# Severe dust bunnies



## SuperDuperMe (Jun 13, 2012)

Hey all. I have a really bad problem with dust. My pc ends up caked in the stuff within a few months. I cant understand how you lot keep such spik and span pc's.

Is there a secret to minimising the amount of dust which gets in the case?

Mine doesnt look too bad atm as iv cleared it out to replace a few parts but every few month the fans have like a mm or 2 of dust caked on them.


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## tremmor (Jun 13, 2012)

Best suggestion is keep it off the floor. mine sits on the table. its once a year for me.


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## Ambushed (Jun 13, 2012)

tremmor said:


> Best suggestion is keep it off the floor. mine sits on the table. its once a year for me.



To add to this - putting it on the carpet (or nearby) will collect it a lot faster, if you know what your doing take side case off and use an air compressor gently and possibly look at your airflow system.


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## Laquer Head (Jun 13, 2012)

Best thing I can say is get can of compressed air and 'dust' the inside carefully every once in a while before it builds up..

We have a bunch of animals too and my side panel often is off--and my rig is pretty much spotless


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## Aastii (Jun 13, 2012)

Keep your system off the floor

Install fan filters on your intake fans

Have More intake than exhaust to create positive pressure, so the only air coming in is from the intake fans, which are filtered


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## SuperDuperMe (Jun 13, 2012)

Ok, so its not on the floor and at current i have one exhaust fan one intake. Will play around with air fl get some more fans. ty for the help guys.


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## Virssagòn (Jun 13, 2012)

Aastii said:


> Keep your system off the floor
> 
> Install fan filters on your intake fans
> 
> Have More intake than exhaust to create positive pressure, so the only air coming in is from the intake fans, which are filtered



weird, I got no problems with dust... and my pc is just under my office desk!
but I'll place it  on the desk, so I can see my monster pc xD


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## voyagerfan99 (Jun 13, 2012)

Yeah keep it off the floor. My machine gets dusty, but not to extremes. It certainly collects dust faster in my dorm room when there are two people living in one space.


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## MyCattMaxx (Jun 13, 2012)

Panty hose makes a decent filter.
It will reduce the air flow a little but it catches a lot of crap.


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## SuperDuperMe (Jun 13, 2012)

I love that word... panty hose, always brings a smile to my face 

Im using an old pair of tights over my intake fan on top.. Hopefully that helps.


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## GaryCantley (Jun 13, 2012)

Dont smoke near your puter either.


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## SuperDuperMe (Jun 13, 2012)

Can i ask why that is as i do that regularly. In fact im sparked up now next to it


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## voyagerfan99 (Jun 13, 2012)

mikeb2817 said:


> Can i ask why that is as i do that regularly. In fact im sparked up now next to it



Because the nicotine and tar cakes onto components like you wouldn't believe.


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## FuryRosewood (Jun 14, 2012)

Cleaning filters every other week, and used to use an air compressor, all i have is canned air now.


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## Darren (Jun 14, 2012)

voyagerfan99 said:


> Because the nicotine and tar cakes onto components like you wouldn't believe.



Does the same thing to your lungs and the rest of you as well...


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## Laquer Head (Jun 14, 2012)

mikeb2817 said:


> Can i ask why that is as i do that regularly. In fact im sparked up now next to it



..Great, now I need a smoke...


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## gamblingman (Jun 14, 2012)

Yeah I agree with the smoking thing and the filter on the air intake. Smoke of almost any type has oils in it from the compound being burned. The oils will naturally cling to whatever they come into contact with, ie your computer parts. Then there is a nice extra fine layer of oil in your computer to catch dust! yea!

I use something like a sponge filter, like the foam kind that race cars use. They are known as* reticulated filter foams*. I picked this type because its a decent filter to grab the larger dust particulates like pet or human hair. It's also light enough not to prevent air flow, even with my laptop air intake. Just cut the appropriate size of 1/4" foam and put it over your air inlets. Be sure to find the reticulated foam that is really light and spongy and with tons of air flow.


