can you vacuum a computer?
 

Hi. There is lots of dust in the keyboard of my laptop. Is it safe to use the vacuum cleaner to get the dust out?

Thanks!

~ Missy

Yes, but be careful. Infact, my sister bought my dad a little computer vaccum cleaner last christmas. i use it weekkly :D

pull the keys out first or you might loose them...

or as my recommendation

you can buy cans of high pressure air to blow the dust out then you can vacuum it off the floor later.

I always vacuum the keyboard, using the dusting brush.

your local computer store should have cans of "Dust Off" or something similar thats what i'd recomend (works on the inside of your computer 2)

My dad has a 20gal 125psi air compressor that works wonders for blowing dust out of things. :)

Flip your keyboard over, gently shake it. It should get some of the gunk out that accumulates there over time.

Aircan - $3 should take the rest of the dust out.

That is safe, but do not vacuum the inside. It can cause serious damage.

Don't use that to blow out dust from your PC; The air output from consumer and most commerical compressors contains oil from the compressor's lubrication system, and could badly damage your PC if you try to blow the dust out with it. Stick to the aerosol air cans, unless you have a special "oil-free" compressor.

You'd have to have a HUGE vacuum cleaner to vacuum a laptop. Even if it were a medium sized vacuum, it'd probably still get clogged up in the hose.

:rolleyes:

Thanks everyone. And Chev, It is great to see ya here babe!
~ Missy

Can I put my pants back on now?

Hey babe why did you take your pants off in the first place?

I had a point to make.

What point could you possibly make by taking your pants off?

~ Missy

I'm useful as a sundial?

LMAO

Canned air works best for keyboards. Its also great at freezing people (hold it upside down and spray). If you wanna use a vaccum put some sort of screen over it to prevent lost keys if you have lose keys and a strong vacume.

Didn't necessarily say that I blow out the inside of my computer case with it, but it would probably work fine for the keyboard. Just gotta watch out for flying keys. :) Oh, and as long as you keep your air compressor in good working order, any vaporized lubrication oil or moisture in the air tank will be minimal, and probably wouldn't cause any damage to anything it's sprayed on.

Canned air is much safer. I'd suggest buying a few cans and cleaning the dust off that way.

It's a lot easier than setting up an air compressor anyways. We've got the air compressor for all kinds of different things. We use pneumatic tools with it, blow dust of off things, air up tires, stoke the burn pile, etc. :) I only use it to blow dust off of things if it's already set up and running, though. No sense in setting it up just for that when a simple can of air would do.

I use to use an air duster on mine..If I took it apart I would have about a joint and a few dorritos.

Yep, compressed air is the best. Vaccuming the wrong area of a PC can lead to jumpers disappearing and such.

if i need to ill put mine up to the air-con ...

While I understand your caution, for more on practical side, i've got a 11 year old box (hardware firewall) that I spray out with the air compressor at least twice a year, and it is still humming along, and I don't have any kind of special air compressor.

I use a nice soft horse hair brush - *NOT NYLON* (Preduces Static). just gently dust - works a treat - some times use an Air duster can but as I do mine on a monthly basis my trustee brush is enough. I just chuck my keyboard when it gets to bad and replace.

Due a new one actually - hmm maybe a belated crim pressy to myself ^_^ but no :( I gotta go to Spain and Cypress next mnth so maybe not...damn! lol ;)

ill clean my tower(insides aswell) when ever my computer decides to shit itself (never) good computer :p

So you prefer leaving it full of shit, dust invariably clogging your heatsink?

1 of the main reasons folk have so much problems with unstable systems. They don't clean there comps properly. A clogged heatsink will make a comp run a minimum 30% less efficient.

Open it, clean it and I guarantee you will have a much more responsive system!

I did a computer that is in a site office the other week. Guy couldn't run a thing on it. Aprt from the crapware the insides looked like they'd had the local mud pile dumped inside. I had rest his system and it was still running like a bag of crap so looked inside. Cleaned it out and it's running sweet as a button now. In fact I was there today updating his AVG which I switched him over to - got a nice christmass bonus of a bottle of Brandy for my trouble :D

As I said I do mine monthly but my house is an old farmhouse so dust is a particular problem. Normally I recommend every three/maybe six months. Certainly a minimum once a year for a thorough overhall.

~ :)

nb* you'll thank me for that advice in the end ;)

erm, ok i dont reguarly... just if it needs it, it will happen if my case looks like crap yes... no-dust = good, all dust = bad... i know my thing about electronics and computers... and your making him use AVG?! use Pc-Cillin !!! :( it missed the MSBLAST FFS.... (or the edit of it), and thats not funny to me

"What kind of chip you got in there a Dorritos?" - Weird Al

Good quote