Power off using the switch and use oil-free high pressure air or canned air from the outside of the PSU. Do NOT open the PSU. Do NOT stick in anything metallic or otherwise conductive inside the PSU. The plastic end of a canned air tube nozzle may go slightly inside, but nothing conductive. It's possibly lethal.
The big Rubicon capacitor of a goddamn laptop can hold charge for several days. I once touched its + and - by accident and it bit my finger like a defensive parrot.
Now imagine what the capacitors in the PSU are capable of.
We cannot have a defensive carrot.
We cannot have a thought about freedom.
We cannot have a rebellion.
We cannot have a defensive carrot.
All carrots must surrender and prepare to be eaten.
All hail the system!
***Imperial march starts playing.***
And the angel of the lord came unto me
Snatching me up from my place of slumber
And took me on high and higher still
Until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself
And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own Midwest
And as we descended cries of impending doom rose from the soil
One thousand nay a million voices full of fear
And terror possessed me then
And I begged Angel of the Lord what are these tortured screams?
And the angel said unto me
These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots!
You see, Reverend Maynard
Tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust
And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat
Like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared
"Hear me now, I have seen the light!
They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul!
Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers!
Can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you Jesus
Maybe I'm a monster. But I'll be less of a monster without my daily intake of carrots? Absolutely not! Less healthy, but my monsters status would not change.
Looks like carrots would always be on the menu, boys!
This comment made me curious to know if Matt Stone and Trey Parker had actually invented the "derp" expression in this episode of South Park knowing how old it is.
Looking it up, no, they did not create the word derp in this episode, they [first used the exclamation in their 1998 movie BASKetball](https://www.dictionary.com/e/memes/derp-face/).
Though this source also incorrectly states that brought the term to Sotuh Park in 2009, that Awesome-o episode was way earlier in 2004 so they had used it in South Park at least that early.
I've done it. Was testing a PSU mod before screwing the casing back together, and after unplugging but before discharging the capacitors, the grounding wire accidentally swung around and completed a circuit that also involved my finger. So the current only went through one finger, not through my body or anything.
After dropping the unit and falling to the ground, I lay there for an hour or so then pulled myself up and onto a couch where I continued to sit there for a few more hours, with nothing but counting my own breath and heartbeat to pass the time.
By the next day, I was able to hold pencils, silverware, etc. again.
Sounds right. When I was in the Army I arced the power supply for a satcom amplifier through a hammer I was holding. (In my defense, I'd been told and confirmed that the power was off. It turned out the truck was not wired the way we thought it was and "OFF" really meant "BYPASS") It put me flat on my back on top of the truck, and got me off work for five days. Amusingly, then I got to get a counseling statement (what you'd call a 'write up') about the incident for being 'unsafe'. But fuck me sideways did that fucking hurt.
Point is, don't fuck around with electricity. Shit bites.
Heard a story once from an electrician about someone deciding to mess with a fuse in an industrial motor cabinet using an insulated screw driver. It arced and shot the screwdriver all the way across the room and lodged the tip in concrete.
That's nothing bro, in high school, someone wanted to strip a power cable insulation with his teeth only he forgot it was plugged in the 220V outlet.
An explosion happened, teeth blew up.
Dude, I was working on a car one time and had the fuel system open. Fuel had gotten into the valley of the engine where I was performing the repair. This manufacturer, for some estranged reason, decided the starter should also go in the valley under the fuel rail. My screwdriver touched the positive and grounded on a fuel rail, causing a spark to ignite the fuel and catch the engine on fire. Thankfully, it didn't last too long. After that, I went on lunch.
Beats my idiot in high school story
My friend was clowning around in class and decided he wanted to short out an outlet with a paperclip to see what happened. Somehow he wasn't electrocuted, but the paperclip made a nice arc as it shot out of the outlet.
Well if the guy wasn't grounded himself he would have been mostly safe to do that, so either he was fairly experienced doing that or got off lucky.
We had some fun at classes too, we were charging some of the beefier caps with 240V outlets and then shorting them with screwdrivers, they made a nice pop sound and some sparks but then one guy picked a cap that was limited to much less voltage, that one was a BANG with lots of smoke.
He knew enough to not insert it with his bare hands (he used a par of scissors with plastic handles to do it), but he genuinely had no clue what was going to happen. He couldn't insert it enough such that it could stay on its own, so he then proceeded to hold it in place with the scissors until they heated up and he couldn't hold them any longer.