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## SuperDuperMe (Jun 14, 2012)

Omk so iv took all advice into consideration....except for smoking near the thing. Sorry guys but a victory cig after a battle is a must for me


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## Perkomate (Jun 14, 2012)

mikeb2817 said:


> Omk so iv took all advice into consideration....except for smoking near the thing. Sorry guys but a victory cig after a battle is a must for me



Seriously, smoking next to it is what will dust up the computer the worst. I personally don't give two hoots if people smoke or not, but I think you'll find that that's what clogs up the PC the most.

Try not smoking next to it for a few months and see what happens. Just step out the room or something.


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## claptonman (Jun 14, 2012)

Yeah, don't smoke next to it. Google image search "smoker computer" and you'll see what I mean.


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## voyagerfan99 (Jun 14, 2012)

I've seen some nasty machines come in from smokers. Let me tell you, they are not pleasant at all.


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## spirit (Jun 14, 2012)

voyagerfan99 said:


> I've seen some nasty machines come in from smokers. Let me tell you, they are not pleasant at all.



Yeah they're disgusting. I've only had to deal with one in my life but it was horrible. My friend's parents smoke, and obviously whilst at the computer too, and I had to remove the hard drive from their machine and inside everything is like thick and yellow and filthy. It was just horrible, so I'd definitely advise you to refrain from smoking near your computer.


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## OvenMaster (Jun 15, 2012)

Before:





After:





A piece of air conditioner filter foam from the hardware store, held in place with some 16ga wire. Washable in warm water, or just blow the dust off with canned air.


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## Virssagòn (Jun 15, 2012)

OvenMaster said:


> Before:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



hehe, is that the front or the backside?


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## sicdeath (Jun 16, 2012)

Take a leaf blower and at maximum speed, put the blower at an angle so the dust just flies out. This is what I usually do and it takes about 3 minutes to do and completely cleans everything.


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## OvenMaster (Jun 16, 2012)

SmileMan said:


> hehe, is that the front or the backside?


LOL Wise guy!  That's the front, with the panel removed.
Here's the front with the panel in place (before I installed the filter foam):


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## Virssagòn (Jun 16, 2012)

haha, don't you need a raster on front of your fan?


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## spirit (Jun 16, 2012)

sicdeath said:


> Take a leaf blower and at maximum speed, put the blower at an angle so the dust just flies out. This is what I usually do and it takes about 3 minutes to do and completely cleans everything.



Wouldn't really recommend doing it this way to be honest, it's not the safest - you can damage your fans if you hold the leaf blower there too long, so at least immobilise the fans or something before you take a leaf blower to them lol. 

Wouldn't recommend using a hoover either, causes too much static, and so does a paintbrush.

Compressed air is usually the best way, just make sure before you spray it that there's no moisture coming out of the can. You don't want that moisture inside your system, otherwise when you next turn your system on you can fry it. :/


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## OvenMaster (Jun 17, 2012)

SmileMan said:


> haha, don't you need a raster on front of your fan?


You mean like a little grille? I just put a piece of wire in front of the fan, threaded through a hole on each side so the foam won't get sucked in. Works fine.


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## voyagerfan99 (Jun 17, 2012)

vistakid10 said:


> Wouldn't really recommend doing it this way to be honest, it's not the safest - you can damage your fans if you hold the leaf blower there too long, so at least immobilise the fans or something before you take a leaf blower to them lol.
> 
> Wouldn't recommend using a hoover either, causes too much static, and so does a paintbrush.
> 
> Compressed air is usually the best way, just make sure before you spray it that there's no moisture coming out of the can. You don't want that moisture inside your system, otherwise when you next turn your system on you can fry it. :/



I also would not recommend the leaf blower idea. If you have an air compressor, use that instead. Keep a finger on the fans you blow at to prevent them from over-spinning and burning out.

And as Vista said, don't use a vacuum or paintbrush either.


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## gamblingman (Jun 17, 2012)

I totally agree with not using a vacuum.

