I have a Thinkpad T440p and the fan seems to be dirty from no hot air coming out of the laptop. All the disassembly guides show that I need to take the whole fan assembly out but I have no thermal paste left nor do I have any cans of compressed air.
Can I just take a vacuum cleaner to the fan and clean it that way?
32 Answers
I have done that several times with a 1500 W vacuum cleaner and several Dell Precision and Latitude laptops. Note that these Laptops ar blowing out air from the fan through a filter to the outside. Some others may suck the air in through that filter.
BUT: First make sure that the small fan gets only a fraction of the full suction power, it is not as robust as a normal, big desktop cpu fan. So, if you come near with the vc tube to the laptop fan, give it only a very short time, then hold it off.
NEVER put it directly onto the fan for longer than a short fraction of a second! You will see, when the fan begins to rotate fast. Try to hinder it, if possible, with a match or a needle (don't loose that into the laptop's body).
If your vc allows power justification, use the lowest possible setting. The most efficient way, although, is to clean the fan with a little brush, then use a small vc (for the kitchen, f.i.) to clean the fan's surroundings, if you don't get it out.
ANOTHER BUT: From my experience, the most blocking dust is placed in the filter, not in the fan. So you also can try to suck out the air from the inner side of the filter with the vc, if reachable. Try to block the fan from beginning to rotate, while doing this.
To clean the filter from the outside, I had several times to "bite the dust", i.e. blow air from my lungs, which is much stronger than most cans you can buy, directly from the outside of the filter to the inside (with opened Laptop-casing). I put my lips around the filter output.... Urgh!
With some coughing later, I have to add. And do it near a window or outside, because there can come out a lot....
You can try this "natural" method, of course, with the fan, too, but be careful not to spit on the surrounding electronics.
I have to add, make sure you are grounded when using a vc, to prevent electrostatic (dis)charge.
Fan damage can happen if the vacuum makes the fan spin at an extremely high speed, damaging the bearing and housing. Simply place a small non-metallic object in the fan to block the blades and prevent them from spinning. Then you can vacuum the fan safely. Non-metallic? To prevent scoring the circuit board in the fan area.
