The comment that made me stop using compressed air on boards

I used to blow out dust and gunk on motherboards with an air compressor, quick and easy. Last month a customer watched me do it and said, 'You know that can push moisture and crap deeper into the caps, right?' I laughed it off, but a week later I opened up a dead PSU that I had cleaned that way and saw a film of oily residue stuck near the VRM area. Turns out my compressor had water in the tank and I never drained it. Now I use a soft brush and a handheld blower for dry dust, and I only break out canned air if I absolutely have to. Anyone else switched off compressors after a close call like that, or am I the last guy to learn this?

1 comments

1 Comment

noah24819d ago

That oil film residue is exactly what got me too. I ran a little pancake compressor for years before I finally checked the tank and found rusty water sitting in the bottom. Now I always drain the tank before every job and stick to a soft brush plus one of those little battery blowers, and I've never seen that gunk come back.