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Static is [not] your friend - vacuuming PC?
In terms of static, how safe is it to clean inside a home PC by using
a vacuum cleaner? Some people like this website suggest that it is unwise. http://www.dansdata.com/sbs3.htm If my PC is switched off but remains earthed (to the mains earth) and I am careful not to do physical damage to the PC with my home vacuum cleaner, then surely there is no problem with static? Am I overlooking something? Sammo -- |
#2
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Sammo wrote:
In terms of static, how safe is it to clean inside a home PC by using a vacuum cleaner? Some people like this website suggest that it is unwise. http://www.dansdata.com/sbs3.htm If my PC is switched off but remains earthed (to the mains earth) and I am careful not to do physical damage to the PC with my home vacuum cleaner, then surely there is no problem with static? Am I overlooking something? Electrostatic discharge can produce some intersting effects on semiconductors and the risk shouldn't be discounted. However I have cleaned out the interior of countless cases with no apparent ill effect- using a soft haired paintbrush in one hand whilst hovering over the area with the nozzle of a domestic vacuum cleaner in the other. Due to the nature of the job, one hand or both is in contact with the case most of the time and so there is little chance for static build up on the nozzle/your body/brush. Touching the case before introducing the brush is a good idea. Personally, I prefer to have the case sat on an esd mat to leaving it plugged in - not so much from the static point of view but a marked reluctance to work on anything with power on or connected, unless unavoidable (like, I don't have the mat with me). Not to be done to a laser printer, but for other reasons. -- Sue |
#3
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"Sammo" wrote in message
... " In terms of static, how safe is it to clean inside a home PC by using a vacuum cleaner? " IMO it's still not safe at all. Buy a can of compressed-air from an electrical hardware store. |
#4
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"Sammo" wrote in message ... In terms of static, how safe is it to clean inside a home PC by using a vacuum cleaner? Some people like this website suggest that it is unwise. http://www.dansdata.com/sbs3.htm If my PC is switched off but remains earthed (to the mains earth) and I am careful not to do physical damage to the PC with my home vacuum cleaner, then surely there is no problem with static? Am I overlooking something? Static can be caused by the brush bristles. Use compressed air instead. Sammo -- |
#5
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Using a vacuum cleaner in a PC, or any electronics devices using CMOS
technology is not safe at all. It does not matter how well everything is grounded. The fact of having a motion contact using device that uses an insulating material can cause a static build-up. You can read up on static electricity generation for details. Even handling the circuit boards under some conditions are at risk for damage from static electricity. Most of the appliances of today, such as TV's, radios, VCR's, DVD's, and many other types of devices are using CMOS devices. Great care should be taken when handling these devices. I have seen units damaged from improper handling. The proper way to clean any electronics equipment is to use filtered compressed air. The unit and the operator of the compressed air must be in contact to each other in reference to the unit's ground plain (metal case for example), to prevent any potential difference between them. The compressed air blown from a distance of at least 6 to 10 inches will give no effect to build up static charges, and cause any problems with the device being cleaned. -- Jerry G. ========================== "Sammo" wrote in message ... In terms of static, how safe is it to clean inside a home PC by using a vacuum cleaner? Some people like this website suggest that it is unwise. http://www.dansdata.com/sbs3.htm If my PC is switched off but remains earthed (to the mains earth) and I am careful not to do physical damage to the PC with my home vacuum cleaner, then surely there is no problem with static? Am I overlooking something? Sammo -- |
#6
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"Sammo" wrote in message ... In terms of static, how safe is it to clean inside a home PC by using a vacuum cleaner? DON'T DO IT If my PC is switched off but remains earthed (to the mains earth) and I am careful not to do physical damage to the PC with my home vacuum cleaner, then surely there is no problem with static? By leaving the PC grounded you are giving static a perfect path from the vacuum, through your parts, to ground... GREATLY increasing the risk of damage. Use compressed air! |
#7
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Sammo wrote:
In terms of static, how safe is it to clean inside a home PC by using a vacuum cleaner? Some people like this website suggest that it is unwise. http://www.dansdata.com/sbs3.htm The web page descriptions are indeed fairly funny, if you know what they are talking about. But I highly suspect anyone with a limited background in Electro Static Discharge will be more confused than not. If my PC is switched off but remains earthed (to the mains earth) and I am careful not to do physical damage to the PC with my home vacuum cleaner, then surely there is no problem with static? Am I overlooking something? Yep. Quite a lot. *Moving* *dry* *air* around is a great way to build up a static charge on any component that is an insulator. Hence *compressed* *dry* *air* and *vacuum* *cleaners* are not good ideas. In fact, compressed air might be worse because it can forcefully blast dust into places it wouldn't otherwise go. If you get enough charge (a few thousand volts, for example, is common), it will then break down the insulation between the charge and the next nearest object that is either also holding a charge or is able to dissipate the charge (e.g., a conductor). The current flow when that happens is what kills your computer. And it isn't just that specific current, but also any current induced into other conductors as a result of that current. The way to get the dust out of a computer case safely is to use a damp rag to manually pick up dust. It shouldn't be so wet that it drips moisture (though that isn't necessarily bad either, see below), but needs to be damp enough that dust will stick to it and static cannot build up on it. I personally prefer to have a large bowl of water