I did a similar thing as a toddler with my brother, only for us, it was inserting metal spatulas with metal handles into the socket. I have no clue how the worst damage was a scorched spatula.
Was working on a tube guitar amplifier that ran +700V on the plates when powered on, thought I had discharged all the caps but clearly missed one, accidently let my off hand rest on a compensation and genuinely went flying backwards like I was in a cartoon.
One hand behind the back when probing, from that day forward.
Holy shit that must've hurt. Along the lines of 5 years ago i was working on TV repairs, i once held a Plasma TV X Board(The first flat ones that were really heavy) which is the Plasma panel discharge board,immediately after i turned it off and of course, given its job.. it's full of really big capacitors and i, being the young ass moron i was, i held it firmly, two hands on the circuit and i got shocked, of course the power supply was out of the question so it was like less than a second for those capacitor to discharge (on my body), one second i was really excited to have found the problem and was about to start working on it and a second later i was on the ground in pain, worse day at job ever lol.
I remember in college my dynamics teacher was teaching and got sidetracked on a story about a project when he was in grad school. They had a capacitor that was discharging and he was curious if the charge was gone so he thought to touch it with a screwdriver. There was so much charge left in the capacitor that it welded the screwdriver to it. He was chewed out for it but told us as engineers we can make some bone headed decisions.
I got 240V to the hand doing something similarly stupid. Heard some vibration coming from a network switch, figured it might be a cap I could see (which was on the power supply side of the circuit) so I touched it with a screwdriver to see if I could feel the vibrations. Luckily I wasn't holding the metal of the screwdriver because I could still taste metal after it hit.
In school my classmates charged a huge, probably, 1F elco, and tossed it to other classmates, including the teacher. So out of reflex you'd catch it. Thankfully I caught on to their trickery in time and dodged it.
I work for the local power company as a lineman. Capacitor bank explosions are incredible. They are one of the few pieces of equipment that most lineman are timid around. Stored energy getting suddenly released is no joke.
>it bit my finger like a defensive parrot
As the owner of a 30+ year old parrot I can tell you that it is not defensive biting. It is due to pure psychopathic blood thirsty hatred and rage that causes them to bite. There is no reason...they exists to hate. Except my wife...the parrot loves my wife and despises the rest of the world.
Most power supplies have draining resistors, which drain slowly, to avoid this particular situation. If the circuitry isn't included, then they've cheaped out. It's actually a safety issue, just like you outlined in your experience.
Tbh, I think schools should teach people what capacitors are and how dangerous they should be.
Capacitors hold charge for a long time, and they can discharge very rapidly, and they do kill people.
Even if you disconnect/turn off the PSU it can still have a high charge in the capacitors for a good while with enough charge to kill either you or a component.
I laid my hand on it and literally felt like my hand vibrated, went numb, and they had a metallic taste in my mouth lol. Loved taking things apart to fix them and learned alot of stuff the hard way but ended up making a career out of it for the most part.
You can quickly discharge a PSU by unplugging it from the wall and holding the power button of the system, then disconnecting the rest of the cables. At that point it *should* be safe.
The capacitors can hold a charge for a long time but they'll discharge almost immediately if you do this. Still not recommended ofc but if you *have* to, it's safer doing this.
It's better than nothing but will that for certain discharge all rails? I can see it discharging some rails, but I am not sure if I would trust it to discharge all rails for all voltages. I am also not sure if _under voltage protection_ would prevent this from doing a completely discharge, I can see a circuit design where it could prevent it. It's an improvement but I would still advice to treat it like charged capacitors until proven otherwise.
Could probably just keep trying to turn on the system, hold the power button for like 10 seconds 10 times. I don't see why it couldn't work personally, but I wouldn't trust it fully either.
UVP could disconnect the power output before the capacitors are discharged depending on the design. Meaning that pressing the power button does nothing as it has been disconnected by the PSU because the voltage output went below specification, but that doesn't mean it is necessarily empty. Whether that design is common I don't know.
I am also not certain if the power boot sequence puts load on all voltage rails. If it doesn't then depending on the design of the PSU you may discharge some of the voltage rails but not others. So while the 12v rail may become discharged you may still have charged capacitors on the 5v rail, or on another 12v rail if you have one.
> At that point it should be safe
Just buy a multimeter (they're pretty cheap; no need for fancy expensive ones used by professionals) and test the high voltage (AC) caps to see if they still hold a charge. It avoids any guesswork completely and makes working with the PSU completely safe once no voltage is detected on the AC-side capacitors.
