Can Dust damage your computer?

[4fingerwu1]

The insides of it absolutely covered
Can this damage components and performance and what is a safe way to clean it?
Ric

 

[GnomeCop]

dust will damage things inside your computer that have exposed moving parts. Usually fans. Other than that dust wont harm it at all, it is the heat that dust will insulate that will harm a computer.
bottom line, its not good to have around, clean it out!

 

[DannyBoy]

ANswer to question in simplest form: Yes, it can clog up your heatsinks etc, and sotp hot components getting the appropriate cooling they require, causing them to overheat and get permanent damage.

How to clean? Best way is something like canned compressed air.

Dan

 

[Insidious]

yes, if it gets a thick enough coating to impede heat transfer away from hot components.
yes, if it gets into the moving parts of fans and or drives
yes, you can use a can of compressed air (available at most anywhere that sells electronic stuff) to loosen it up
and then GENTLY vacuum it out. (use the attachment that is long and narrow with a small inlet opening)
or, just have the case positioned so that the dust and dirt falls out when you blow it clean with the compressed air.


oh yeah, you do know you need to turn it off and unplug it before cleaning!

-Sid

edit: wow, you guyz type quickly!

 

[4fingerwu1]

awright thank you
sounds good
Ric

 

[DannyBoy]

Why thank you sid


Oh btw 4fingerwu1 dont take what Insidious said about unplugging it the wrong way

You would be suprised how dumb some people are :disgust:

I know your not are you

 

[4fingerwu1]

well dont know for sure

 

[Bovinicus]

I remember reading somewhere (I think an A+ cert book) that dust can also theoretically make components more prone to static damage, as well as the other things you guys mentioned.

I like to clean my computer out every 6 months or so. It keeps it running nice and stable. I also like to WD40 the fan bearings now and again to increase life since I leave my system on 24/7. I consider both of these things something that everyone should do to their system as general maintenance.

 

[Insidious]

well dont know for sure

Sorry 'bout that... it was intended to be humerous

 

[4fingerwu1]

hey I know
dont know for sure meaning "yeah I might acually make that mistake"

 

[Afro000Dude]

Dust in large quantities is also flammable... Hot heatsink or power supply + flammable dust = for your computer.

 

[everman]

The main concern is clogging fans and heatsinks.

 

[GrumpyMan]

And it just doesn't look nice.

 

[Com807877]

Hi,

Yes it can (as people have said) damage moving components.

However - it CAN *potentially* damage most anything else. If you have enough dust, and this dust turns out to be conductive, it can do bad things...

This is very very rare though. But if you have a lot of dust this could potentially happen.

Also, dust in between (though it wouldn't get there on its own) a heatsink and CPU core can be bad too...

 

[nick1985]

ahhh! another witch!!!

 

[clicknext]

I'd sit down and take a while to clean it out thoroughly. And I'd either buy or make a filter for any place where a fan sucks air in. I made one out of a loose metal mesh that works quite well. Now not too much dust gets into my case, and I just have to take the filter off and dust it once every month or so.