Keeping dust out of my console?


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What are some things I can do around the house / console area that will ensure less dust build up on my consoles? I am specifically referring to my Xbox One & Xbox 360, but they both have the box-top vents. I assume covering them is a bad idea, blocking ventilation, but does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Also, I really wasn't sure where to place this thread, so I apologize if this is not the best location.

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Compressed air, do it every so often, it's the best thing you can do other than put it in a dust-free room.

Would using a handheld Dyson vacuum over the top vents help too? Until I can grab some compressed air tomorrow.

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That would create too much suction, I would think that's too powerful. Just wait till tomorrow. It's not going to break because of a little dust.

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I just gave this advice in another thread, but vacuums generate a lot of static electricity.

 

Also, you also want to be careful to not cause any fan in the system to spin because you can cause it to generate electricity via electromagnetic induction.

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Hello,

Also, I really wasn't sure where to place this thread, so I apologize if this is not the best location.

Should be placed in the console area :)
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I just gave this advice in another thread, but vacuums generate a lot of static electricity.

Also, you also want to be careful to not cause any fan in the system to spin because you can cause it to generate electricity via electromagnetic induction.

That's never been a problem for me :S
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That's never been a problem for me :s

I'd think the former would be less of an issue if you aren't vacuuming exposed electronics. It's probably not really an issue if you are vacuuming shielded/non-exposed things. But, I'd definitely not be sticking one around anything that's exposed.

 

As for the latter, I've never tried it myself :laugh: Feel free to let me know if it burns out anything :shifty: To clarify the latter a bit though: by spinning the fan you are moving a magnets on the fan motor through a wire coil that is shaped into a solenoid: so this can induce a current on the wire coil. I've never actually tested myself, but I've heard advice against doing it. 

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Would using a handheld Dyson vacuum over the top vents help too? Until I can grab some compressed air tomorrow.

 

Don't vacuum any fan unless you can stop the blades turning. You'll **** the bearings as well as the point Snaphat mentioned.

 

Compressed air is only really useful if you can open it up. Otherwise you'll just be blowing dust around inside the top case. Both the 360 and X1 have enclosed chassis so compressed air simply won't do anything.

 

Best thing you can do is just clean the immediate area more frequently than the rest of your home. Or make sure there is at least more air flow in that area so dust can't settle easy.

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May I recommend this bad boy...

Metro Vaccuum ED500

 

The word Vacuum is misleading as it does not suck anything. It is just like a can of compressed air except it is powered.

 

Warwagon actually made a thread about it awhile back, how he used it to clean all his computers, etc., so I was getting frustrated with all my dogs hair, and damn, does it NO DOUBT replace compressed air cans. Thing is a beast for cleaning any electronics, comes with multiple attachments so you can get small stuff as well. The one and only downside is it is pretty damn loud. But that is it. Everything else about it is nearly perfect, and I could not live without it now.

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May I recommend this bad boy...

Metro Vaccuum ED500

 

The word Vacuum is misleading as it does not suck anything. It is just like a can of compressed air except it is powered.

 

Warwagon actually made a thread about it awhile back, how he used it to clean all his computers, etc., so I was getting frustrated with all my dogs hair, and damn, does it NO DOUBT replace compressed air cans. Thing is a beast for cleaning any electronics, comes with multiple attachments so you can get small stuff as well. The one and only downside is it is pretty damn loud. But that is it. Everything else about it is nearly perfect, and I could not live without it now.

Kinda sucks that on Amazon USA its $60 (?36)

Yet on UK site is ?104 = $171

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May I recommend this bad boy...

Metro Vaccuum ED500

 

The word Vacuum is misleading as it does not suck anything. It is just like a can of compressed air except it is powered.

 

Warwagon actually made a thread about it awhile back, how he used it to clean all his computers, etc., so I was getting frustrated with all my dogs hair, and damn, does it NO DOUBT replace compressed air cans. Thing is a beast for cleaning any electronics, comes with multiple attachments so you can get small stuff as well. The one and only downside is it is pretty damn loud. But that is it. Everything else about it is nearly perfect, and I could not live without it now.

 

I've been after one of those for years but the shipping cost is just as much as the item and they don't sell it over here (N)

 

Like I said above though, unless you can open the console you'll just be blowing dust around inside. The Data-Vac is great for PCs though (Y)

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I've been after one of those for years but the shipping cost is just as much as the item and they don't sell it over here (N)

 

Like I said above though, unless you can open the console you'll just be blowing dust around inside. The Data-Vac is great for PCs though (Y)

It gets dust out of consoles. Believe me.  :laugh: It gets dust out of everything, honestly. It is almost to good. The thing is a beast. I have to pretty much bring everything outside when I do it.

 

That is crazy it is so much overseas though. Really is. Hell I can probably buy it for you guys and ship it much cheaper.

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My pc, I open the side panel and vaccuum, my ps3, I vaccuumed the vents once the whole time I had it, now my son has it, haven't cleaned my ps4 yet.

But I trust it should be sufficient, unless you're comfortable in opening your console to clean it

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It gets dust out of consoles. Believe me.  :laugh: It gets dust out of everything, honestly. It is almost to good. The thing is a beast. I have to pretty much bring everything outside when I do it.

 

That is crazy it is so much overseas though. Really is. Hell I can probably buy it for you guys and ship it much cheaper.

 

That's pretty impressive then (Y) Compressed air cans definitely aren't able to do that. Want one even more now lol.

 

I've heard it's prone to fault though. How long have you had yours? Any issues with it?

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That's pretty impressive then (Y) Compressed air cans definitely aren't able to do that. Want one even more now lol.

 

I've heard it's prone to fault though. How long have you had yours? Any issues with it?

Have had it over a year now. January 4th of 2013 to be exact (love Amazon order history).

