Stop using canned air on your PC fans - you're wrecking them

I see it all the time in repair videos and my own shop. People blast compressed air into case fans to clean them, and the air spins the blades way faster than they were designed to go. That generates back voltage that can fry the fan controller on your motherboard or GPU. I had a customer last month kill a $400 graphics card this way, all because he wanted to save 5 bucks on a proper cleaning. Use a soft brush or hold the fan blades still with a toothpick before you spray. Has anyone else seen this mess up a build?

2 comments

2 Comments

vera_lewis19d ago

I saw a techtuber mention this exact thing last week, said they killed a test board doing it on purpose just to prove the point. People don't realize those little fans can generate a surprising amount of power when they spin backwards.

mary_patel5919d ago

@vera_lewis tried doing that same trick years ago with an old pc fan and a breadboard, fried a cheap arduino in seconds. Learned my lesson the hard way so now I always unplug fans before messing with them.