Laptop Fan Cleaning Questions

Bugslaughter

Commendable
May 5, 2016
2
0
1,520
Hello All,

Just looking for a little information for my own (and others) edification.
I'm a relatively new owner of an Alienware 15 R2, and I noticed that there was some dust buildup on the main cooling fans. I cleaned the fans off by using a can of compressed air, and it brought up a few questions about this process in the future. I might add that after reviewing the service guide, accessing these fans requires just about totally disassembling the laptop.

1. Is using compressed air to clean the laptop fans a potentially damaging process to these fans?

2. What happens to the dust that I've blown off the fans (blowing the dust off the fans of course means blowing the dust into the laptop cooling system)?

3. Can I expect a similar amount of buildup on the CPU and GPU fans, or does dust typically accumulate at a different rate on these fans (I would assume so)?

4. Do you have any general tips for cleaning/maintenance of the cooling system?

Thanks very much.
 
Hi,

If I may suggest, when you're going to clean the inside of the laptop make sure that the dust will be blown outside the laptop not towards inside the laptop because in the long run, the dust will just accumulate inside. Do also apply new thermal paste on the GPU and CPU twice a year I would say to help in cooling it down.

Here's a simple video guide on how to clean the laptop using a compress air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bi7lkW9NXc