Fan Cleaning Accessibility Concerns and Airflow

[Deluxius]

I don't understand when they say the airflow is from the front and out the back. I don't see any air inakes in the front. And from what I can see, the air gets sucked inn from the keyboard(the top).

I have read around and I have the feeling that there is a big problems when it comes to cleaning the fans. You need to disassemble the pc to get to them.

First of all this is a problem, since you need to have/aquire skills to disassemble it without destroying/damaging it.
It also takes a good amount of time doing this.

Second. You viod the warranty when doing this.

I live in a dusty environment and the pc sure gets clogged up quickly


Why is it not made easyer to clean the filters? And why are there not dustfilters, that can be easy cleaned?

It sure will make the pc much more durable and will stay cooler longer

[Dr__Zchivago]

Air is drafted in from the top and bottom of the laptop - I don't know precisely how, but it's reasonable to assume that air is pulled through the vents on the bottom and through the keyboard.

When I had my G55VW, I blew out the fans every few weeks by:
1. Turn off the computer, obviously
2. Insert a strong, thin wire (I used the spiral binding from a notebook, because a paper clip was too thick) into the rear vents far enough to prevent the fan from spinning.
3. Using a can of air, or an air compressor with a dryer, blow air into the rear vent of the laptop (the one with the pinned fan). You might see dust coming through the keyboard and bottom vents.
4. Move pin to second fan, and repeat.

It's far from perfect, but regularly blowing dust out of the fans will drastically increase the length of time before the fans need to be disassembled; and, it will ensure consistent temperature control throughout the life of the computer.

IT IS CRITICAL that you prevent the fans from spinning, or you WILL burn out the bearings on your fans (the compressed air is moving MUCH faster than the fan's bearings can handle, and it will over-spin the fan); and then, you've got a much bigger problem than a few dusty fan blades. As long as you prevent it from spinning, you really can't hurt the fan.

Z

Edit: Clarified wording

[Sagi]

The G75VW and G75VX was pretty easy to clean - It took less than 5mins to do so.

I'm not sure why they would prevent people from maintaining their laptop.. This doesn't make any sense at all :confused: I have 2 cats, so I definitely need to clean it often!

Whenever I was using the vacuum cleaner I would also clean the keyboard + back vents .. Just to clean out any loose dust or w/e that somehow got there.

This might not be the best solution, but I never had any issues with my fans or high temperatures - However, I'm a bit worried about the thermal paste.
After going through some reviews on youtube etc. I found that SOME people have experienced really bad thermal paste jobs on their G751 .. I know this can happen, but it really shouldn't.. Looking at the pricetag of this laptop :rolleyes:

[hmscott]

Deluxius wrote:
I don't understand when they say the airflow is from the front and out the back. I don't see any air inakes in the front. And from what I can see, the air gets sucked inn from the keyboard(the top).
I have read around and I have the feeling that there is a big problems when it comes to cleaning the fans. You need to disassemble the pc to get to them.
First of all this is a problem, since you need to have/aquire skills to disassemble it without destroying/damaging it.
It also takes a good amount of time doing this.
Second. You viod the warranty when doing this.
I live in a dusty environment and the pc sure gets clogged up quickly
Why is it not made easyer to clean the filters? And why are there not dustfilters, that can be easy cleaned?
It sure will make the pc much more durable and will stay cooler longer

Deluxius, if you actively keep your environment dust free by cleaning it, actively filter the dust from the air you breath, your laptop will will breath cleanly too. 🙂

If your laptop is forced to run in a dusty environment you need to filter the air entering the laptop. Fortunately the newer laptops, like the G750 have a sealed design that only draws in air through the bottom vents - the keyboard on the G750 is a sealed unit that does not allow air in / out.

I haven't seen an internal view of the top side of the G751 yet, but I am assuming as Asus has been moving toward sealed cases - with input / output vents being the only air flow points, the keyboard is also sealed in the G751.

Putting fine mesh screens over the vents will stop most of the dust entering the laptop. Here is a company that makes custom sizes - if you tell them the laptop you have they might have already fashioned the right size, otherwise you can specify the dimensions. If you describe the dust environment you have they can select the right sized mesh to stop the dust

Laptop Dust Filters
http://www.demcifilter.com/c218/Laptop-Dust-Filters.aspx

For deskside/top computers I install filters on the air intakes, and only purchase cases that are well sealed and won't draw in air / dust from unintended / unfiltered holes. I always replace the port covers on any hole and cover the rest as needed if there are any leaks.

If the keyboard isn't sealed in the G751 then the environmental enclosure may be the only solution if you want complete eradication of dust coming in to the laptop.

If you are in an environment that is truly a danger to the laptop from particulates, there is full body protection to completely enclose the laptop in addition to the vent dust screen:

Laptop Enclosure DS170
http://www.dustshield.com/shop/enclosure/laptop-enclosure.aspx

For environments in my control, I don't have dust issues, and have looked in my fan vents after 3 months, 6 months, years, and the blades are clean. So I have never had to take apart my ROG / other laptops to clean out dust.

Asus has already optimized the air flow in the ROG laptops for us.

I don't recommend poking wires into the fan vents, using compressed air alone in short bursts will be safe.

So far no amount of restrained compressed air bursts has hurt any fans in my care, or the care of conscientious technical support technicians. You have a much higher chance to mess something up by poking wires into the vents than any short burst of compressed air could hope to accomplish.

