Any value in cleaning inside old monitor?

[Dave D]

Let the flame wars begin... NOW! ;-)

No war from me, I agree totally!

Dave

 

[Sammy]

Let's take a survey.... How many of the professional techs,
engineers, and scientists who read this group actually do
periodic cleaning of inside of their monitors and TVs?

If you're obsessive-compulsive and have nothing better to do, by
all means clean the insides of your CRT equipment. But it's
probably more likely that something will get messed
accidentally, than any significant improvement in either
performance or life span.

The high voltage area of modern CRT equipment is generally
enclosed and or sealed with HV grease or adhesive. It's not
like old all-tube-type TVs where everything collected an inch of
dust if you turned your back.

Yes, dust does collect. And yes in principle that may affect
something eventually. But if there are no symptoms, leave it
alone. It's not likely that a gradually degradation in
performance is dust related. My approach about these things is
that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Seriously, if you're
in a dusty dirty shop floor, then there may be some benefit.
But if it's a home or office environment, don't you have better
things to worry about than to clean the insides of your 34,153
electronic gadgets????

For the record, I do not clean inside electronic equipment
unless there is a reason to go inside. My TV is 26 years old
and I've repaired it twice over that span due to defective
chokes (probably a parts problem from the supplier at the time
of manufacture). Other TVs in the house are all more than 15
years old and except one set of cracked solder joints, havne't
needed repair since I acquired them. I generally keep computer
monitors for 8 or 10 years without problems.

Let the flame wars begin... NOW! ;-)

Have you actually cleaned inside one of your monitors/TV in order to
see how noticeable (or not) the change in picture quality is?

It might be wrong to dismiss cleaning if you haven't seen the
benefits on your own CRTs. Once you have tried then you could say it
is or is not worth the effort.

 

[ehsjr]

Have you actually cleaned inside one of your monitors/TV in order to
see how noticeable (or not) the change in picture quality is?

I've cleaned a lot of them, but never for the sole
purpose of seeing if it affects picture quality.
It does not. But there is the possibility of
damaging something. If there is some other reason for
opening the monitor up, and if you are careful, you
might as well clean it while you are there.

Unless your monitor is in a "hostile" environment where
it can pick up a LOT of dust/lint/dirt/whatever, leave
the damn cover on it and clean the outside only. In a normal
residential setting, the best you can hope for is that you do
not damage the monitor/TV in the process.

Ed

 

[Roy L. Fuchs]

I've cleaned a lot of them, but never for the sole
purpose of seeing if it affects picture quality.
It does not.

Sure it does. The collection of dust, and much of that moistened at
some point makes for a leaky anode supply and feed wire at the very
least. That makes for poor or shifted focus settings, and other
problems that less than your average video afficianado won't notice.

 

[Guest]

: My PC monitor (17 inch glass tube) is about 4 years old and has
: been used heavily. I took the cover off to fix a loose connection
: because the picture was sometimes jumping.

: Inside the circuit board was quite dusty and rather sooty. The
: CRT tube and anything neary was very sooty.

: ----> Is there any merit in cleaning (hoovering or gently wiping)
: this dirt? <----


Tis better to blow the stuff off with an air compressor. That's what I did
as a TV bench tech. No contact with things then and less liklihood to bump
a component and damage it/its solder joint.

b.

 

[jakdedert]

Sure it does. The collection of dust, and much of that moistened at
some point makes for a leaky anode supply and feed wire at the very
least. That makes for poor or shifted focus settings, and other
problems that less than your average video afficianado won't notice.

I (semi)regularly clean the insides of my desktop computers. Opening
up, reseating all boards and connectors is a good thing, IMO. In fact,
this particular computer had started having 'symptoms' a month or two ago.

I performed the above, and everything was set right again. There was a
lot of dust on the fans and quite a bit had caked up inside the power
supply (yes, I even opened up the ps).

I won't wait so long the next time....

But, no; to answer your question, I rarely clean the inside of my
monitors (unless I have to get inside to address some issue).

jak

 

[Roy L. Fuchs]

I (semi)regularly clean the insides of my desktop computers. Opening
up, reseating all boards and connectors is a good thing, IMO. In fact,
this particular computer had started having 'symptoms' a month or two ago.

I performed the above, and everything was set right again. There was a
lot of dust on the fans and quite a bit had caked up inside the power
supply (yes, I even opened up the ps).

I won't wait so long the next time....

But, no; to answer your question, I rarely clean the inside of my
monitors (unless I have to get inside to address some issue).

jak

Most folks rarely notice their focus shifting as well. One has to be
video oriented to notice such things.

This is why I bought the one monitor in the world I could find that
has the highest video bandwidth out there at 185Mhz (now the bastards
are up to 210MHz!). Nice, tight, crisp and clean, CRTs are STILL the
king!

 

[ehsjr]

Sure it does. The collection of dust, and much of that moistened at
some point makes for a leaky anode supply and feed wire at the very
least. That makes for poor or shifted focus settings, and other
problems that less than your average video afficianado won't notice.

Thank you - I stand corrected.

Ed

 

[Roy L. Fuchs]

Thank you - I stand corrected.

It has always been the detriment of TVs (CRTs). Even in the tube
type days. They would be fine when new, but after building up dust,
they start to sing, and circuit settings and calibrations get shifted.

A circuit works until changed, and this stuff certainly does that.
They work after changes as well, but noticeably differently in many
cases.

 

[I.F.]

Most folks rarely notice their focus shifting as well. One has to be
video oriented to notice such things.

This is why I bought the one monitor in the world I could find that
has the highest video bandwidth out there at 185Mhz (now the bastards
are up to 210MHz!). Nice, tight, crisp and clean, CRTs are STILL the
king!

Just to back the pro cleaning side, when I made my living from servicing
monitors (and before that TVs) every once in a while I'd get one on the
bench with the safety shutdown tripping because of a buildup of crap around
the anode connector or other HV parts, but then I've also had nearly as many
repairs in that people had damaged cleaning the inside when they didn't know
what they were doing!