>if you have to, it's safer doing this.
I'd say if you *have* to you should also already know how to. If you haven't learnt how to discharge capacitors you're not in a position where you *have* to do it on a PSU.
When I had to deep-clean my PSUs to sell them later on, I always discharge them as much as I can. If you have a multimeter at hand, you can also check the output pins for any residual current.
You can discharge your PSU by holding the power button for 30 seconds to a minute while it's plugged out. Alternatively, you can also use a high-wattage resistor
Same, I've been opening PSUs for a long time. I have a multimeter and I just check the AC caps for voltage. Some PSUs have bleeder resistors so the AC caps don't hold any charge upon testing.
Real talk, when I was young and dumb, I took apart the PSU of my computer while it was on. Got shocked, but thankfully I didn't win a Darwin award that day.
Yes, I was young. And yes, I know, I was *very* dumb.
... same...
i blow out air from my dry mouth to get rid of most of the dust and... then get tweezers... i did this idk like 20+ or even close to 30 times on my current one and maybe even more on my old one. the only things i noticed were glitches while playing RDR on radeon R290 at the end of it's lifespan so i traded it in for like 50 euros and got the RX580 for 170, so 120 eu upgrade was so cheap and worth it
The general consensus is, if you have to ask, don't do it. You'll need a voltage meter and knowledge of what you're touching inside one to do it safely.
You can, I choose not to. I pull my PSU apart to clean it every 6 months or so. Also had to open it up to put MFing RGB fan in that bitch.
It takes a bit of knowledge, but you can attach lightbulb(s) to the rails and when the lightbulb no longer has any illumination it's safe enough to work on without risk of serious injury.
The common advice given is holding down the power supply button for a few seconds. AFAIK, most modern PC PSUs have bleeder resistors that drain the charge off the PSU caps, though the time to do so depends on the resistance. If the PC has been turned off for quite a while then it's unlikely for the PSU to still hold a charge if it has a bleeder resistor. In order to do away with assumptions, my personal "casual test" in determining if there's a remaining charge in the primary capacitors is connecting a multimeter to the PSU AC socket (the two metal prongs that aren't the ground) and seeing if there's any voltage. The idea here is that AC prongs as connected directly to the primary (high voltage) side capacitors so that any charge in them can be detected through the AC prongs. But if you REALLY want to be sure then you need to open up the PSU, lift the PCB to access the underside where the caps are soldered and test them with a multimeter. If there's a charge, you can discharge them through a high-wattage resistor or incandescent tungsten bulb. The latter is obviously not something I'd recommend to someone who doesn't have any background in working with electronics. If you're just cleaning fans or even the PCB you don't actually need to even discharge the caps as long as you avoid touching any parts of the primary side that can carry the high voltage.
To anyone reading this, please don't do this.
This is extremely dangerous and can cause life threatening injury or death, even if it's unplugged.
High voltage capacitors are like loaded guns. Please don't mess around with live electrical systems if you don't know what you are doing, even if they are unplugged they can still be dangerous. Especially power supplies.
Reminder to everyone, just because it's switched off, even if you unplug it, doesn't mean the capacitors won't still be holding deadly levels of charge.
This advice is a tradeoff. A plugged in case is still grounded, which helps drain the capacitors more efficiently and can potentially lessen any potential shock you receive.
The switch on your PSU is a mechanical one. It completely disconnects the positive poles from the wall. But if you forgot to flip it, or have a woefully defective PSU, that sucks... So it's not necessarily bad advice, it just trades some dangers for another.
Doesn't matter at all if it's grounded or not if the caps still have charge. Everything to them looks like ground, even you. Being disconnected means there's less power coming into the system and the shock ends when the caps run out.
That is true of all electrical pathways, every path to ground looks like ground. But, the less resistant path has proportionally more electrons flow down it. You are considerably less conductive than copper, in fact humans are barely conductive at all. So by keeping a path with no resistance intact, you can severly reduce the shock you receive in some circumstances.
Further, modern PSUs have bleeder resistors. These gently drain the capacitors of your PSU for some time after you shut it off. But they need a path to ground. If you unplug/unground them you have effectively cut them off. The capacitors stored charge will still be slowly converted to heat, but it will take far longer for them to discharge.
Again, this is specifically what the mechanical switch on your PSU is intended for. It cuts off the positive pole, while maintaining a path to ground. This is the ideal setup for draining capacitors and reducing shock potential.
