A Dirty Job

One thing I see a LOT when helping people with their Macs or PCs is DUST. That’s because while a lot of people might keep the outside of their systems relatively clean, they probably don’t think much about what might be going on inside. Why would it be dirty in there?

Fact is, any tower-based system is a dust collection bin. The fan in the back that blows out warm air…where do you suppose that air comes from originally? That’s right – there are intake vents in your PC, maybe several. The intakes, usually in the front, are there to keep the inside from getting too hot: fans in the back pull air over all the components.

A couple of things can happen if you don’t check for and deal with dust build-up. First, when everything inside gets coated with a layer of fine dust, everything runs hotter. This can cause components to wear and fail more quickly.

More importantly, what often happens is this: big, gross balls of dust, carpet fiber, and pet hair accumulate over the intake vents and inside fan propellors. This reduces or totally stops air flow, and then – combined with the finer dust covering interior components – everything REALLY gets hot. And, your fans will live a much shorter life as well, because they’re working very hard at removing air that isn’t there. Kind of like if you run a pump dry.

I snapped a few photos of a recently retired PC - this is what I typically find:



On the left, you can see dust clogging-up the openings where air should be flowing freely. On the right, dust has collected on top of the video card.

I’ve seen dustballs the size of my fist, and that’s not an exaggeration. When I’m working on somebody’s machine in my basement “lab” and see this sort of trouble brewing, I usually put on an allergy mask, take it outside, and blow out the large bits with a can of compressed air. Then I vacuum out as much dust as I can using a crack/crevice attachment and a soft brush attachment.

You can do the same, and help your machine run better. After all, your computer runs on software – but at heart it’s still a machine with moving parts, little motors, and circuit boards. There are even ball bearings in there somewhere!

You can probably find the instructions on how to open your case from your manufacturer’s web site, and some systems are so easy to open you might not even need them. When the side and/or top cover and face covers are off, you’ll probably get a better view of where the intake vents are.

Now, you do want to be very careful about vacuuming – avoid wires and such and don’t press or drag a plastic vacuum hose or tool directly onto any surfaces other than solid metal or plastic casing areas. If you’re not sure about vacuuming, just don’t do it . Just blowing it out and maybe clearing the intake vents and fan motors of gunk and getting rid of the big stuff will have you breathing a sigh of relief.

Do I have to mention that you should NOT try to clean anything inside with any sort of liquid? Well, you never know…

Also, this kind of dust collection is not usually a concern for laptops or iMacs; those types of systems are sealed-up pretty well.

If you have questions about cleaning out your system, feel free to ask!