Can the suction of a household vacuum create static electricity?

[John Phoenix]

Can the suction of a household vacuum create static electricity?

 

I have heard this and I would like to know, not only is this true, but how and why?

 

You see many people clean their PC fans with a can of compressed air. I think this is the worst way to clean a PC fan.

 

My idea is this will only scatter the dust and much of it will fall back into your PC and get in all the nooks and crannies of the motherboard. Many times if you attempt to spray a CPU fan with a heat sink behind it, all you will do if force dust between the grooves of the heat sink making matters much worse. ( unless you actually take the fan and heat sink out so you can get to the underneath)

 

People have a false impression I believe that all of the dust ends up outside of the PC. This is silly. A lot of that dust must settle back inside the PC. When that dust gets into hard to reach places moisture can cause it to harden and it will be much harder to remove. Dust on the motherboard can even build up with enough moisture to cause electrical shorts.

 

I have been cleaning my computers for over 20 years with a vacuum and a q-tip or toothbrush (used very lightly) to loosen stuck on dust. I have never had a problem in all that time. The people who advertise not using a vacuum claim that this can cause static electricity and fry the motherboard. I believe this is nonsense made up by the people who want to sell you a can of compressed air.

 

A google search turned up this:

 

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:r9K7zjsLt2cJ:www.sgalink.org/forum/attachments/Static_Electricity-Tullis.doc+can+vacuums+cause+static+eletricity&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

 

But this is not the same as a household vacuum. They are talking about vacuuming out pipes for natural gas using professional equipment. I think this may be where the compressed air people got the idea from.

 

OyVey.. I have no idea how the title got messed up.. sorry.

Edited November 14, 2009 by John Phoenix

[swansont]

Fixed the title typo

 

Short answer: yes. A vacuum cleaner can generate static electricity; friction between poor conductors can cause charge to transfer and build up, and dust moving at some speed qualifies, especially through a tube made of insulating material. Compressed gas canisters don't have dust in them, and you avoid this problem.

[John Phoenix]

Thanks for the title fix.

 

As for your answer..O.k. Thanks. I have never had a problem with the vacuum, but I don't like the idea of the dust flying all over the place. How do you keep the dust from scattering and falling back into the PC when you give it that big blast?

 

Also, couldn't you just make a hose out of non insulating material to solve the vacuum's static electricity problem?

[swansont]

Thanks for the title fix.

 

As for your answer..O.k. Thanks. I have never had a problem with the vacuum, but I don't like the idea of the dust flying all over the place. How do you keep the dust from scattering and falling back into the PC when you give it that big blast?

 

Also, couldn't you just make a hose out of non insulating material to solve the vacuum's static electricity problem?

 

A grounded metal tube would probably work, but would not be (as) flexible, or as light. That's probably a dealbreaker for vacuum cleaners for most consumers.

[insane_alien]

you could always coat the tube in a conductive paint to retrofit a standard vacuum cleaner.

[John Phoenix]

Hey..what about using a rubber hose that you get from Home Depot? It's cheap and non-insulating..say, 5 foot long should be long enough to keep any static in your vacuum away from the PC. Just attach it to your existing vacuum hose. What do you think?

Edited November 15, 2009 by John Phoenix

[insane_alien]

rubber is an insulator.

 

also it will likely collapse when the vacuum is on.

[Mr Skeptic]

The dust that resettles from using a can of compressed air will be very lightly stuck on, and can be blown off much easier the second time. The thing is, the compressed air can blow far harder than the vacuum can suck, even if your vacuum cleaner really sucks. I suppose if you have a fan blowing on your computer while you use the compressed air, very little dust will resettle inside the computer.

 

I have heard of people using Q-tips, and I don't think there's any problem with that.

[John Phoenix]

rubber is an insulator.

 

also it will likely collapse when the vacuum is on.

 

You're right. I should have said insulator instead of non insulator. I know the difference believe me..I have been in ac and heating repair for over 16 years.. thing is I don't know where my mind was...