Just realized I've been cleaning my laptop fan backwards for 3 years

I used to blast compressed air straight into the fan from the outside, thinking I was blowing dust out. Last week I finally opened the back cover on my old Dell and saw this crusty wall of lint packed against the heatsink. Turns out you're supposed to either remove the fan or hold it still so the spinning doesn't generate voltage back into the board. Anybody else make this rookie mistake or just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

richardh448d agoTop Commenter

Huh, I dunno man, I've been blasting air into laptops for like 15 years and never fried a board or melted anything. Are we sure this isn't one of those internet things where people make a huge deal out of nothing? I mean yeah, you probably pushed some dust deeper in, but cleaning a laptop fan isn't brain surgery. I bet half the people who obsess over this just end up bending pins or breaking fan blades anyway.

gray_patel8d ago

Whoa man, I gotta respectfully disagree here. I've seen plenty of folks in repair forums post pics of melted plastic or busted fan blades from canned air that got too cold or they sprayed too close. It's not about it being brain surgery, it's about not being careless with a tool that shoots out freezing gas if you tilt it wrong. You might have gotten lucky for 15 years, but that doesn't mean it's a safe bet for everyone reading this. Why risk a $1,000 laptop to save 5 minutes of taking the back cover off?