How do you guys clean your servers?

H

hockey97

Hi, my question is how do you guys clean your servers? Mine currently been dusty. I cleaned it via a vacuum and a paint brush. I still couldn't get some of the dust that stick well with the server fans. I was thinking to dip the fans in water but was told to not do that since it will destroy them or apply some damage to them. Is this true? what is a good way to really clean everything inside the server. Talking about the dust physically inside the server.
 
hockey97 said:
I was thinking to dip the fans in water but was told to not do that since it will destroy them or apply some damage to them. Is this true?
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Yes, remember a fan is just an electric motor with a bunch of blades attached. Soaking it in water will get water in the coils, destroying it in the process.

what is a good way to really clean everything inside the server.
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You're already doing it.
 
SirDice said:
Yes, remember a fan is just an electric motor with a bunch of blades attached. Soaking it in water will get water in the coils, destroying it in the process.
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As long as you dry it out properly before starting the fan up again I do not think it should be a problem. Normal water shouldn't cause huge amounts of corrosion, and once it has evaporated you should be left with almost no residue. It still isn't something I would recommend doing though.

Compressed air might be able to help you reach some places which you can't access with the vacuum cleaner.

What should also be noted is that spinning the fans at really high speeds may cause damages as the movement can induce voltages in the coil. Basically turning your fan into a generator.
 
mix_room said:
As long as you dry it out properly before starting the fan up again I do not think it should be a problem. Normal water shouldn't cause huge amounts of corrosion, and once it has evaporated you should be left with almost no residue.
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Normal tap water contains quite a lot of calcium. This will get in the ball bearings.

Leave a dish of tap water out, let the water evaporate and see what's left. You'll be surprised.

Normally I'd put a keyboard under the tap if something is spilled over it. The mechanical switches don't suffer as much. Ball-bearings however are a different story.
 
I use cotton swabs to clean the fans. But I have to warn you: don't apply pressure to the fan blades, because it will destroy the fan. I try to get between the blades wipe away the dust from the cooler underneath. The cotton makes the dust stick to the cotton swab and you can pull it out very easily.
 
Q-tips with rubbing alcohol. You can clean just about anything with this. Back in the day, when I was particularly insane, I used to take the add in cards and memory out of my PCs on a regular basis and clean the gold connectors like this. Used to be one of my first steps in trouble shooting hardware problems also.
 
Like others have said... a mixture of compressed air (while keeping the fan from spinning), and a q-tip with alcohol to get what ever is left. However, I haven't had to do that in a while as I haven't gotten any dust in them thanks to using filters at the entrances of the vents.
 
roddierod said:
Q-tips with rubbing alcohol.
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Ether is probably better as it leaves less residue. Use it in a properly ventilated room though.

You don't want to pass out during cleaning ;)
 
I tend to stay away from using a vacuum within the server case itself as the plastic attachments tend to generate static from the air movement depending on humidity (at least that's what I was told). We use a small portable (1 to 2 gallon) air compressor and use a vacuum outside of the case to try to catch as much of the dust being blown out. As far as the hardcore gunk on the cooling fans, some Simple Green or 409 applied to the Q-Tips do the trick.
 
I use a small paint brush and a vacuum cleaner to remove the dust the paint brush raises. Caution though, vacuum cleaners create static, keep the nozzle well away from your parts (oh, err). Don't use water or solvents.
 
1. Use a vacuum cleaner that has two holes, one that suck and one that evacuates air. Put the pipe of the vacuum cleaner to the hole that evacuates air. This is the best way to clean it. Then, clear the remaining dust with a brush.

2. Clear the dust from inside the cooler with medicinal alcohol (put the cooler in a dish full with medicinal alcohol and shake it to wash the inside)

3. Shake the cooler so that the alcohol will go away, then let it dry.

4. Then use something like WD40 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40 ) to lubricate the cooler.


Don't try to suck the dust with a vacuum cleaner, it will not suck it properly. Blow it.

If the cooler is not working properly anymore, change it.
 
You have no idea how hard I had to look for this pic!
 

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hockey97 said:
Yes, these are production servers.
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In the 9 years I have worked taking care of servers, I have never had to clean any major dust on any of them. The server room is always kept clean, with the door closed. However, home servers are a different story, due to them not being in a clean room (skin dust, dog hairs, etc).
 
redw0lfx said:
In the 9 years I have worked taking care of servers, I have never had to clean any major dust on any of them. The server room is always kept clean, with the door closed. However, home servers are a different story, due to them not being in a clean room (skin dust, dog hairs, etc).
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In a perfect world, this is how it should be. But the reality is that some admins are dealt with less than ideal conditions and have to make the best of it. In my current job, we have a dedicated server room with dedicated cooling, but construction (drywall dust) in the surrounding rooms still makes its way into server room despite numerous precautions. In one of my previous jobs, the "server room" was nothing more than just another cubical. Management didn't want to invest in infrastructure for something that worked (at the moment) just fine, regardless of how important the data is.

Image search worst server rooms to see some real winners.
 
I am lucky enough to work in a industrial plants IT department, our servers for the most parts are in a data center in the office block but the computers on the production line get SERIOUSLY dirty so we take them down to the maintenance area and use a industrial air compressor just to get the dust* off and then a solvent for the most serious cases from the paint shop even then they can be beyond hope in some places.