The one and only issue I have had with it is it fell off of a 7 foot shelf, which was 110% my fault, and the plastic handled cracked, but only cracked, did not even break. I just duct taped it back together and it is good as new. So not sure what issues others may be having with it, but mine is rock solid.

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Have had it over a year now. January 4th of 2013 to be exact (love Amazon order history).

The one and only issue I have had with it is it fell off of a 7 foot shelf, which was 110% my fault, and the plastic handled cracked, but only cracked, did not even break. I just duct taped it back together and it is good as new. So not sure what issues others may be having with it, but mine is rock solid.

I hope that you've done the appropriate method of amazon reviewing and knocked a star off on the rating for the crack  :D

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I just gave this advice in another thread, but vacuums generate a lot of static electricity.

 

Also, you also want to be careful to not cause any fan in the system to spin because you can cause it to generate electricity via electromagnetic induction.

Don't vacuum any fan unless you can stop the blades turning. You'll **** the bearings as well as the point Snaphat mentioned.

 

Compressed air is only really useful if you can open it up. Otherwise you'll just be blowing dust around inside the top case. Both the 360 and X1 have enclosed chassis so compressed air simply won't do anything.

 

Best thing you can do is just clean the immediate area more frequently than the rest of your home. Or make sure there is at least more air flow in that area so dust can't settle easy.

 

 

I'm sorry, but i don't believe for a second that vacuuming through the vents of a console will mess up the fans or the console in any way. Bearings are round. They don't care what direction they spin. Even when cleaning out PC's I spin the hell out of the fans with a compressor and no problems there, ever. Considering I've been using a vacuum on my PS2, Xbox and my 360 and have never experienced a fan failure is proof enough for me. Keep in mind, I don't open the console up, just hold the hose up to the vents. If they didn't make it so difficult to do, I'd simply open them up and use an air compressor with a dryer attached (for moisture) or use a can of air.

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I'm sorry, but i don't believe for a second that vacuuming through the vents of a console will mess up the fans or the console in any way. Bearings are round. They don't care what direction they spin. Even when cleaning out PC's I spin the hell out of the fans with a compressor and no problems there, ever. Considering I've been using a vacuum on my PS2, Xbox and my 360 and have never experienced a fan failure is proof enough for me. Keep in mind, I don't open the console up, just hold the hose up to the vents. If they didn't make it so difficult to do, I'd simply open them up and use an air compressor with a dryer attached (for moisture) or use a can of air.

Personally, I'm not qualified to make an assessment on the mechanical stress aspect of it.

 

I was just giving an electrical analysis on the system: in general a motor is a generator when operated in reverse. In this case, the motor is a brushless permanent magnet and coiled wire (solenoid). If operated in reverse it would generate AC current into the solenoid. For example, PC fans can be modified to be used as turbines: http://www.scraptopower.co.uk/alt-energy/upcycle-pc-fan ; http://dossant.com/projects/experiments/computer-fan-generator/. So it stands to reason that if you cause high spinning in the fan in your PC, you could backfeed electricity into the system by inducing a current in the solenoid. Of course this isn't a generator that could be used for anything useful in unmodified form: it would would just feedback the AC current into the control circuits of the fan and possibly elsewhere (this is why modification has to be done to bypass the circuitry and possibly to add a rectifier to convert to DC current in the examples). 

I doubt in the case of the gaming systems that you are actually causing any form of rapid movement in the fan enough to generate significant current. That being said, it seems to me you could easily do this with an exposed fan and a powerful vacuum with a large hose. I haven't tried it myself though because I'm not keen on testing my systems just to see if I can damage them through applied EM :laugh: You can take what I'm saying with a grain of salt if you want, but it is backed up by sound electromagnetic theory.

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I'm sorry, but i don't believe for a second that vacuuming through the vents of a console will mess up the fans or the console in any way. Bearings are round. They don't care what direction they spin. Even when cleaning out PC's I spin the hell out of the fans with a compressor and no problems there, ever. Considering I've been using a vacuum on my PS2, Xbox and my 360 and have never experienced a fan failure is proof enough for me. Keep in mind, I don't open the console up, just hold the hose up to the vents. If they didn't make it so difficult to do, I'd simply open them up and use an air compressor with a dryer attached (for moisture) or use a can of air.

 

Vacuums cause the fans to spin faster than they would when controlled by the PC and/or console. The fact you've gotten away with it is just sheer luck, not proof. Even if you can stop them spinning then there is still risk of static build up.

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I've wanted to get a Datavac for ages but it's just too expensive. I could buy a small air compressor for what it costs on Amazon UK.

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Vacuums cause the fans to spin faster than they would when controlled by the PC and/or console. The fact you've gotten away with it is just sheer luck, not proof. Even if you can stop them spinning then there is still risk of static build up.

Have you witnessed a fan failure that is the direct result of using a vacuum? Have you fried a console from static electricity originating from vacuuming the console vents from the outside? If you have, then I stand corrected.

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Have you witnessed a fan failure that is the direct result of using a vacuum? Have you fried a console from static electricity originating from vacuuming the console vents from the outside? If you have, then I stand corrected.

 

Have I witnessed it? Yes. Have I done it personally? No.

 

Why would I offer advice I'd don't even follow for myself? I also don't do things half assed. When I clean something I take it apart to do so. You're not going to suck out all the dust from a 360/X1 through the chasis never mind the gaps in the fan blades. If you'd actually opened one before (especially an old model that's never been cleaned), you'd understand. Same goes for the PS3. The fat models have more layers than Dell laptops (N). If you think you're cleaning it efficiently or suitably through the fans then you really haven't a clue. The old 360 models have a plastic shield that funnels the air straight to the HSF. You're not even collecting dust from the rest of the innards :no:

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