mixed with a little household cleaner (such as 409 or Mr. Clean), in which the dust rag (a well worn bathroom wash cloth or a thin dish towel, is nice) is washed as it get dirty. The soapy water in the bowl should be changed somewhat regularly too, i.e. when it gets so dirty that as much dirt moves from the water to the rag as from the rag to the water! Which type of soap to use does make a difference. The idea is something that will dissolve any grease film or other coating that might be present, but even more important is that it be a good water dispersant. Automatic dishwater soap is perhaps the best in that respect. Note that there aren't many things which can actually be damaged by water itself. Disk drives or CRDOM/DVD drives (things with moving parts) can be damage by water. But keyboards and motherboards can be totally immersed in water without damage. Any time that a system is *really* dirty, or is taken apart for other reasons, it makes sense to literally wash the device in a kitchen sink with a solution of soapy water, and then rinse it off with a water spray if you have one of those handy spray hoses meant for cleaning dishes. If the water supply is very hard (filled with minerals) and will leave a residue, use a final bath of rubbing alcohol. Otherwise a very dilute solution of automatic dishwater soap is probably best. (It will leave a very thin film of water dispersant, loaded with water, on everything. That will help protect against static and it will also reduce dust build up because of reduced static build up.) After such a dunking it takes considerable time to be sure that the water has dried completely. In places where the humidity is low that will happen in a day or two anyway, so just put it on the shelf and wait. Otherwise one method is to use a kitchen oven on warm, leave the door partially open and put the device inside the oven for several hours. But *don't* use compressed air, vacuum cleaners, plastic brushes, or synthetic cloth to clean a computer. And don't do it on a day when the relative humidity is 10% either. -- FloydL. Davidson http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) |
#8
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In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
good water dispersant. Automatic dishwater soap is perhaps the best in that respect. Aaaakkk! No! Dishwasher machine soap (Cascade) is one of the nastiest cleaners I know. Full of trisodium phosphate, silicates and calcium hypochlorite. Perhaps you mean dishwasher anti-spot filming agent (JetDry). This stuff should be very benign when diluted. Anybody have any good experiences cleaning IBM Model "M" keyboards in a (soapless) dishwasher? But *don't* use compressed air, vacuum cleaners, plastic brushes, or synthetic cloth to clean a computer. And don't do it on a day when the relative humidity is 10% either. Well, I guess in AK you have to worry about the latter I'm less worried about compressed air than I am about vaccuum because compressed air nozzles are easier to ground and less likely to contact parts. Static can build up from moving gas past parts, but the parts should drain that small amount away. It's bigger (perhaps still invisible) discharges that cause trouble. -- Robert |
#9
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Robert Redelmeier wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips Floyd L. Davidson wrote: good water dispersant. Automatic dishwater soap is perhaps the best in that respect. Aaaakkk! No! Dishwasher machine soap (Cascade) is one of the nastiest cleaners I know. Full of trisodium phosphate, silicates and calcium hypochlorite. Perhaps you mean dishwasher anti-spot filming agent (JetDry). This stuff should be very benign when diluted. Yep, that's a bad one. Another good wetting agent is Photo Flo, sold by the gallon for darkroom use (or in smaller quantities at exorbitant prices). Anybody have any good experiences cleaning IBM Model "M" keyboards in a (soapless) dishwasher? But *don't* use compressed air, vacuum cleaners, plastic brushes, or synthetic cloth to clean a computer. And don't do it on a day when the relative humidity is 10% either. Well, I guess in AK you have to worry about the latter Depends on where. E.g., humidity in Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas is low. It is in the Alaskan interior too. The current relative humidity here is 70%, and that is typical. I'm less worried about compressed air than I am about vaccuum because compressed air nozzles are easier to ground and less likely to contact parts. Static can build up from moving gas past parts, but the parts should drain that small amount away. It's bigger (perhaps still invisible) discharges that cause trouble. "Moving gas" is probably one of the *worst* offenders (next to cats and walking on carpets), and is exactly what is wrong with using a vacuum cleaner. There is no difference between that and compressed air, as far as static goes. Grounding the nozzle is not useful, other than to prevent a direct discharge from buildup on the nozzle itself. And it is *not* reasonable to expect either small or large charges to drain harmlessly away from components. The whole concept of using moving air is a disaster plan! Of course, if the relative humidity is 50% or above... the chances are fair that no damage will be done. If it is more like 6%, either use full protection or you *will* get bit. (I lived in Fairbanks for a couple decades, where at -40F in the winter you can almost be assured that the relative humidity inside any building that does not have a humidifier will be well below 10%. You don't need a carpet! Just the wrong shoes or shirt will be enough...) -- FloydL. Davidson http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) |
#10
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"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\"" wrote:
"Sammo" wrote in message In terms of static, how safe is it to clean inside a home PC by using a vacuum cleaner? Some people like this website suggest that it is unwise. http://www.dansdata.com/sbs3.htm If my PC is switched off but remains earthed (to the mains earth) and I am careful not to do physical damage to the PC with my home vacuum cleaner, then surely there is no problem with static? Am I overlooking something? Static can be caused by the brush bristles. Use compressed air instead. facetious Avoid all static problems by using a grounded wire brush g. /facetious -- Chuck F ) ) Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems. http://cbfalconer.home.att.net USE worldnet address! |
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