I’ve had my PSU for 3-4 years now, I keep my hardwares relatively clean but PSU has been quite neglected lately. PSU has accumulated quite a bit of dust, they quite visible on the fan blades from the outside. I don’t wanna use canned air spray, it would only do half the job. I feel the best option would be open it up and physically clean it up – any advice on that?
I wouldn't. Opening a PSU is very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Touching the wrong component by mistake could produce a fatal zap. Using an air can is more then sufficient for a PSU.
Just for fun i open up my dell 745 PSU that came with it, some cheap 250W PSU, clean out the dust and put it back, still worked. But i don't use it obviously, but taking it apart isn't really a big deal messing with some old psu, but i wouldn't do it with the one you're using all the time. This+ I just blow out the fan parts and keep it moving.
I cleaned mine up just last month. I disconnected from the mains and drained any existing power. Removed retaining screws and peeled back the casing. using a pair of rubber washing up gloves a vacuum cleaners and a searching brush I got it all cleaned up. Before cleaning it actually looked like the inside of the vacuum cleaner. The main reason I took it a apart for cleaning was I was getting a fault on the 3v line and a clicking noise was being emitted. After cleaning the 3volt line was good again.
A long time ago I opened a PSU to replace the fan. No problems whatsoever. I was planning to do the same last year with the PSU I had, but before I could do anything I noticed the fan used was some weird nonstandard thing and finding a new one wouldn't be a walk in a park. I didn't end up opening it. Generally speaking I only mess with electronics when I know what I'm doing. I never opened the old CRT TVs and monitors.
Like said best advice is unless you're 100 % sure you know what you're dealing with ie are familiar with electronic components, don't do it. If you feel confident, leave the PSU unplugged for a day before opening it to make sure residual charges from caps are gone.
To some who posted here giving the impression that it's a normal thing one can just do at any time: it is completely unsafe to open any power supply that has not been left unplugged for a sufficient amount of time for the very large capacitors inside to discharge. Opening the PSU and (accidentally) touching any of those capacitor's leads could easily kill you. Just a heads-up for those reading this thread and thinking they can just go ahead and open up one like that.
This. Plus I posted earlier that unplugged for a day but I'll add at least for a day and even still there may be charge left, nothing is foolproof. PSU is a power converter/transformer essentially and as such a hazardous device. The warnings not to open it are there for a reason. Especially modern high-end PSUs which may output near 100 A currents. For reference anything above 1 A is potentially fatal. Car batteries output around 80 A so that is enough to start a car engine. Also a current that, when short-circuited can easily melt steel. I have opened a PSU once but made sure not to touch anything, just blowed some air in it to remove dust and put it back together immediately. That was an older PSU with lots of dust in it, normally I just wipe the outside with a cloth and maybe vacuum the exhaust which removes most dust inside already.
don't worry about opening it. Do be sure to drain the caps after unplugging it. Before disconnecting from the motherboard hold the power button down and you should see the LED's flash. The only thing to be careful of is where the wires go through the case, make sure you don't pinch anything when you put it back together.
This - fair bit of scaremongering going on in this thread (not without good reason though, if a PSU hasn't been discharged then it is indeed very dangerous, potentially deadly) - as long as it's been discharged and that you make sure you don't use anything conductive when cleaning, you'll be just fine (so don't go doing anything silly like poking a screwdriver across the capacitors), you'll be able to clean everything out. If you've had good airflow in your system, there shouldn't really be much dust within the PSU, if anything it should just be on the fan blades which is an easy clean with a brush.
The problem is, how would the average user know if it's been discharged properly? Capacitors can hold a charge longer than a day like people are saying to wait. It's incredibly stupid giving people advice like this that could potentially kill them by simply touching the wrong part. OP: use an air can. It's more than enough to clean it. If you're that worried about it, buy some cheap dust filters and put them on the intakes
While I myself have never had a problem, I don't discount the possibility and you're quite right, the average user probably wont know if it is indeed discharged or not, not without a multi-meter. The best advice though is, if you're unsure about doing this level of maintenance and you aren't able to take sufficient precautions such as ensuing you are insulated and not using conductive tools, then either just do the simple pressurised air method (although personally if dealing with caked on dust, it doesn't really remove all the dust and is rather messy too) or have a professional service it.
Only two o one capacitor from the primary side can have give you a zap, but they are quite "small" less than 1000uF ... they don't hold the energy for long time, like a microwave or something like that Just power on your PC and remove the power plug while is on, so the capacitors discharge completely.
