Cleaning the iMac vents?

[insane79]

Hi Guys,
I got a late 2012 27" iMac & been cleaning it regularly with the supplied cleaning cloth, today noticed that the rear vents are dusty, also the vents below the screen is a bit dusty, how do you guys clean these vents present below the screen & the rear of the new imacs? should i use a blower or a vacuum? inputs would be great.

Thanks,
Burjor

 

[hfg]

Use a vacuum ... never blow the dust further into the insides of the iMac.

 

[Thermonuclear]

Using a blower or compressed air will only push the dust back inside, a bad idea. A vacuum will get the dust out of the machine, and that's what you want.

If you have a lot of dust in less than a couple of years, then there's the bigger problem of having too much dust in the air. Try limiting the inflow of dust into the room and use a room air dust filter. Also, consider more frequent changes of filters connected to any furnace or air conditioners.

 

[2984839]

Vacuum. If you take it all apart, compressed air is okay as long as it is a can of compressed air designed for cleaning electronic parts. You don't want moisture getting in there.

 

[Fatboy71]

Hi Guys,
I got a late 2012 27" iMac & been cleaning it regularly with the supplied cleaning cloth, today noticed that the rear vents are dusty, also the vents below the screen is a bit dusty, how do you guys clean these vents present below the screen & the rear of the new imacs? should i use a blower or a vacuum? inputs would be great.

Thanks,
Burjor

If you have an application that allows you to control the speed of the fan (such as iStat Menus). Then you can use this to run the fan at max. This will blow out the dust from the rear vents.

The vents you mention below the screen are the outlets for the speakers if I'm not mistaken.

I do this on my Late 2012 iMac every few months. I leave the fan running on max for a few minutes and you can see the dust blow out.

 

[insane79]

thanks for the tips guys, if i do the apple hardware test will that run the fan on full speed to blow the dust? as the new iMacs have only one big rear fan.

Thanks..

 

[Fatboy71]

Also, I wouldn't recommend using the cans of compressed air has its easy to get the propelant to spray out if you have the can positioned at certain angles from my experience.

A better alternative is a lens blower. I have this one and its superb, good powerful blow with it.

http://www.giottos-tripods.co.uk/product_information/491846169ec51/Super-Rocket-AirBlower

thanks for the tips guys, if i do the apple hardware test will that run the fan on full speed to blow the dust? as the new iMacs have only one big rear fan.

Thanks..

Not sure. But I have found a free application that should let you run your fan at maximum.

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

The default speed for the fan on Late 2012 iMac's is 1200 rpm. I can turn mine up to 2640 rpm with iStat Menus.

 

[Serban]

i have clearing the dust from speakers with a hairdryer, but you must be sure that it is dust, i mean there are only dry particles of dust. For 2 years now and never had a problem, the grills are very small. With my 2012 iMac i had it for my reseller for a buyback and remove the panel and it was clean and no dust