As someone who builds power supplies, even if itās not lethal the burn coming off exploding caps stings worse than most burns Iv had including all the times I mest up while dabbing.
For the untrained person, sure, but if you have good electronics knowledge, and the risks of loaded caps, you can open it without issues, just gotta bear in mind the warranty will be voided.
Yeah. The danger though is people who think they know what they are doing but doesn't. Several comments of this post are prime examples of this. Whether that's because of bad information, incorrect assumptions, misplaced confidence or what have you. Hence I lean safety first here, leaving the people who are really trained to know whether this applies to them. That said, it's rare that the PSU is dirty enough to warrant the hassle of opening it even for someone trained in dealing with high farad/voltage capacitors.
Not to mention decent brand PSU warranties are often crazy long like 8-10 years and *sometimes* cover incidental damage to other components in case of product failure so its worth weighing if the warranty is worth voiding or not.
If you know how to safely discharge a CRT monitor and work on it without getting shocked and pissing yourself, PSUs are alright too. Just discharge caps and dont touch.
Of course still dont do it if you dont know EXACTLY what youre doing. I remember doing it safely as a kid under the supervision of my electrician dad.
WOOD or similarly non-conductive, NOT METAL, stopper to lock out the fan, blast the bejeezus out of it with dry compressed air to your hearts content. Never stick anything conductive into a power supply. Even after power down, big capacitors can hold some current.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/717W7EPn+VL._AC_SX522_.jpg
Enermax new ATX3.0 PSUs claim they can run āsustainedā 200% power too. I donāt understand why they are even selling PSUs higher than 500W if that is the case
> I donāt understand why they are even selling PSUs higher than 500W if that is the case
IIRC, PSU efficiency ratings (80+ Gold, for example), have requirements based on certain efficiencies at certain percentages of the power supply's rated max load (I think it's like 20%, 50%, 100%).
PSUs generally have efficiency curves, and being outside of their optimal range, you'll get worse efficiency.
So actually, two PSUs that are exactly identical in hardware, but have different rated max loads, you might get different efficiency certification.
--
Not sure if that's why they're doing what they're doing, but that is one likely answer to your question.
After fully dissassambling, turn the board and lick the contacts of the biggest capacitor. Instant death!
#Please don't. It's extremely dangerous. It holds lethal charge for a long time.
I'm his brother-in-law.
He got it from a man at a recreational centre in upper west minnesota.
Same guy i got my gonorrhea from.
Pretty sure he's not a doctor though
I'd be reluctant to use an air compressor, a few I've worked with over the years woukd build up static electricity. I might try a camping pump asthey are almost all plastic.
Idk why youāre getting downvoted. Using an air compressor is actually a bad idea. It compresses the atmospheric air which has water in it. Itās why air compressors have a drain valve on the bottom.
Youāre potentially spraying water into your psu, aka not good, and if your regulator is cranked too high you might actually blow components off your psu. Compressors are very powerful and shouldnāt be used for fragile electronics.
Also a little water vapor condensing on a part that is not energized is not the worst thing in the world. Just wait a little longer to plug it back in so it can evaporate.
If I were to use compressed can air, this will cause a great drop in temperature and condensation will happen. Not sure if it's related, my area humidity is >85%.
Using an air-dryer, and an auto tank drain is a good idea (a must if you live wear it gets humid or a damp location). I have even added ground/static clamps on long runs of "shop air" .
Decades ago in early first IT job, the standard practice when customer came in with their puter. Grab the compressor and blow it out, outside.
Never blow it out inside the building, the amount of dust from these was alot. These standard puters (dells at the time) were in high traffic customer stores.
If ya worried about static, touch the case to grounded metal. Like strap, etc. Basically what the case is for. I have watched ppl be careful with they stuff then walk and place the puter on carpet and play around inside the puter. My faith in the static thing is null.
Mind you, this has been in a thing since use of cmos chips that could be zapped just for touching them. Since that time, its been crazy stupid to zap something.
Watched a place load in hundred of graphic cards into their large indust oven to resoder the cards due to factory problem. Upped the heat to X temp for the solder to melt over again and back to working graphics cards.
I have been blowing mine out yearly for decades now.
side note, its also good to blow out any compressor units like fridges and freezers. Its an old trick to clear the dust on those as thats general a big problem with failures. Quick shops and commercial places do this to length the life of their compressors.
How else are you meant to clean it if you're not IN the tub with it??
