avoiding dust build-up

  • Thread starter Thread starter Matt Lobegeiger
  • Start date Start date
M

Matt Lobegeiger

Hi again,
Just wondering if anyones got any ingenious methods of stopping dust from
accumulating inside their cases. Has anyone tried covering the airflow holes
with fine mesh-type filter material, like the stuff in air conditioner or
clothes dryers filters? I'm guessing it would reduce air flow quite a bit,
and possibly cause more harm than good.

Anyone tried it or got any other methods?

matt
 
Matt Lobegeiger said:
Just wondering if anyones got any ingenious methods of stopping
dust from accumulating inside their cases. Has anyone tried
covering the airflow holes with fine mesh-type filter material,
like the stuff in air conditioner or clothes dryers filters? I'm
guessing it would reduce air flow quite a bit, and possibly
cause more harm than good.
Click to expand...

Some cases come with intake area wire/plastic mesh filters, the
Antec SLK3700AMB for example. It's fine.
 
hi matt the eternal problem is dust in the air. it gets sucked into your
computer, and also blown out, so any filter will eventually get blocked.
it`s probably better just to give have a clean out now and then. best
wishes..J
 
hi matt the eternal problem is dust in the air. it gets sucked into your
computer, and also blown out, so any filter will eventually get blocked.
it`s probably better just to give have a clean out now and then. best
wishes..J
Click to expand...


I've used pieces of A/C filter in front of the air intake fan on my
PCs for years. I monitor internal temp so if the filter should get
clogged I'll know in plenty of time.

It keeps the worst of the dust out of the chasis. When I open the machine
up I blow dust out with a can of gas.
 
Al Dykes said:
snip
It keeps the worst of the dust out of the chasis. When I open the machine
up I blow dust out with a can of gas.
Click to expand...
pity you couldn`t blow dubbya out with a can of gas lol
I would have voted for Al, problem is I`m English, and they wouldn`t let me.
best wishes..J
 
Hi again,
Just wondering if anyones got any ingenious methods of stopping dust from
accumulating inside their cases. Has anyone tried covering the airflow holes
with fine mesh-type filter material, like the stuff in air conditioner or
clothes dryers filters? I'm guessing it would reduce air flow quite a bit,
and possibly cause more harm than good.

Anyone tried it or got any other methods?

matt
Click to expand...

Many case fans can now have filters,
http://www.cclonline.com/product-search-results.asp
However as another poster does no harm to have a,"Spring clean" and in
fact I highly recommend it as many PC problems come from lack of
internal cleanliness/bad housekeeping.

Tools Required.

Screwdriver to open case if required.

Clean small paint brush for brushing off dust.

Tac Rag
http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/s/STATR/
to pick up dust etc.

Servisol or it's like Isopropanol Switch cleaner for cleaning PCI/AGP
slots and card edge connectors and spraying cable plugs and sockets.

Torch so you can see what you are doing.

HTH :)



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Many case fans can now have filters,
http://www.cclonline.com/product-search-results.asp
However as another poster does no harm to have a,"Spring clean" and in
fact I highly recommend it as many PC problems come from lack of
internal cleanliness/bad housekeeping.

Tools Required.

Screwdriver to open case if required.

Clean small paint brush for brushing off dust.

Tac Rag
http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/s/STATR/
to pick up dust etc.

Servisol or it's like Isopropanol Switch cleaner for cleaning PCI/AGP
slots and card edge connectors and spraying cable plugs and sockets.

Torch so you can see what you are doing.

HTH :)
Click to expand...

IMO taking things apart just for cleaning is asking for trouble and I
wouldn't spray anything into the mobo of a healthy system. I use a
case filter and I find that dust buildup can wait to the next system
upgrade and get blown out then.
 
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We found a hairball in the works and with some cleaning all is up and
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a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m
Click to expand...
IMO taking things apart just for cleaning is asking for trouble and I
wouldn't spray anything into the mobo of a healthy system. I use a
case filter and I find that dust buildup can wait to the next system
upgrade and get blown out then.
--
Click to expand...


If you can get away with it....

seems to me that 10 pounds of cat/dog hair, bird feathers, and vairious
other microbes that make there way into my case in a years time would just
about fill the darn thing up by the time I upgrade. Whilest repairing a PC
in a hospital, i discovered....well you don't want to work on machines that
are used in hospitals.

Live in florida, near the Gulf, computer is in the basement? Then once a
year I would clean everything as descibed by Shep, ''If'' this is a
appliance that you rely on and is more than a conversation piece. Certainly
I wouldn't expect my mom to tear apart her machine to clean it, but I
wouldn't tell her not to do it or have it done if the thing is filthy.

I believe taking care of things with regular maintenance, in order to get my
moneys worth. My 604 MAc and all its scsi array drrives still work
perfectly. My truck has 320,000 miles on it. My desk is from 1901 and the
drawers still work.

Its not for everyone to do themselves, but maintenance shouldn't be ignored.
 
