Question about using canned air on laptop fans

For years, I just blasted the fan in my shop with canned air to clean it. Last month, a client in Tempe brought in a Dell XPS that had a seized bearing after I did that. I read the fan can spin way too fast and damage itself. Now I hold the fan blade still while cleaning. Anyone else have a better method for this?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivan77410d ago

My old XPS ran fine for years after I blasted the fan, maybe it's just bad luck.

faith_shah8810d ago

Heard my buddy fried his fan doing that last year.

murray.cora10d ago

Honestly used to think it was no big deal until I saw the same thing happen. A friend tried to clean his PC fan while it was still plugged in, just to spin it. Thing sparked and smoked, totally dead. Changed my whole view on being extra careful with anything electrical. Now I always make sure it's completely unplugged and wait a few minutes. That little bit of laziness just isn't worth killing a whole part.