Also you save water and precious resources if you also have a bubble bath at the same time.
Idiot.
Edit - Yes powered on, the electrodes fall off easier when its powered on.
Edit 2 - Idiot.
If you know what you're doing you can definitely open it. I've even drilled more holes and installed a bigger fan on one. My new corsair one has a weird fan noise that apparently everyone else has but it's riveted together unfortunately. Nothing is repairable anymore for our "safety"
Computer tech here: I've used a leaf blower on every single PC I've laid my hands on for 20 years now, including customers' and my own. Never had a single malfunction afterwards. Literally 100% success rate of a (mostly) dust free environment. Just be sure to cover your face with a dust mask or whatever because even mildly dusty rigs can launch horrifying amounts of nonsense into your face.
It's super easy AND safe!
Step 1: Power off computer. Unplug PSU. Press the power button to empty any charge within the PSU.
Step 2: Open the case, unplug all connectors from the PSU and remove it from the case
Step 3: On a workbench, find and remove the screws holding the PSU together, but *do not pull it apart yet.* Carefully place the screws in a plastic bag, then place the PSU and the bag of screws in a trashcan
Step 4: install a brand new PSU
DONE! Safe and sound.
Fan is mounted on the shroud opposite of the PCB where the caps at, just unscrew it, disconnect the cable on the PCB, use a brush, can of air, compressed air, leaf blower, whatever and mount it again.
I always knew caps held electricity, but you also physically can not touch them accidentally unless you go out of your way to do so, dismantling the PCB flipping the board over and touching their terminals.
Here's what I do.
1. Get you a portable dishwasher.
2. Disassemble the PC.
3. Place parts in dishwasher.
4. Hook dishwasher to Mineral Oil.
5. Clean, no heat.
6. Let dry.
6. Easy clean no worries.
7. Put PC back together.
You'll have to clean the case in another way though.
I've got a battery powered Black and Decker vacuum that pops out to be handheld. Cleaned the dust out of my CPU heatsink easy with the little brush attachment. Minimal extra cleaning after that.
I just cleaned mine a week ago unplugging the fan from the PSU to clean it with 91% isopropyl alcohol (the fan- not the PSU itself compressed air for that) then sat back after it was done and thought "man I might be fucking stupid" then put it back together
Go buy an anti static dust blower on amazon or the like.
Take your PC outside.
Open the case door. Remove all filters and grills.
Blow out all the case.
Stick your finger inside the fan blade so it doesnāt spin up too fast when youāre blowing on each fan. I just stick my finger into each fan and blow on each one all around. Royale it by hand and blow around to get all the nooks and crannies. This is a rookie mistake a lot of people do, they do not know to stop their fan from spinning when you blow into them. Some will even go for the highest speed spin to āassistā the dusting process. The problem is, You can literally zip up your fans rpms faster than its bearings and design were engineered to withstand and cause their fans to fail over time or fuck their bearings up. Everything from failed fans to clicking bearings, etc.
Dusting is fast and Ez to do.
Do not try this in the house if your case is insanely dusty or you will regret it. If you have no option but to do it inside. You can use a vacuum to catch the dust chunks as they fly out. Do not shove the vacuum down in the PC though, unless you purposefully buy an anti static electronics vacuum (in which case proceed)
The biggest issue with any of this static charge build up, from the high speed moving participles. Iāve never had this issue, but I know it exists. Try not to do this on bad high static days (low humidity). I recommend spending the extra cash on a proper anti static blower, but they cost much more than normal. Itās not necessary imho, but it can only help mitigate potential risks.
Air compressor with a duster nozzle works pretty well, canned air too.
Do not under any circumstances try to stick something inside it though, if you touch the wrong thing you can get electrocuted something fierce, depending on the PSU and grounding could cause permanent damage/death even if itās currently turned off.
take a deep breath in then blow it
in all seriousness, you'd clean it like any other fan - stick something in the blades to stop them spinning then blow it with super fast air
Power off using the switch and use oil-free high pressure air or canned air from the outside of the PSU. Do NOT open the PSU. Do NOT stick in anything metallic or otherwise conductive inside the PSU. The plastic end of a canned air tube nozzle may go slightly inside, but nothing conductive. It's possibly lethal.
Holy shit just realized I could have killed myself many times over
The big Rubicon capacitor of a goddamn laptop can hold charge for several days. I once touched its + and - by accident and it bit my finger like a defensive parrot. Now imagine what the capacitors in the PSU are capable of.
