Dell 5521 fan strength

[tkiss73]

Greetings,

I'm using a Dell Inspiron 5521 that had its motherboard replaced 2 years ago.
It works fine but I fear the fan is (at least partially) filled with dust - I sure can feel the air flow, but I have no clue if it blows strong enough.
I keep my laptop's environment dust-free, using a dry towel to clean twice a day my desk (I work on the machine all day and clean before and after).

Could someone tell me how to check if the fan is stuffed with dust WITHOUT disassembling the laptop? I thought of a simple test using a piece of printing paper to tell by the distance (from the side, how far it is that the paper still moves) - but I would need a reference for that, a surely clean machine to compare with.
I would take it apart to clean but I don't have the tools nor the experties to do so.

So anyone with a machine like this, could you try that thing with the paper? If not, how strong your fan blows?
Thanks in advance.

 

[whitey86]

I think the Dell.should have it's own diagnostics utility you can assess by pressing F12 when you turn it on and selecting diagnostic. They may be a test I. There that will tell you if the fan it ok.

You can also you an air can. Most pc shops sell them blow it in to any vents side back or bottom on the laptop.