iMac Fan Cleaning

[6Foot6Dude]

How do you clean fans inside iMacs that habe the lamited screen? Vacuum causes static and blower just pushes the dust inside the chassis.
Surely opening it up by cutting the adhesive is not the only option?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

How do you clean fans inside iMacs that habe the lamited screen? Vacuum causes static and blower just pushes the dust inside the chassis.
Surely opening it up by cutting the adhesive is not the only option?

Simple. Take it to a repair shop which can handle these iMacs.
Where I live, it would cost me 25$~30$ for the adhesive & labor.

 

[6Foot6Dude]

Simple. Take it to a repair shop which can handle these iMacs.
Where I live, it would cost me 25$~30$ for the adhesive & labor.

Do official Apple Stores perform this for a fee?
I do not believe that is the case

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Do official Apple Stores perform this for a fee?
I do not believe that is the case

I don't think they do. Not profitable.

 

[MajorFubar]

If you don't fancy cracking it open, my best suggestion is use a vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment near the air vents.
I've suggested this before and the OCD sufferers go crazy as though I've just given someone direct instruction to blast 4 million volts through the circuitboards.
But in reality the chassis is earthed and this is nonsense, and causing damage is no more likely than the chance of causing damage by discharging your own body's static through it by picking it up.
I've done it for countless years with no issues on all my computers. Lucky? Only in so far as the chance of causing damage this way is so infinitesimally small that the odds are stacked massively in your favour.

Most advice round here is going to be 'take it to your local Apple store' or 'take it to your local Mac specialist' as though these are things sat on every street corner. I'm 100 miles, two train journeys, and two taxi rides away from any Apple store, and I couldn't name one local computer shop (most of which have long since closed) that would know how to even get inside an iMac, let alone service it.

Sometimes you've just got to make do with what resources are available. Like a vacuum cleaner.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Sometimes you've just got to make do with what resources are available. Like a vacuum cleaner.

For your approach, I don't even need to buy a vacuum cleaner.
400m away from my home is a motorcycles repair shop.
I just bring my iMac there and borrow the owner's air-compressor with a duster head.
That's why I love living here. A lot of services are available at very reasonable costs.

 

[MajorFubar]

For your approach, I don't even need to buy a vacuum cleaner.
400m away from my home is a motorcycles repair shop.
I just bring my iMac there and borrow the owner's air-compressor with a duster head.
That's why I love living here. A lot of services are available at very reasonable costs.

An air compressor is going to force dust and debris inside the computer at a crazy-high PSI, not least, any particles sucked in through the air-compressor inlets and exploding out the end of the air compressor pipe at 200mph. It's literally the polar opposite of a vacuum cleaner. I would not recommend this.

 

[6Foot6Dude]

I just spoke to my local Apple Store and they said they do clean the dust inside the Macs. For free within the warranty period.

But I am curious if that is the same in the U.S, has anybody here asked them?

 

[wilberforce]

I use a regular vacuum cleaner with a nozzle, run it along the bottom intake vents (on a 27" iMac). Takes about 10 seconds. Make sure the iMac is powered off!

There is a grating screen inside about 1" above the vents which clogs with dust. If you look inside with a flashlight you can see the dust on the grating screen, and see the before and after improvement.

I expect there is more dust further inside the machine, but just sucking the dust off the screen on the intake vents makes a huge improvement, and is very easy to do.

 

[6Foot6Dude]

Does anybody know if Geniuses can clean inside the iMac?

 

[macguru9999]

Simple. Take it to a repair shop which can handle these iMacs.
Where I live, it would cost me 25$~30$ for the adhesive & labor.

I would refuse to do the job unless the client was having an ssd fitted, and then i clean it for no extra charge, but the labour charge would still be 10x what you said..... still , i am sure someone would do it ...

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

An air compressor is going to force dust and debris inside the computer at a crazy-high PSI, not least, any particles sucked in through the air-compressor inlets and exploding out the end of the air compressor pipe at 200mph. It's literally the polar opposite of a vacuum cleaner. I would not recommend this.

You are correct if using the air compressor on the same inlet as the vacuum cleaner.

 

[PhillyGuy72]

If you don't fancy cracking it open, my best suggestion is use a vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment near the air vents.
I've suggested this before and the OCD sufferers go crazy as though I've just given someone direct instruction to blast 4 million volts through the circuitboards.
But in reality the chassis is earthed and this is nonsense, and causing damage is no more likely than the chance of causing damage by discharging your own body's static through it by picking it up.
I've done it for countless years with no issues on all my computers. Lucky? Only in so far as the chance of causing damage this way is so infinitesimally small that the odds are stacked massively in your favour.

Most advice round here is going to be 'take it to your local Apple store' or 'take it to your local Mac specialist' as though these are things sat on every street corner. I'm 100 miles, two train journeys, and two taxi rides away from any Apple store, and I couldn't name one local computer shop (most of which have long since closed) that would know how to even get inside an iMac, let alone service it.

Sometimes you've just got to make do with what resources are available. Like a vacuum cleaner.

I do this at least 2 times a year on my old mid-2010 iMac. Living in an old house, dust all over (even with air filters on around this place)...not fun, especially in winter with the dry air! I can tell the fans are getting clogged when I hear a higher pitched whine from the computer.

Small vacuum with bristles works, I did do the air compressor the first time I admit opening this up... the caked dust on the fan blades was stubborn and a total mess! It's not THAT hard after you did it once - follow step by step slowly, have patience using YouTube videos. For me, it's disconnecting AND especially reconnecting all the tiny cables and especially the main display cable is the hard part. Big hands and limited space in there. Once display is removed..cleaning is easy.

 

[MajorFubar]

Does anybody know if Geniuses can clean inside the iMac?

I'm not sure modern Geniuses can even clean their own backsides based on my limited experience. Admittedly YMMV.

 

[pshufd]

I've just run a vacuum cleaner around the vents.

 

[levmc]

I would refuse to do the job unless the client was having an ssd fitted, and then i clean it for no extra charge, but the labour charge would still be 10x what you said..... still , i am sure someone would do it ...

Are you a Genius?
Would the SSD have to be Apple's SSD or would any SSD be ok?

 

[macguru9999]

Are you a Genius?
Would the SSD have to be Apple's SSD or would any SSD be ok?

I dont work for apple but I do these all the time. Mainly replace the sata internal with crucial mx 1 or 2tb drives. You can also replace the blade with a larger one but its more work, and models before 2017 sometimes have sleep issues with nvme blades so i would use a s/h 1tb apple blade for them ... but generally its too much work pulling the mobo unless its your own mac. There is a performance gain but most people would not notice the extra gain over just a sata ssd.