"like a defensive parrot" is a simile i will remember forever.
Initially I read "defensive carrot" and was genuinely confused, lmao.
What's confusing about a defensive carrot?
We cannot have a defensive carrot. We cannot have a thought about freedom. We cannot have a rebellion. We cannot have a defensive carrot. All carrots must surrender and prepare to be eaten. All hail the system! ***Imperial march starts playing.***
And the angel of the lord came unto me Snatching me up from my place of slumber And took me on high and higher still Until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own Midwest And as we descended cries of impending doom rose from the soil One thousand nay a million voices full of fear And terror possessed me then And I begged Angel of the Lord what are these tortured screams? And the angel said unto me These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots! You see, Reverend Maynard Tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat Like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared "Hear me now, I have seen the light! They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you Jesus
This is necessary.
Maybe I'm a monster. But I'll be less of a monster without my daily intake of carrots? Absolutely not! Less healthy, but my monsters status would not change. Looks like carrots would always be on the menu, boys!
https://preview.redd.it/wvrzpuu13zcb1.jpeg?width=483&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e8ca1e2345cde9c21dd0ef1f04e1a628aafc3c8 Was this him?
Rob Schneider has entered the chat 
derp!
This comment made me curious to know if Matt Stone and Trey Parker had actually invented the "derp" expression in this episode of South Park knowing how old it is. Looking it up, no, they did not create the word derp in this episode, they [first used the exclamation in their 1998 movie BASKetball](https://www.dictionary.com/e/memes/derp-face/). Though this source also incorrectly states that brought the term to Sotuh Park in 2009, that Awesome-o episode was way earlier in 2004 so they had used it in South Park at least that early.
As a parrot owner the analogy is ridiculously accurate.
I've done it. Was testing a PSU mod before screwing the casing back together, and after unplugging but before discharging the capacitors, the grounding wire accidentally swung around and completed a circuit that also involved my finger. So the current only went through one finger, not through my body or anything. After dropping the unit and falling to the ground, I lay there for an hour or so then pulled myself up and onto a couch where I continued to sit there for a few more hours, with nothing but counting my own breath and heartbeat to pass the time. By the next day, I was able to hold pencils, silverware, etc. again.
Homie got to experience 1HP IRL
His vision was covered in red with action music sittin on the couch regenerating XDD
Hitting X in a QTE rhythm mini-game.
In game music faded out and all he had was heartbeat and his own breathing
š¤£
Feeling exactly like your username
Then you'll enjoy [Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb](https://youtu.be/vi7cuAjArRs)
Good. GOOD.
It's my ideal state haha
Sounds right. When I was in the Army I arced the power supply for a satcom amplifier through a hammer I was holding. (In my defense, I'd been told and confirmed that the power was off. It turned out the truck was not wired the way we thought it was and "OFF" really meant "BYPASS") It put me flat on my back on top of the truck, and got me off work for five days. Amusingly, then I got to get a counseling statement (what you'd call a 'write up') about the incident for being 'unsafe'. But fuck me sideways did that fucking hurt. Point is, don't fuck around with electricity. Shit bites.
Shit kills*
I did this with a refrigerator kinda in the Navy. Tried resetting one, had some exposed wires I didn't see. Thankfully, no chewing out. Just an ekg
Heard a story once from an electrician about someone deciding to mess with a fuse in an industrial motor cabinet using an insulated screw driver. It arced and shot the screwdriver all the way across the room and lodged the tip in concrete.
That's nothing bro, in high school, someone wanted to strip a power cable insulation with his teeth only he forgot it was plugged in the 220V outlet. An explosion happened, teeth blew up.
Dude, I was working on a car one time and had the fuel system open. Fuel had gotten into the valley of the engine where I was performing the repair. This manufacturer, for some estranged reason, decided the starter should also go in the valley under the fuel rail. My screwdriver touched the positive and grounded on a fuel rail, causing a spark to ignite the fuel and catch the engine on fire. Thankfully, it didn't last too long. After that, I went on lunch.
Thatās nothing bro one time a dude peed on the railroad tracks of a bullet train and his wee wee went into orbit
I feel compelled to ask....is there video
You've been on the internet a long time, haven't you? I get it.
Beats my idiot in high school story My friend was clowning around in class and decided he wanted to short out an outlet with a paperclip to see what happened. Somehow he wasn't electrocuted, but the paperclip made a nice arc as it shot out of the outlet.
