An old IT guy told me to stop using compressed air on power supplies and I fought him for a week

Evan Adams · 2026-07-23T23:30:09.204802+00:00

I was working on a Dell OptiPlex at a small office in Tucson last fall and this crusty senior tech walked by while I was blowing out a dusty PSU. He said "you're just pushing dirt deeper into the windings, kid" and I laughed it off. A week later I had to replace three power supplies that died after my cleaning. Turns out he was right - all that compressed air was forcing conductive dust into the coils and causing shorts. Now I use a soft brush and vacuum instead, never had a PSU die on me since. Has anyone else learned a hard lesson like that from ignoring old timers?

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An old IT guy told me to stop using compressed air on power supplies and I fought him for a week | Computer Technicians - Librear