Cleaning Unibody MacBook Pro fans?

Question

Level 2

328 points

Cleaning Unibody MacBook Pro fans?

Yesterday i upgraded my RAM, and upon doing so, i wanted to clean the fans of all the dust bunnies, but i don't know of any safe way of doing so without messing up the Logic Board or any circuitry. I'm sure it's not safe to use compressed air, as i don't want all that dust to fly in those other spots.

Is there really a safe way to clean them? Thanks

 17" Unibody MacBook Pro 2.8GHz 4GB RAM (Mid 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.2),  iPhone 3G S 32GB Black /  iPod Touch 32GB /  15" PowerBook G4 Titanium 1GHz

Posted on Mar 11, 2010 10:54 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 11, 2010 11:05 AM in response to tool

canned air is fine.

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Answer 2

carl wolf

Level 6

14,625 points

Mar 11, 2010 4:03 PM in response to tool

"I'm sure it's not safe to use compressed air, as i don't want all that dust to fly in those other spots."

Your concern is valid. Compressed air will push the debris into your computer, and possibly cause problems. The better solution is to use a vacuum cleaner.

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Answer 3

Travis A.

Level 6

14,985 points

Mar 11, 2010 7:59 PM in response to carl wolf

The better solution is to use a vacuum cleaner.

I have to just add that I've heard of vacuums actually creating small static charges when in use. Of course, then there's the potential to have something short on the logic board.

I don't really have any concrete evidence of that, but it's not something I would do to my own machine, just based on that anecdotal evidence. Too large a risk for a small gain.

--Travis

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Answer 4

tool Author

Level 2

328 points

Mar 12, 2010 7:05 AM in response to Travis A.

Thank you Peck, and Carl for your quick replies on this topic. There is no way i'm using compressed air, as i know all that dust will get into other areas and surely screw up the Logic Board or something else.

The vacuum cleaner sounds like a good idea, but i am with Travis on this one also - the vacuum cleaner will most definitely cause a short in the Logic Board as well.

There must not be any safe way for the general user to clean the fans out because even though you may not void the warranty by taking the bottom case off, you will certainly void the warranty when you go to start it up again and it won't work.

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Answer 5

Mar 12, 2010 7:20 AM in response to tool

There is no way i'm using compressed air, as i know all that dust will get into other areas and surely screw up the Logic Board or something else.

Been doing it for years. never had an issue.

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