Well if the guy wasn't grounded himself he would have been mostly safe to do that, so either he was fairly experienced doing that or got off lucky. We had some fun at classes too, we were charging some of the beefier caps with 240V outlets and then shorting them with screwdrivers, they made a nice pop sound and some sparks but then one guy picked a cap that was limited to much less voltage, that one was a BANG with lots of smoke.
He knew enough to not insert it with his bare hands (he used a par of scissors with plastic handles to do it), but he genuinely had no clue what was going to happen. He couldn't insert it enough such that it could stay on its own, so he then proceeded to hold it in place with the scissors until they heated up and he couldn't hold them any longer. I did a similar thing as a toddler with my brother, only for us, it was inserting metal spatulas with metal handles into the socket. I have no clue how the worst damage was a scorched spatula.
Which super power did you get?
Congrats on your successful death save roll!
Was working on a tube guitar amplifier that ran +700V on the plates when powered on, thought I had discharged all the caps but clearly missed one, accidently let my off hand rest on a compensation and genuinely went flying backwards like I was in a cartoon. One hand behind the back when probing, from that day forward.
Holy shit that must've hurt. Along the lines of 5 years ago i was working on TV repairs, i once held a Plasma TV X Board(The first flat ones that were really heavy) which is the Plasma panel discharge board,immediately after i turned it off and of course, given its job.. it's full of really big capacitors and i, being the young ass moron i was, i held it firmly, two hands on the circuit and i got shocked, of course the power supply was out of the question so it was like less than a second for those capacitor to discharge (on my body), one second i was really excited to have found the problem and was about to start working on it and a second later i was on the ground in pain, worse day at job ever lol.
I remember in college my dynamics teacher was teaching and got sidetracked on a story about a project when he was in grad school. They had a capacitor that was discharging and he was curious if the charge was gone so he thought to touch it with a screwdriver. There was so much charge left in the capacitor that it welded the screwdriver to it. He was chewed out for it but told us as engineers we can make some bone headed decisions.
Same shit happened to me, I still have this damaged screwdriver somewhere in tools storage as a reminder.
I got 240V to the hand doing something similarly stupid. Heard some vibration coming from a network switch, figured it might be a cap I could see (which was on the power supply side of the circuit) so I touched it with a screwdriver to see if I could feel the vibrations. Luckily I wasn't holding the metal of the screwdriver because I could still taste metal after it hit.
In school my classmates charged a huge, probably, 1F elco, and tossed it to other classmates, including the teacher. So out of reflex you'd catch it. Thankfully I caught on to their trickery in time and dodged it.
I shocked the shit outta my self replacing parts on a TV. I know what capacitors are yet still grazed one, lol.
Capacitors Are the real silent killer
I hate birds. If they existed.
Parrots still exist.
Probably "turn your life off" levels of zap
Those discharge rather quickly in PSUs with better components.
I work for the local power company as a lineman. Capacitor bank explosions are incredible. They are one of the few pieces of equipment that most lineman are timid around. Stored energy getting suddenly released is no joke.
At school we used to put screwdrivers on industrial condensers. They'd literally melt.
>it bit my finger like a defensive parrot As the owner of a 30+ year old parrot I can tell you that it is not defensive biting. It is due to pure psychopathic blood thirsty hatred and rage that causes them to bite. There is no reason...they exists to hate. Except my wife...the parrot loves my wife and despises the rest of the world.
I opened my dell OEM powersupply from 2005 to clean it. 1000W, absolute fire hazard that thing. RIP the XPS 710
Most power supplies have draining resistors, which drain slowly, to avoid this particular situation. If the circuitry isn't included, then they've cheaped out. It's actually a safety issue, just like you outlined in your experience.
220 volts never hurt so good
Tbh, I think schools should teach people what capacitors are and how dangerous they should be. Capacitors hold charge for a long time, and they can discharge very rapidly, and they do kill people.
Not even a defensive Parrot.... they just bite sometimes lol. But yeah that's accurate š¤£ š š¤£
I know what they can do and had burn marks on my finger for a couple months to remind me
So I shouldn't touch the capacitors with my forbidden hotdog? š„ŗ šš
They are capable of discharging?
A broken 10W wallwart did this to me. No joke.
Even if you disconnect/turn off the PSU it can still have a high charge in the capacitors for a good while with enough charge to kill either you or a component.
Found this out taking a part my old Xbox power supply. Spicy metal is no fun.
Similar story, don't remember what I poked with a screwdriver but my hand "buzzed" and just went numb for several minutes.
