Cleaning tips?

[Green_Plums]

Anyone have any ideas of being able to clean the iMac's heatsinks/fan without taking the screen off?

Compressed air seems to be the only solution, I wish Apple made these things a little easier to maintain.

 

[Razzerman]

Hello there. Which iMac are you talking about? If it's one of the older, 'fatter' imacs, taking the screen off isn't so hard.

Either that, or take it somewhere local and get them to do the work. Probably wouldn't charge that much (an hours work?).

Cheers,

Razzerman

 

[Green_Plums]

It's the 2015 version.

I'm capable of taking the screen off and reapplying double sided tape, it's just that I don't want to have to if there's an easier way.

 

[ctrlzone]

take care with compressed air, you need to hold the fan in place with something.
if it spins, it will spin way too fast, maybe even in the wrong direction, possibly damaging the fan.

 

[maflynn]

clean the iMac's heatsinks/fan without taking the screen off?

Nope, and I'd be hesitant to blast compressed air into the iMac blindly. I'm not sure if you could do more harm then good.

 

[Green_Plums]

Hmmm.... Fair points! I'll probably end up taking the screen off once I have the right tools.

 

[PBinCT]

With the power off, try using a vacuum cleaner with the narrow attachment to suck dust from the outside of the grills. Use it gently. You want to avoid the vacuum cleaner "sticking" to the computer.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Are you planning to do this on principle, or do you know you actually have a problem?

Consider the damage that might be done opening the thing up for cleaning (check iFixit for the various cautions that accompany the repair procedures) and balance those risks against the possible benefits of cleaning out some dust.

 

[cynics]

I wouldn't bother unless you know there is a problem. Unless you live in a terribly dusty environment I doubt you'll find enough to clean that justifies opening it in the first place. Plus he fact you even want to clean it makes me think your house/room stays fairly clean anyway again reducing the need to clean it.

If you do open it though I would make it worth your while and upgrade something. While I'm sure its fine, you could consider applying a really high quality thermal paste.

 

[Green_Plums]

Are you planning to do this on principle, or do you know you actually have a problem?

Consider the damage that might be done opening the thing up for cleaning (check iFixit for the various cautions that accompany the repair procedures) and balance those risks against the possible benefits of cleaning out some dust.

Out of principle, I'm not experiencing any issues it's just that coming from a Windows desktop PC I know how dusty machines can get and it worries me because dust kills. I think if I start noticing overheating or extreme throttling but right now I think I'm overthinking it. Thanks.

I wouldn't bother unless you know there is a problem. Unless you live in a terribly dusty environment I doubt you'll find enough to clean that justifies opening it in the first place. Plus he fact you even want to clean it makes me think your house/room stays fairly clean anyway again reducing the need to clean it.

If you do open it though I would make it worth your while and upgrade something. While I'm sure its fine, you could consider applying a really high quality thermal paste.

Noted, I've decided against it, if I notice overheating or extreme throttling I'll probably take it apart all good at the moment though.

Thermal paste is a good call... I'll be sure to replace it if I find myself taking the thing apart. Thanks.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Get a good hepa filter and place it by the iMac. That will help keep a lot of unwanted debris from getting in and on your iMac.

 

[hfg]

You might use a manual fan-control program to set the fans to max, possible even using a vacuum to suck the dirt coming out the fan outlet. I have noticed a pretty good puff of dust doing this on various computers which run 24/7, even though my environment isn't particularly dusty.

 

[Pikachuguy]

cleaning tips here https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cleaning-tip.1723165/