Old school tech finally convinced me to stop using compressed air

Had a customer bring in a computer caked in dust last week and he begged me not to blow it out with canned air. He showed me a video of a guy using a soft brush and a vacuum instead and how it keeps the components cleaner longer. Tried it on his machine and now I'm thinking of switching for good, anyone else make the swap?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessap734d ago

Read something similar on a PC building subreddit, guy swore by using a brush and a vacuum for years and his rigs never had issues with dust buildup inside the fans or heatsinks... always figured canned air just blew the dust deeper into the system instead of actually removing it. Makes sense when you think about it, you're just moving the problem around instead of getting rid of it. That video of the guy doing it the slow way was kinda satisfying to watch too, real meticulous work. Might pick up a soft brush set myself and give it a shot on my own machine.

the_jake4d ago

Wait hold on. The video was satisfying to watch? Like, someone carefully brushing dust out of a computer for what, an hour? That's not satisfying that's a hostage situation. I get the logic behind it, canned air definitely just pushes stuff around, but sitting there with a tiny brush and a vacuum sounds like a whole new level of patience. More power to you if you have the stomach for it, I guess.

wren2304d agoMost Upvoted

@tessap73 I actually read a post from some IT guy who said canned air can push dust into bearings and cause more fan noise down the line. He swore by the brush and vacuum method for keeping things quiet. Guess there's a reason those cleaning channels get so many views.