Canned air - should I use it???

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bigweed

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2004
Messages
144
Hi I have been reading lots of messages on these boards about using compressed air to clean out the PC. I have found the following canned air product on ebay,

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=162&item=5195944745&rd=1

I asked the seller if it could be used upside down and he said that it leaked some liquid if used upside down, and also may leak some liquid if used upright!! Now I wanna know if that is normal, ie do all canned air products leak some kind of liquid when used upright and when used inverted? And is it safe to use inside the PC case and over the mobo if it expels this liquid??

Or should I just find it from somewhere else? Where do people in the UK get their canned air from, as I cant seem to find it in many places??? Also, it seems to be really expensive!
 
Uh, just Buy Canned Air in any Office Store. NOT off Ebay.

Don't know about the UK but, yeah...any Office Supplies Store:

Office Depot
Office Max
Circuit City
Best Buy
CompUSA

They all have it...I bought mine for 12 bucks?
 
Quote from the auction

"Flammable"

find a different product, thats the old style & is NOT joking about it's Flamability. If you go to any PC store they should have canned air in stock.
 
Mtnduey said:
"Flammable"
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:eek:

What!? I know - PERHAPS - if a still pressurized can was put under intense heat, but the expellant should NOT under any circumstances be considered flammable. If it is, avoid like the plague.

And I agree with the others. Any office supply store, computer supply store, etc should have cans of air for very cheap. $5-10 USD per can at most.
 
Do people use low-powered air compressors? I have an air compressor and was wondering if I just cranked down the pressure on it, it'd be ok to use on my computer...
 
Mr. K6 said:
Do people use low-powered air compressors? I have an air compressor and was wondering if I just cranked down the pressure on it, it'd be ok to use on my computer...
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Don't air compressors mix oil in with the air to lubricate the machinery its ment to run?
 
Komataguri said:
Don't air compressors mix oil in with the air to lubricate the machinery its ment to run?
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Depends on the make/model/type of air compressor. I know in the tech shop for the store I ran the sales department for a few years back used a "safe" compressor in a dust-vented room to blow out those stanky-ass cases you'd come across once in a while.
 
i use my oiless aircompressor without problems

gets the dust stuck in the rad no problem
 
We use an air compressor at the shop with no problems. I think it peaks around 80 psi.
 
Lukano said:
:eek:

What!? I know - PERHAPS - if a still pressurized can was put under intense heat, but the expellant should NOT under any circumstances be considered flammable. If it is, avoid like the plague.

And I agree with the others. Any office supply store, computer supply store, etc should have cans of air for very cheap. $5-10 USD per can at most.
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Years ago I worked for IBM, I was working on a cash register with a coworker, he was blowing out the dust & junk with his bottle of canned air when it ignited & burned most of the hair off his eye-brows, mustache & a little bit of the hair on his head, so yes it can happen, wouldn't of believed it had I not seen it.

It all depends on whats inside the can, some are non-flamable, some are flamable, we were much more careful after that of which brand & type of canned air we used.

But yes, any office or computer store should have it, just read the back of the can rather well.

DO NOT use an air compressor as it has moisture & oil particles inside the air, bad bad combo.
 
bigweed said:
I asked the seller if it could be used upside down and he said that it leaked some liquid if used upside down, and also may leak some liquid if used upright!! Now I wanna know if that is normal, ie do all canned air products leak some kind of liquid when used upright and when used inverted? And is it safe to use inside the PC case and over the mobo if it expels this liquid??
Click to expand...

GUST 360 Degree Spray Anyway Duster is what I use to clean my projector LCD panels. No expulsion of liquid no matter which angle you hold it at. Awesome product. Try it.
 
Mtnduey said:
Years ago I worked for IBM, I was working on a cash register with a coworker, he was blowing out the dust & junk with his bottle of canned air when it ignited & burned most of the hair off his eye-brows, mustache & a little bit of the hair on his head, so yes it can happen, wouldn't of believed it had I not seen it.

It all depends on whats inside the can, some are non-flamable, some are flamable, we were much more careful after that of which brand & type of canned air we used.

But yes, any office or computer store should have it, just read the back of the can rather well.

DO NOT use an air compressor as it has moisture & oil particles inside the air, bad bad combo.
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You can get very specific Non-Static (just like a vacume, any (de)compression machinery can and does generate a level of static charge which can carry through the device and/or moisture being (de)compressed and carried), Moisture Reduced (there's a chance of some, but so very small as to be irrelevant to ambient moisture), Internally Lubricated (any oil or lubrication does not enter the compression chamber) air compressors.

I haven't any makes or models off the top of my head though. Sorry :(
 
DOnt bother with E-Bay, costco, pc world, i think Wilco, your best bet is your local maplins, (theres like 6 in london i think) its about 5£ a can, though i cant remember quite right cos i get staff prices, although not for too long, shitty skinflint bastards not paying us commision or anything over minimum wage.
 
