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How to clean the cooling system

The necessity and frequency of cleaning the cooling system depends on the type of use, the duration of use and the intensity of use. Especially in households with pets, carpets or when using the laptop on dusty surfaces, relatively frequent cleaning may be necessary. In smokers' households, soiling of the cooling system can also occur relatively quickly, as nicotine and other components of cigarette smoke bind or agglutinate the dust, causing it to accumulate more quickly on the rotor blades and cooling system fins as it "travels" through the cooling system.

In general, we recommend cleaning the cooling system at least once per year. In case of intensive use, we also recommend every 6 months.

Tools

To clean the fans and heat sinks, we recommend the use of compressed air spray, if necessary combined with a brush, tweezers, or cotton swabs.

The largest accumulation of dust in the cooling system is not on the fans, but on the fins inside the heat sinks. This dust layer is not immediately visible to the naked eye, as the inside of the heatsinks is covered by the cover plate of the respective fan.

Please take a look at this picture for a typical example:
 

Clogged Heatsink, Example 1

The fans look clean but a large amount of dust is collected in front of the fins of the right heatsink. This will not be visible from outside, but can be easily cleared with compressed air spray. Additional examples: [1]

Safety note

Compressed air spray cans must always be held vertically. The escaping gases must not be inhaled directly. Please refer to the detailed instructions in the FAQ article above: Instructions for use of compressed air spray.

Use of compressed air spray

  • You can clean the heatsinks with compressed air spray from the inside to the outside as well as from the outside to the inside.
  • In case of very stubborn dust build-up, it is recommended to loosen the dust layer over the entire width of the heat sink first from a larger distance from the outside to the inside. It will then be easier to move the dust from the inside through the fins to the outside.
  • The fans do not have to be disassembled for this procedure. With the "trunk" or tube of the compressed air spray, it should be possible to reach between the rotor blades of the fan and apply the compressed air directly to the inside of the heat sink. You can carefully rotate the fan to work on the entire length of the heat sink with the tube of the compressed air spray.

Cleaning the fans

  • Please be careful not to turn the fans unnecessarily. A few revolutions are no problem - but if you e.g. use compressed air spray or a vacuum cleaner to turn the fans very fast for hundreds of times, their electric motor becomes an electric generator, which in turn can overload certain circuits or capacitors on the mainboard.
  • To avoid this, you can disconnect the fan's power cable from the motherboard before cleaning. However, this requires quite a little bit of small finger movement and is not really necessary in combination with moderate and targeted use of compressed air spray (without unnecessary fan rotations).
  • Even with the power cable disconnected, rotating the fans too vigorously, too quickly or at an angle can damage the ball bearing mechanics and thus worsen the fan's operating noise. Therefore, the use of a vacuum cleaner is only recommended under certain conditions (see below).
  • If you want to clean the fan's rotor blades with compressed air spray, please hold the fan gently by holding a fingertip on the opposite side of the fan to the edge of a rotor blade, thus preventing the fan from rotating. The opposite side does not mean the bottom of the fan, but the 180u00b0 rotated area on the top of the fan. Once you have cleaned the first rotor blade, you can rotate the fan a few degrees to face the next rotor blade.

Can I use a vacuum cleaner?

Cleaning the fan and heat sink with a vacuum cleaner is only recommended to a very limited extent. Vacuum cleaners are usually only effective when the dust has already been loosened sufficiently using a compressed air spray, brush, cotton swab or tweezers.

If you choose to use a vacuum cleaner, please follow these tips:

  • Set the vacuum cleaner - if possible - to the lowest energy level.
  • Remove the metal tube of the vacuum cleaner and use the short end of the bent plastic tube on the upper handle of the vacuum cleaner.
  • Do not touch the hardware with the vacuum cleaner.
  • If you turn the vacuum cleaner on while the tube is already in close proximity to the hardware, the tube will get stuck to the hardware. Avoid this by first turning on the vacuum cleaner from a safe distance and then approaching carefully.
  • Using the gentle hold of a finger as described above, block one of the fan's rotor blades before approaching with the vacuum cleaner. By doing this, you can prevent the fan from being set in motion by the vacuum cleaner. Avoiding rotation also keeps the airways clear at the same time, preventing sudden suction of the vacuum cleaner tube. This also makes the vacuum cleaner better able to capture the remaining dust from the heat sink.

We hope these tips help you clean your cooling system quickly, efficiently and safely. If you are unsure of how to apply these tips or would prefer to have the cleaning and maintenance performed by our professional staff, please contact us and see the instructions below under the title "Submit for a free Tech Check Up".