I work in an area with a *lot *of dust and we use vacuum Torit systems and dry-vacuums to keep the dust out of the air and off tooling. You would not believe the amount of static even small amount of dust can generate. I can't tell you how many times a dry vac hose has built up a static charge and grounded-out on me or a co-worker. It's not pleasant. 

Vacuums seem like a good way to do it until you or _your computer_ act as the ground circuit.

Are you using a good air filter on your a/c system? And if you have a lot of people going in & out of your computer room and/or house there will be more dust.


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## SuperDuperMe (Jun 17, 2012)

I usually use compressed air  When i can afford it 

Ill just have to keep an eye on it and not let it build up like i normally do


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## MyCattMaxx (Jun 17, 2012)

This is what I use.
I do have a dryer system on it because moisture and paint don't mix very well.


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## voyagerfan99 (Jun 17, 2012)

That's a beast compressor Maxx :good:


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## spirit (Jun 17, 2012)

MyCattMaxx said:


> This is what I use.
> I do have a dryer system on it because moisture and paint don't mix very well.
> 
> <snip>



I'm too poor to afford such awesome hardware. I use a £3.99 can of 400ml compressed air to dust out my PC.  I need to buy another can soon though, almost run out.


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## voyagerfan99 (Jun 17, 2012)

We just have a cheap little Husky compressor we use at work. Need a new hose for it cause it leaks.


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## MyCattMaxx (Jun 17, 2012)

Around here I need the pressure (175psi) for the impact wrenches plus I need the volume for sand blasting.


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## SuperDuperMe (Jun 18, 2012)

So i made some filters out of my gf's old tights 

Seems to be working well at catching the dust. So fingers crossed if i keep up with maintenance i should do ok


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## gamblingman (Jun 18, 2012)

mikeb2817 said:


> So i made some filters out of my gf's old tights



Ha Ha Ha Awesome!

And my god I want the compressor! Thats sweet!


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## SuperDuperMe (Jun 18, 2012)

it looks like something terminator uses to shave. Its cool


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## MyCattMaxx (Jun 18, 2012)

That compressor was a good value.
They changed the website a bit since I got it, I believe this is the model, the specs are the same:
http://www.eatoncompressor.com/catalog/item/504747/6112301.htm


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## OvenMaster (Jun 28, 2012)

OvenMaster said:


> Before:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


With the warm weather upon us now, it was plain to see that the foam filter only really worked as much as it was over the holes. The foam got clogged up real fast choked off air flow... not good in summer.
So I finally broke out a coping saw, a file, a piece of metal gutter guard mesh and a new piece of foam.








No tools. Now instead of just ±10 square inches of filter area being used, with the space between the front metal panel and the filter there's now ±30 square inches of filter area... and a drop of 3°c in CPU temps!


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## MMM (Jun 28, 2012)

I ground the PC computer & myself to prevent static discharge, using a small soft paint brush with low pressure air from compressor via a moisture trap, away I go cleaning the inside of PC's with no harm whats so ever, great results.... been doing this for twenty years with no harm to the PC's.
Once a year spring cleaning..... the higher your PC is off the floor less dust it will attract.

I even dismantle the PSU's and optical drives for blow out....


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## Callum Lord (Jun 28, 2012)

Weather or not your system is on the floor or not, it should not collect *That Much Dust*. Do you smoke? Smoking in a room with a computer, makes the dust *Stick* badly to the internal of the system. Otherwise the room you are in could be a very badly dusty room. Try opening a window for a few days and letting some dust escape from the room.


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## MMM (Jun 29, 2012)

Callum Lord said:


> Weather or not your system is on the floor or not, it should not collect *That Much Dust*. Do you smoke? Smoking in a room with a computer, makes the dust *Stick* badly to the internal of the system. Otherwise the room you are in could be a very badly dusty room. Try opening a window for a few days and letting some dust escape from the room.


I use to service computers years ago and you will be surprised as to what environments people live in.... I'm no talking inside the house but the outside environment which can impact greatly on the dwellings.
You get to know after a while when visiting different locations.


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