After working in this industry for many years, seeing hundreds of laptops pulled apart for service, and asking technicians what the percentage of laptop dust and other abuses there are, 99.9% are totally without a dust issue.

That other .1% is shockingly disgusting and it is amazing that the humans living in that environment were able to breath - you wonder how their lungs look - yuck.

Unless you have a known problem with thick dust in your environment, and using some kind of room filter to remove the dust from the environment isn't possible (this works amazingly well), I wouldn't worry about dust in your G751.

If you have a cat hair problem, the mesh screen filters work really well. And, an environmental filter can be used to clean the air as well - it isn't healthy for us to breath in the hair, dander, and litter box feces / urea dust either.

If you are worried about all the dust collecting in your computers, remember you are breathing that same air too!

Actively keep your environment clean and dust free, filter the dust from the air you breath, and your laptop will will breath cleanly too. 🙂

[Sagi]

[hmscott]

Sagi wrote:

You aren't following your own advice 🙂

[hmscott]

Sagi, you can use that hose on the cat's once in a while, they love getting baths and using the right shampoo helps keep the dander down - moisturizing helps the cat's skin as much as ours.

Brushing the cats on a nightly basis helps too - the cats love it and it pulls out all the loose hair that would otherwise get deposited around the house, and cuts down on the need for hairball medicine / treatments.

A good Animal Vacuum, I used the Dyson when I had cats, really helps get rid of the fine dander and dust, and pulls the hair out of the carpet. After I got the Dyson Animal vacuum the frequency of cleaning the intake filters on my floor standing computers went way down.

If you have control of your air movement systems, furnace and/or air conditioning, you can install intake filters - I used four levels of filtering - a large particulate filter and a Hepa element on all intake vents, followed by an active electronic / electrostatic air filter, and finished off by filtering the output with charcoal - removed all particulates as well as the odors from the air. Add a humidifier to the air flow to complete system. It's worth the effort.

The animals loved it, they can breath easier, and while nosing around on the floor for whatever they root around for, they don't have to put up with dust, mold/spores, and other collections of things that would normally be carried around the house by the air flow.

The other side benefit was no dust settled on furniture, shelves, and of course no dust collected on the intake filters on the computers 🙂

[Deluxius]

hmscott I can see and understand all this very well. But the point is that the manufacturer has no intension of you cleaning it. You kind of have to McGyver it;) My point is that it is about thime the manufacturer start thinking about this. Just look at the desktop pc's. Is it without reason we see more and more dust filters on desktops? I have it on my corsair, and belive me..... it is a huge differnece.

I also have had this problem with airflow and heat in all of my earlyer pc's. I have had many different laptops and in the end all of them have increased heat and fan speed. And yes I could have been more persistant with the aircan. But once you forget it for a while, and you suddenly use it. You risk blowing a chunk of dust somwhere it don't belong. And yes that happend last time with me. You could hear the it was half way stuck on the fan and half way stuck otside. Basically making a brrrrr sound.

And in the end I dont think that it is only enironment that is the problem. It is the amount I use the laptop. ....Very ofthen


Hope they come with a solution here soon

[hmscott]

Deluxius wrote:
hmscott I can see and understand all this very well. But the point is that the manufacturer has no intension of you cleaning it. You kind of have to McGyver it;) My point is that it is about thime the manufacturer start thinking about this. Just look at the desktop pc's. Is it without reason we see more and more dust filters on desktops? I have it on my corsair, and belive me..... it is a huge differnece.

I also have had this problem with airflow and heat in all of my earlyer pc's. I have had many different laptops and in the end all of them have increased heat and fan speed. And yes I could have been more persistant with the aircan. But once you forget it for a while, and you suddenly use it. You risk blowing a chunk of dust somwhere it don't belong. And yes that happend last time with me. You could hear the it was half way stuck on the fan and half way stuck otside. Basically making a brrrrr sound.

And in the end I dont think that it is only enironment that is the problem. It is the amount I use the laptop. ....Very ofthen

Hope they come with a solution here soon

Deluxius, Asus ROG laptop design has always been this way, for as long as I can remember, back to the G2S.

For a while the keyboard was removable without taking apart the laptop, which made the memory on the top accessible. But since Asus went with a more closed system to improve airflow - Asus sealed the keyboard and the whole top plate, so you can't get in there without removing the screen section and then tilt up the top plate. It has made everything on top inaccessible for most people as they aren't comfortable with that level of disassembly.

I don't think Asus considers dust a problem, as they probably have the same view I have from service of laptops - most are pretty much dust free over years of use, so it isn't a concern. For those it is a concern I would contact Asus and ask how to handle it, and I would guess they would offer to clean it on an RMA.

Accessing the memory is a much higher percentage of people, but likely still vanishingly small in number - I hope they solve this issue - but likely as not they will just move all the memory sockets to the underside access, which won't help the fan access.

A tilt from the front tip access could solve all of these issues, but not without compromising the design as it is. And, Asus just did a complete revamp of the G750 into the G751, and that hasn't happened in quite a few years, so I don't know when the next planned revamp will be, but if history serves, it won't be for quite a while.

It would seem the dust screens applied to the only vent holds as I noted above it probably the best solution for those stuck in a dusty environment.