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The amount of people who use compressed air to clean a power supply is wild
I was helping a buddy swap out a GPU in his gaming rig last Saturday and he casually grabbed an air duster can to blow out his PSU before we hooked everything up. I had to stop him because he was about to spin those fans up with compressed air which can actually damage the bearings or generate voltage back into the unit. I see it all the time in repair videos online and even some shop guys do it without thinking. The right way is to hold the fan blades still with a toothpick or your finger while you blow the dust out so nothing spins. I learned this the hard way maybe 3 years ago when a customer's PSU started making a grinding noise a week after I cleaned it for them. How do you folks handle dust buildup in power supplies without taking them completely apart?
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reese_hayes711mo ago
Hold the phone, @corap21, a leaf blower is next level crazy for a PSU.
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blairc901mo ago
Wait, did he seriously just blast the PSU with a leaf blower like it was the driveway? That's absolutely wild, especially with all those tiny components just waiting to get knocked loose or fried. Genuinely relieved to hear nothing broke, but I would've been standing there with my jaw on the floor too. I feel you on the fan thing - I always hold them still with a finger now because I wrecked a case fan once by accident and learned that lesson real quick. Its honestly a miracle some of these "quick fixes" don't end in disaster, but I guess thats what happens when someone just wants it done fast.
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corap211mo ago
You reminded me of the time I helped my cousin clean out his PC and he just straight up used a leaf blower on it. I mean a LEAF BLOWER for yard work. He said it was faster. I was standing there with my mouth open while he blasted everything including the PSU. Nothing broke somehow but I made him promise to never do that again. Now I'm just super careful about holding fans still because I don't want to learn any more lessons the hard way.
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