sell digital calculators and clocks in the consumer market (1970?). His calculators were made by hand and the case was real walnut. The Japanese reverse engineered his design and mass produced them out of plastic and we almost lost our house because he had his life savings in the company.

Google didn't find much about them. I think they're wrong about the year, and the battery was a standard 9 volt.

http://www.calculator.org/Pages/calcula ... ernational

[Kulaf]

Well with all due respect to your father.....well he's just wrong. I have painted with an air gun and and I can tell you that the biggest issue with using an air compressor is keeping water vapor out of your paint. The same would hold true to computer parts, especially if you plan to use them as soon as you take them back into the house and plug them in. If you read the operations manual that comes with your computer they will have recomendations for condensing humidity. Let me see if I can find one:

Operating Humidity - Less than 90% (non-condensing)

Use whatever method you want. It's your computer and you foot the bill on parts if there is an issue. My suggestion if you find buying cans of compressed CO2 too expensive would be to use tanks of CO2 like those used in soda stations. It's what I use here at work when I am blowing dust out of VLT's.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

Well with all due respect to your father.....well he's just wrong.

Years ago I got pulled into this big conference call where the client got on and said "Well, we hired this expert and he says you're wrong, and we'd like to know your thoughts on the matter", and I replied with (one of the few times I've dropped an F-bomb in a meeting) "My thoughts are that everyone who's ever powered on a computer is a fucking expert. Look at someone's track record." It was the last I heard about that matter and the client must've liked the answer because we had a long and fruitful relationship.

...so I still feel that way today. I don't know your track record/qualifications and you don't know mine.

[Arathena]

FWIW: I generally choose to vacuum off everything but the CPU / GPU fans.

Nothing solves arguments like photos from testing, though~

[Kulaf]

FWIW: I generally choose to vacuum off everything but the CPU / GPU fans.

Nothing solves arguments like photos from testing, though~

Depends on the vac I assume. A normal household vac creates an incredible amount of static electricity that I would never let near my computer. Now if you are using a professional vac from 3M or something, and leave the computer plugged in so that it is grounded that would be another matter, but I would still use CO2 and not touch component parts.

Back to the topic of CO2 vs. compressed air. Let's weigh the possible pros and cons. The only con to CO2 is the temperature of the propelent in the small cans. If you tip the can it will blow freezing propelent. If you want to see the ambiant humidity in your home tip the can upside down and spray it. If you see a cloud that is the propelent freezing the water vapor in the air. If you buy a tank of compressed CO2 like I use at work there are no cons at all. The tank stays upright and all you get is a a nice moisture free spray of CO2.

The cons for an air compressor are numerous. In addition to potentially spraying water in your computer you have the potential for oil from the spray nozzle. In addition to that you have to remember to dial down the pressure of the tank to not risk damaging components or fans from using too much pressure. If you don't believe there is water in your compressors tank then I suggest you have never drained your tank.....or you live in AZ and have zero humidity.

But as I said do what you want, it's your computer.

[Kulaf]

Regarding testing. I have tested it. My father was a mechanic and I used his compressor all the time. We had a stage filter on it to try to reduce the amount of moisture coming out of the tank. I used to have to drain the filter all the time. It was the only way to protect air tools from moisture. Saying that we have to test that there is water vapor in normal air seems rather rediculous and should just be accepted at face value as a given.

[Kulaf]

http://www.napafilters.com/aquachek/installation.asp

That system from Napa is very close to the one we had.