Matt said:
Hi again,
Just wondering if anyones got any ingenious methods of stopping dust from
accumulating inside their cases. Has anyone tried covering the airflow holes
with fine mesh-type filter material, like the stuff in air conditioner or
clothes dryers filters? I'm guessing it would reduce air flow quite a bit,
and possibly cause more harm than good.

Anyone tried it or got any other methods?
Click to expand...

In my case I've got some filter material on my removable side panels.
It was some spare filter material that we used on an extrator fan, and
it works! They're just placed over the holes, and there's a bit of
selotape to hold them there. The amount of dust that builds up seems
to have halved i.e. it needs dusting about half as frequently.

In my case the change in airflow seems to be negligable. My one
doesn't have a huge amount of airflow though. Every month, I remove
the side panel, flick the filter stuff (outside) and a few clouds of
dust comes out of them. Then another month later, I do the same again
and blow the computer out too.

My case has loads of holes on the back of the case, and these holes in
the side panels are for the air intake. My case is big and only has
one fan (and the PSU fan), so I suspect that it won't actually suck
much air in anyway. On the whole I'm really pleased with the filter
material.

Hmm, just thinking about buying some filter material for all of the
other holes :-)
 
JAD said:
I believe taking care of things with regular maintenance, in order to get my
moneys worth. My 604 MAc and all its scsi array drrives still work
perfectly.
Click to expand...

lol, until recently I still had a 25MHz 68030 Performa 450. It worked
great, but we gave it away to make some room. When we got rid of it, a
few months ago, it must've been almost 15 years old. It was the most
reliable computer in the house though.

It had been working for years in our freezing cold garage, and most
modern computers won't. My old PII 350MHz behaves very strangely in
the garage, even when it's not particularly cold in there. There were
also a few other machines that behaved weird in the garage. The one
we've got in there now occasionally decides it can't find any DLL's
when it's cold, the old PII beeped like mad sometimes. The Mac was
fine though, the only thing that had ever been replaced was the PSU,
when the switch went.
 
John said:
Some cases come with intake area wire/plastic mesh filters, the
Antec SLK3700AMB for example. It's fine.
Click to expand...

Except that with the SLK3700AMB, the front panel has a hole in the
bottom by which air can bypass the mesh filter.
 
Matt Lobegeiger said:
Hi again,
Just wondering if anyones got any ingenious methods of stopping dust from
accumulating inside their cases. Has anyone tried covering the airflow holes
with fine mesh-type filter material, like the stuff in air conditioner or
clothes dryers filters? I'm guessing it would reduce air flow quite a bit,
and possibly cause more harm than good.

Anyone tried it or got any other methods?
Click to expand...

I put a colony of dust mites into my case. While they eat the dust easily
enough, it is a bit of a hassle training them to use the mite box.

Jon
 
Al Dykes said:
IMO taking things apart just for cleaning is asking for trouble and I
wouldn't spray anything into the mobo of a healthy system. I use a
case filter and I find that dust buildup can wait to the next system
upgrade and get blown out then.
Click to expand...

If you use a dust filter you should clean it at least every few months. If
you let it get clogged up and wait until your next upgrade to do the
cleaning then it is blocking the airflow and is of not much use at all. When
I worked in printing we cleaned the air filters on our printing press
compressors weekly.
 
JAD said:
Live in florida, near the Gulf, computer is in the basement?
Click to expand...

JAD, no one in Florida even knows what a basement is,
let alone *have* one. Florida is built on a swamp, and digging
a foundation will hit water. They can't even dig a crawl space!
So, houses in Florida are nothing but glorified garages.
A frame on a slab of concrete.

(owner with full basement, built in 1919, Illinois)
 
John said:
Some cases come with intake area wire/plastic mesh filters, the
Antec SLK3700AMB for example. It's fine.
Click to expand...

filters slow it a bit, but you still have to clean every once in a while.
having the system on the floor picks up more dust than say on the desktop.

but you know this, right john? you know everything
 
Matt said:
John Doe wrote:

Except that with the SLK3700AMB, the front panel has a hole in the
bottom by which air can bypass the mesh filter.
Click to expand...

A piece of packaging tape easily/neatly solves that problem.
 
I find that the dust filters are more trouble than they are worth-- better
to periodicaly open up the case and clean it out.
pity you couldn`t blow dubbya out with a can of gas lol

I would have voted for Al, problem is I`m English, and they wouldn`t let me.
best wishes..J
Click to expand...
That's a good thing. Maybe you should keep your nose (and crooked teeth)
out of other's business.
 
Hi again,
I put a colony of dust mites into my case. While they eat the dust easily
enough, it is a bit of a hassle training them to use the mite box.

Jon
Click to expand...

A worthy solution. But what about this? Just point all the fans so
that they blow air from the inside to the outside. That way, no
new air can get into the case, and when the dust that's inside to
begin with is all blown out, the case will stay perfectly clean
forever. Somehow I sense a logical flaw in this plan, but why let
logic interfere with its sheer elegance?
 
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