Computers and dust (and fire)
Monday, 25 August, 2008
This is a friendly warning.
A mate of mine in Geelong recently had a fire and everything inside his house was destroyed - either by fire, smoke or water. They traced the cause to his computer tower which was sitting on a plush carpet and the computer was never powered down.
Why people put a tower on a floor is beyond me, much less a carpet. The dust that gets sucked in by computers is amazing and is worsened by the environment it's used in. Never keep your tower on a floor. The damage to CD-ROM drives is obvious and the function lights are impossible to see. I have my tower on a little table next to my desk and I check and clean it often to make sure it's not running hot. If you're not sure how to do this, get professional help because of the danger of electric shock. If your computer fans seize because of dirt etc, the risk of fire is great and the heartbreak of watching your home go up in smoke is something I hope I never have to experience.
If you're not gonna be home for hours, shut your PC off. Never leave a tower on all the time. If anything, your hard drive could fail prematurely and if you haven't backed up all your files, well you know the story. I bought an external hard drive today (Maxtor) and I don't have to worry about constant backing up and wasting CDs all the time.
Take care out there! Cheers guys, Andy. :) :) :)
Andrew Peter Collins, , Australia
 Paul Zucker
 Reader solutions
KenPosted: 04/09/2008 re: Computers and dust (and fire) In many cases computers that have been damaged by fire or water can be restored to a pre-incident state. The company I work for specialises in these techniques. Information can be found at www.cyberclean.com.au
(One free ad per reader Ken. -PZ) Larry JentzPosted: 31/08/2008 re: Computers and dust (and fire) Great point Andrew. Hope some people take notice. Also think Pauls reply lacked feeling and could use a few more of anything... RobC Gulgong NSWPosted: 29/08/2008 re: Computers and dust (and fire) Andrew, your comments were spot on. I didn't realise until just recently when I opened up my computer as the fans were noisy, to find an accumulation of dust. I was shocked as I keep my tower off the ground. I found that mere vacuuming does not remove all the dirt, however compressed inert gas does (available in a can now). It cost around $A8 a can but is sure worth it. It may prevent ruining your computer or prevent setting your house on fire. The old saying is "Cleanliness is next to Godliness", this applies to computers too?? John WallerPosted: 26/08/2008 re: Computers and dust (and fire) I always keep my tower on the floor (not carpet). It's far more convenient there.
It consumes way too much desktop space (real not virtual) and I hardly ever need to access it or its function lights other than inserting DVDs for software installation. tingPosted: 26/08/2008 re: Computers and dust (and fire) I leave my PCs on standby mode since I bought them 2 years ago and haven't had a problem. Only one of the PC's MOBO failed because of excessive heat. I rebuilt the PC and added two extra fans and with a bigger power supply 550W for better cooling and a case with external side fan exhaust. About raising it off the carpet, I agree the amount of dust sucked in but everyone should do a vacuum clean of the components every year. Get a kit from Godfreys who sell vacuum cleaners in Australia and the kit has a hose and adapter to fit the hoses of various vacuum cleaners of all brands. The kit has small and gentle brushes to suck fine dust from the components. It cost about $20 Aussie. The fan ducts are very difficult to clean because of it's close location to the power supply housing. As for the risk of fire, you have to take out contents insurance to ensure peace of mind. Any appliance that is left connected is still a risk of fire. But I wouldn't condone leaving a PC switched on and running 24 x 7, simply because of the consumption of electricity as well as wearing out the parts including TFT screen backlighting and MOBO electrical components. |