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PREVENTING DUST: more intake or more exhaust?

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I still like my idea. Would cover all based and you could remove it once a month to get rid of the majority of the dust. the rest you could clean out once every 6 months or so.

JT
 
5 computers... gezz what in the world do you need so many running for? I have one, so its not a big deal to clean... which I dont anyhow... cause Im lazy and I dont care.
 
Eh. Still live with my parents. 2 brothers, my own, and one for each parent. Also soon a central server in the basement.

Fans can be mounted in various ways. Use a peice of steel and make up a mounting bracket for it.

JT
 
I like bobad's web site which he linked. Except I did a little alteration of my own with a larger container.

What I did was sat the rear end onto the side panel and just cut out a hole in it exactly where the side panel hole is. I then made 4 screw holes in the container so it can be screwed down onto the side panel. Finnaly I used silicon to seal it so no other air besides the filtered air goes through the fan.

I cut all around the inside of the Lid which snaps on the top of the container so I can put a filter on to seal it shut.

http://community.webshots.com/album/106049460XMWVQi

These are the pics. Its approximatly 3.5 inches in depth and 7 inches wide. It looks very ghetto yet extreamly effective. Only issue I have now is to wait for one of you bumbs to tell me what type of filtering material I should use. GRR
 
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Here's the deal on filters. A filter that's the same size as the fan can be very restrictive. I like my filter to have about 1.5 times more area than the fan or opening being filtered. I also like my filter to stand off at least 2" from the fan blades to eliminate the possibility of shear and turbulence. These 2 things ensure that fan restriction is very insignificant.
Click to expand...

I agree totally... the filter in my case is pantyhose that covers my entire front grill (on the inside of the grill, I'm not that ghetto :) ) and stands a good 1.5 to 2 in. away from my fans. I haven't noticed a performance drop in the fans as of yet, and not having all the dust my 120 would suck up is very nice. Canned air is only great if you can afford to pay 6 bucks every few months for air in a bottle.
 
I run fanless in the mobo half of my case (check my sig to know why)
It's been like that for more than 1 year. With the side panel open...
No trace of dust.
In the mean time my office box (at work..) with only 1 exhaust fan is filled with dust bunnies in 2-3 months.
 
Jtanczos said:
Meh. Sew together long sheets of filter material into something you can slip over your case. Cut holes in for your exhaust fans. Take the side panel of your case off and just have the filter material. Then ya dont have to worry. Im planning to line certain parts of the case with filter material. Hopefully it will help.

JT
Click to expand...

Oh man, you just gave me a dynamite idea. I'll just put my cats in a bag and my problems will be solved! :D
 
OBLIVIONLORD said:
Only issue I have now is to wait for one of you bumbs to tell me what type of filtering material I should use. GRR
Click to expand...

Friendly bum here. When I started my project, I looked at my local Wal-Mart in the filter area. I saw some white filter media for air vents, but it was a little too small... only about 6" wide. My wife said, "Hey my wonderful sweet handsome husband, that stuff looks just like Pellon". She went on to explain that Pellon is a white, non-woven polyester fabric used to line dresses. So, we went to the fabric department.

My jaw dropped when I saw the Pellon material was indeed identical to the filter media. I bought a yard for $1.97, which was about the same price as a 6"x16" piece of pre-cut vent filter! Cheap as dirt! YEA!!! A square yard should last me 2 years on my 1 machine.

I like white because it shows off my blue light, and also shows dust. I can already see lots of cat hair on my filter after only 5 days. I am very confident it's cooling great and catching 100% of the hair and fiber, and 90% of the fine dust.
 
bobad said:
I have 2000 square feet of carpet and 2 cats I would like to give you. :bang head
Click to expand...

Funny story that may relate to you, my friend's got like 4 cats that they've had since birth. Anways, his PC kept overheating and restarting, getting temps in the high 60's and low 70's degrees celsius =-o.

So we open up his case and take off the fan of his stock AMD hsf, and there's a THICK layer of cat hair and dust! I couldn't even see the heatsink fins through all that hair!

Filters'd do a pet owner some good.
 
:p that's awesome. I know that I probably need some filters on my computer, since mtb and I are brothers, we have the same cat/dog hair problems. My computer is probably gagging on hair right now. Kind of like American Wedding....... (shudder) :eek: :)
 
bobad said:
Oh man, you just gave me a dynamite idea. I'll just put my cats in a bag and my problems will be solved! :D
Click to expand...

*laughs* That would take care of the cat hair but still have the dust bunnies roaming around.

I have the matrix cases and im planning to use filter material and those rubber inserts used to hold your window screening in the frame. On the front you just put the filter on like you would a screen and push the rubber in the groves. Get fabric to match your case :D

JT
 
The total number of fans blowing in or out won't make a difference on dust, just the overall net air flow ... think about it, the air flowing in must equal the air flowing out, or else your case would either explode or implode, right?

On a more practical note, have more powerful inlet fans with filters (balanced with slower exhaust fans to keep things equal), and keep the inlets as high as possible ... dust, carpet fiber, cat hair etc. tends to be more concentrated the closer to the floor you get.

KK
 
Koooler King said:
The total number of fans blowing in or out won't make a difference on dust, just the overall net air flow ... think about it, the air flowing in must equal the air flowing out, or else your case would either explode or implode, right?
Click to expand...

No. The point of positive pressure is that all of the extra air is being forced out of all of the tiny air gaps in the case. Negative pressure results in air being drawn into all of these tiny holes, which when that happens, the air brings dust in the cracks. So if you have positive pressure, the only place dust is getting in, is the intake fans, as all of the extra air is being pushed out of the computer through the cracks/corners/etc..
 
Strida said:
No. The point of positive pressure is that all of the extra air is being forced out of all of the tiny air gaps in the case. Negative pressure results in air being drawn into all of these tiny holes, which when that happens, the air brings dust in the cracks. So if you have positive pressure, the only place dust is getting in, is the intake fans, as all of the extra air is being pushed out of the computer through the cracks/corners/etc..
Click to expand...

OK, that's obvious if you are worried about dusty cracks. Filter the inlet fans, match them to the outlet fans (factoring-in the need for a very slight internal pressure head), and you're good to go. In my post, I was attempting to squash "junk science" that it was possible to have greater inflow than outflow.

KK
 
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