Opening a SFX PSU to clean it. Risks?

gizmo1990 · 3 Jul 2018 at 11:39

I've an over 5 year old Silverstone 450W SFX psu, which I removed from my old machine recently. Works fine, a great little psu. I'd like to put it back in a new build, but it looks like it's got a fair amount of dust build up. I'm considering opening up the case to give it a good clean.

Has anyone done this? What are the pros and cons? Is it easy to screw something or are they fairly forgiving things to open and clean. I'd only give it a good going over with some compressed air, I wouldn't bother replacing the fan or anything like that.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

gizmo1990 · 3 Jul 2018 at 12:20

Thanks for the replies guys. @SupraWez I'm not sure that will do a good enough job tbh. I would presume I'd likely just end up blowing dust more deeply into the case? Plus there's the possibility of causing an issue with dust shorting something because of it.

gizmo1990 · 3 Jul 2018 at 15:31

Thanks again everyone for the replies.

@EsaT Thanks for that, that's incredibly useful. Mine is the one in the first link. However, it does looks mighty fiddly to open up doesn't it. I'm erring on the side of just blasting it from the outside instead now! Decisions decisions. Anyone wanna tell me it doesn't look too bad to open and it'll go back together fine?

gizmo1990 · 3 Jul 2018 at 18:20

EsaT said:
All good PSUs have bleeder resistors for primary caps, so after couple hours disconnected from wall there shouldn't be much charge left.But as that PSU has good old colour coded wires you can attach 24 pin cable and short green wire to black with paperclip etc. That "orders" PSU to start further speeding draining of primary capacitor. All other capacitors simply can't store much any energy/have low voltage needing touching them with tongue for anything to happen.

Thanks again @EsaT I've just done the paperclip on the 4th(green) and 5th(black) wires to power it on to check it's still working and it powers on fine. Are you saying that leaving the paperclip there for a while (power plug in or out?) is effectively speeding up the discharging of the capacitor? If so how ong do you reckon I should leave it for? I've a mind to do this asap now so would rather not wait a few days.

gizmo1990 · 4 Jul 2018 at 15:52

Job done.

Opened far easier than I thought it would for its size. There was a heck of a lot of dust inside, I really don't think external cleaning would have shifted even half of it. The capacitors look good, though I'm no expert. I was just checking for any signs of bulging. Turned it on and it all starts up ok.

I was a bit concerned when @EsaT mentioned the fan bearings could be damaged, as I'd previously use the vaccum externally earlier, which sped the fan up a fair amount. However, it sounds pretty good, ie couldn't hear it much above a light whirring.

I intend on doing a voltage check when I come to putting the new build together, just to be on the safe side. But I think it was totally worth it opening it up. I feel much better about putting it in a case with new componants.now.

Huge thanks again everyone for your input!