It's hard keeping them clean as you can imagine, we manage for the most part for example we have a DEC server still running in a control booth next to one of the more high traffic areas of the plant, but that's checked regularly and built like a tank. From what I can tell other than a few days downtime each year during shutdown it hasnt had any serious issues since 1995.

* = The dust can be industrial debris of any kind form dried paint aerosol (believe me that stuff travels), general grime, to oil residue in some areas.
 
My short advice on cleaning a server did not include how to clean dead fish bodies or dead cockroach bodies (which, no joke, I did encounter when cleaning home servers).
 
Water, believe it or not, can be quite useful in cleaning computer components. I have had to use it in three emergency situations over the past ten years.

What? you say. Yes water, but there are some caveats that must absolutely be observed. You must use distilled water. As someone mentioned here in this discussion, there is quite a lot of "other stuff" in tap water that will remain after the water has evaporated. After cleaning anything electronic with water it must be COMPLETELY 100% dry before re-installing, and it must not get rusted or corroded in any way during the drying time. Anything with a motor, like a fan is not a good candidate for water cleaning. But really gunked-up circuit boards and connectors can benefit from a vigorous slosh in a pail of distilled water.

You are wondering, I'm sure, what the three "emergencies" were.
1. An associate at my office spilled an entire glass full of cran-rasberry juice right onto the keyboard of his laptop. It was gruesome! My friend thought that it was sayonara for the laptop. But no. I took it partially apart, removing the individual pieces that could easily be re-connected. I did "slosh" everything in the water. When completly dry, everything worked again just fine.

2. The second time was a situatuon where Hersey's syrup (don't ask!) had slowly collected over several days into the crevices of a network card and sound card. Removal, sloshing in the water and a blow dry did the trick.

3. The third time was really bad. I knew an unlucky fellow whose entire office, including three servers, was submerged in a flood during some terrible rainstorms. The servers were filled with mud, grass, and whatever when they could be recovered. We took everything completely apart, bathed everything in distilled water, and re-assembled. One hard drive and a few other things were gone, but a great deal of it was recovered.

Now, I hardly recommend that everyone rush right out and get a few gallons of distilled water. These situations were emergencies, but the water did work.
 
I use an air compressor with the line pressure up to 120psi. There's nothing it can't clean. Wear ear protection though...
 
Pushrod said:
I use an air compressor with the line pressure up to 120psi. There's nothing it can't clean. Wear ear protection though...
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Yes, I bet it can take some components clean off the motherboard too, if you aren't careful. :)
 
indyJones said:
Water, believe it or not, can be quite useful in cleaning computer components. I have had to use it in three emergency situations over the past ten years.

What? you say. Yes water, but there are some caveats that must absolutely be observed. You must use distilled water. As someone mentioned here in this discussion, there is quite a lot of "other stuff" in tap water that will remain after the water has evaporated. After cleaning anything electronic with water it must be COMPLETELY 100% dry before re-installing, and it must not get rusted or corroded in any way during the drying time. Anything with a motor, like a fan is not a good candidate for water cleaning. But really gunked-up circuit boards and connectors can benefit from a vigorous slosh in a pail of distilled water.

You are wondering, I'm sure, what the three "emergencies" were.
1. An associate at my office spilled an entire glass full of cran-rasberry juice right onto the keyboard of his laptop. It was gruesome! My friend thought that it was sayonara for the laptop. But no. I took it partially apart, removing the individual pieces that could easily be re-connected. I did "slosh" everything in the water. When completly dry, everything worked again just fine.

2. The second time was a situatuon where Hersey's syrup (don't ask!) had slowly collected over several days into the crevices of a network card and sound card. Removal, sloshing in the water and a blow dry did the trick.

3. The third time was really bad. I knew an unlucky fellow whose entire office, including three servers, was submerged in a flood during some terrible rainstorms. The servers were filled with mud, grass, and whatever when they could be recovered. We took everything completely apart, bathed everything in distilled water, and re-assembled. One hard drive and a few other things were gone, but a great deal of it was recovered.

Now, I hardly recommend that everyone rush right out and get a few gallons of distilled water. These situations were emergencies, but the water did work.
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I wanted to use water and dish soap. Yet, I do know some components in the server uses paper.. so didn't use it for the server. I wanted to use it for the fans. Just didn't use it because wasn't fully sure if dish soap would do any damage to the fan. We do have a air compressor industrial size. I just cleaned the server by just a paint brush and a vacuum cleaner. I cleaned most of the dust. Yet there were still some dust left behind. Like on the fan there some small amounts of dust that sticks to the fan. Seems like I will need to soak the fans in water that has dish soap in that water. I thought about using rubbing alcohol. The room it's in isn't those super clean rooms. It's in a old office building room. The whole building is old. The only problem is fine wood dust.

The compressed air I don't like that method because the dust would fly all over the place.
I do thank you for sharing your stories and what you use. I just want to find some way that is the best way to deal with these issues.

I do notice that it's very hard to clean the sever case completely. Too many wires all over the place and very little room to stick a vacuum nozzle into.
 
Compressed air really is better. The way to control the dust is to take everything outside. Or use a long air hose. An air tank works, but doesn't last long. Stay upwind.

If you have to use a vaccuum, use a HEPA filter or it'll just blow the ultrafine dust all over.

Alcohol on a cotton swab can clean fan blades of sticky dust, but takes a while to clean each blade. Avoid soap or solvent in the bearings, and replace seedy sleeve bearing fans with ball bearing fans when possible.
 
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