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static free vacuum
Authored by: fish2live on Apr 06, '06 11:21:41AM

I first encountered the warning not to vacuum the inside of my computer many years ago. At the time I had two vacuum cleaners, and one of them was almost entirely plastic. I had repeatedly noted that the plastic vacuum developed quite a layer of dust on the outside of the plastic wand, clearly as a result of static buildup.

My other vacuum was a high end Sears cannister vac with a hose that detached at the point where it entered the big floor attachment. The fancy vac had a steel pipe and a powered rug brush in the floor attachment, and the hose end terminated in a matching steel piece that mated to the pipe of the floor attachment.

Sure, the steel will dissipate a static charge better than plastic, but my vacuum had one other very special feature. The vac had every helpful dongle to avoid bending over, and one feature was an on/off switch in the handle where the hose connects to the floor piece. My fancy vacuum had a grounded nozzle, which prevented a static buildup.

It was just plain luck that I had been using the grounded vacuum to clean my computer, but when I ran across that warning, it specifically stated that I should only use a grounded vacuum hose if I insisted on doing it. The warning noted that such a setup is relatively rare. I have since used the same old vacuum many times to clean my computer, but I wouldn't dream of using any other to do the job. I also do my vacuum cleaning with the power cord connected to the computer to ground the whole thing as much as possible.

By the way, this whole phenomenon of static on plastic is not confined to computers. People living in marine environments may encounter warning signs at gas stations regarding plastic gas tanks on truck bed liners. Both air and gasoline build up static charges as they flow over plastic. If a plastic boat gas tank is filled while sitting on a plastic bed liner, the electrically insulated tank becomes susceptible to catastrophic discharge. It's good to ground.



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