The propellant that is ozone and furry woodland creature friendly is usually 9/10 time butane or propane, that is why it is flammable...the rest of the crap inside is actually TETRAFLUOROETHANE
 It the same thing as HFC-134a in your vehicles air conditioner system..

 
Using an aircompressor isn't a good idea because it can push dust particles under chips and heated dust turns into conductive material.
 
Peach said:
Using an aircompressor isn't a good idea because it can push dust particles under chips and heated dust turns into conductive material.
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If you're using a moderately low PSI compressor I would assume it should pose a similar risk for pushing dust as a can of air - just doing the job a bit quicker due to the larger coverage footprint. If you're using one rated to peel paint or attach to a spray-washer - yes I could see it, but with a very low powered compressor I really can't see this being much of a concern.
 
Not to change the subject, but what if you blew that canned air directly on your hsf when it was under full load. Could you crack it with the change in temp?
 
PoorBehavior said:
Not to change the subject, but what if you blew that canned air directly on your hsf when it was under full load. Could you crack it with the change in temp?
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... sure. maybe. But who in their right mind would be cleaning their case with canned air while the machine was running?
 
Well, I am kinda kidding. Think about it, that compressed air is damn cold. I bet you could really tear some stuff up if the hsf was really smoking hot. Might be a fun experiment on an ancient board. Of course I might just have some issues I need to work out in more constructive ways.
 
you can buy a small(and i mean small) portable air compressor at walmart all day for under 50 bucks.

Great for PC work
 
Ruffy said:
you can buy a small(and i mean small) portable air compressor at walmart all day for under 50 bucks.

Great for PC work
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That would more than likely (I can't say for sure, but if it's cheap - it's cheap for a reason) be a prime example of the "static generating, lubricant leaking, moisture compressing" variants. It works, but I'd hardly risk pricey equipment with an el-cheapo walmart special compressor unless it very specifically stated it was safe (again, doesn't generate static in the compression process, internall and sheilded lubrication that does not enter the compression chamber, and filtered/dried (like air conditioners do) air that won't compress moisture into a potentially dangerous droplet).
 
The liquid stuff that comes out is the compressed air in a liquid state...all I have to say is that in a pinch...yes, turning canned air upside down and spraying can chill a long neck..not as cold as one may like, but fairly decent!
 
Mahachippy said:
The liquid stuff that comes out is the compressed air in a liquid state...all I have to say is that in a pinch...yes, turning canned air upside down and spraying can chill a long neck..not as cold as one may like, but fairly decent!
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Hrm? I thought it was sub zero temp, that liquid stuff.


I heard of a guy who got frostbite on his nuts by trying to cool them off with an upside down can.
 
Mahachippy said:
The liquid stuff that comes out is the compressed air in a liquid state...all I have to say is that in a pinch...yes, turning canned air upside down and spraying can chill a long neck..not as cold as one may like, but fairly decent!
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No, actually it's propellant. Usually something similar to freon (which is actually a trademark held by Dupont Corp). The technical names for it are (trichlorofluoromethane, dichlorodifluoromethane, 1,1,1,2 - tetrafluoroethane, et al depending on exactly what brand you use). It's a non-CFC propellant/refrigerant used in commercial and residential HVAC applications and is often sold under the names R-134a, R-114, R-23, et al intended for use in automotive air conditioning systems.

This chemical is capable of cooling a surface to -60 degrees F within about 8 seconds. The dry frost you see when you spray it (out of an inverted can) onto a warm surface is a combination of water vapor being super cooled to form frost as well as the chemicals left over which have "frozen" to the surface as parts of it evaporate (read boil) off the surface.

In computer terms, it's not that different from the chemical used in vapochill systems. So, can you cool a HSU with it, of course you can. You can pick up a great rig for less than $1000.

Read the back of the can... how much you want to bet it doesn't say "compressed air" under the contents? If it was "air" you couldn't get high "huffing" it.
 
Lukano said:
... sure. maybe. But who in their right mind would be cleaning their case with canned air while the machine was running?
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Uhhh...I just got don't doing it. I always do it when its running. no problems yet
:cool:
 
pOwErEd By NOS said:
Uhhh...I just got don't doing it. I always do it when its running. no problems yet
:cool:
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All I can say is I STRONGLY recommend you avoid rooting around in your case for any reason while it's still powered on, nevermind blowing a fine jet of what can potentially be (as per BellaCroix's info above) -60F on surfaces that can reach over 60-70C. That's over 100C (Celsius because I can't do F conversion) temperature change in an abrupt fashion - and by no means can that be a good thing, especially when potentially contained within a spray radius smaller than a dime.
 
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