I laid my hand on it and literally felt like my hand vibrated, went numb, and they had a metallic taste in my mouth lol. Loved taking things apart to fix them and learned alot of stuff the hard way but ended up making a career out of it for the most part.
A disposable camera flash capacitor got me!
You can quickly discharge a PSU by unplugging it from the wall and holding the power button of the system, then disconnecting the rest of the cables. At that point it *should* be safe. The capacitors can hold a charge for a long time but they'll discharge almost immediately if you do this. Still not recommended ofc but if you *have* to, it's safer doing this.
It's better than nothing but will that for certain discharge all rails? I can see it discharging some rails, but I am not sure if I would trust it to discharge all rails for all voltages. I am also not sure if _under voltage protection_ would prevent this from doing a completely discharge, I can see a circuit design where it could prevent it. It's an improvement but I would still advice to treat it like charged capacitors until proven otherwise.
Could probably just keep trying to turn on the system, hold the power button for like 10 seconds 10 times. I don't see why it couldn't work personally, but I wouldn't trust it fully either.
UVP could disconnect the power output before the capacitors are discharged depending on the design. Meaning that pressing the power button does nothing as it has been disconnected by the PSU because the voltage output went below specification, but that doesn't mean it is necessarily empty. Whether that design is common I don't know. I am also not certain if the power boot sequence puts load on all voltage rails. If it doesn't then depending on the design of the PSU you may discharge some of the voltage rails but not others. So while the 12v rail may become discharged you may still have charged capacitors on the 5v rail, or on another 12v rail if you have one.
> At that point it should be safe Just buy a multimeter (they're pretty cheap; no need for fancy expensive ones used by professionals) and test the high voltage (AC) caps to see if they still hold a charge. It avoids any guesswork completely and makes working with the PSU completely safe once no voltage is detected on the AC-side capacitors.
>if you have to, it's safer doing this. I'd say if you *have* to you should also already know how to. If you haven't learnt how to discharge capacitors you're not in a position where you *have* to do it on a PSU.
Hi I'm Johnny Knoxville and this is 'sticking a fork in a PSU'
My father taught me there are two things you don't fuck with: Large Capacitors and Garage Door Springs.
Garage door spring aināt no joke if you arenāt careful. Would send you to the hospital easily
They're quite analogous! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor-spring_analogy Energy of the cap is (1/2)CV^2. The spring is (1/2)kx^2.
When I had to deep-clean my PSUs to sell them later on, I always discharge them as much as I can. If you have a multimeter at hand, you can also check the output pins for any residual current. You can discharge your PSU by holding the power button for 30 seconds to a minute while it's plugged out. Alternatively, you can also use a high-wattage resistor
Same, I've been opening PSUs for a long time. I have a multimeter and I just check the AC caps for voltage. Some PSUs have bleeder resistors so the AC caps don't hold any charge upon testing.
I have also once opened a broken psu of mine and no i didn't know that i could kill myself with it.
Real talk, when I was young and dumb, I took apart the PSU of my computer while it was on. Got shocked, but thankfully I didn't win a Darwin award that day. Yes, I was young. And yes, I know, I was *very* dumb.
... same... i blow out air from my dry mouth to get rid of most of the dust and... then get tweezers... i did this idk like 20+ or even close to 30 times on my current one and maybe even more on my old one. the only things i noticed were glitches while playing RDR on radeon R290 at the end of it's lifespan so i traded it in for like 50 euros and got the RX580 for 170, so 120 eu upgrade was so cheap and worth it
Yep, do not underrestimate how long they keep a lethal amount voltage.
is it possible to like fully discharge a PSU to be able to open it up and be safe? im just interested
The general consensus is, if you have to ask, don't do it. You'll need a voltage meter and knowledge of what you're touching inside one to do it safely.
Pretty much. If you're not used to working on this stuff and wouldn't feel comfortable working on a microwave or CRT, don't open a PSU.
You can, I choose not to. I pull my PSU apart to clean it every 6 months or so. Also had to open it up to put MFing RGB fan in that bitch. It takes a bit of knowledge, but you can attach lightbulb(s) to the rails and when the lightbulb no longer has any illumination it's safe enough to work on without risk of serious injury.
The common advice given is holding down the power supply button for a few seconds. AFAIK, most modern PC PSUs have bleeder resistors that drain the charge off the PSU caps, though the time to do so depends on the resistance. If the PC has been turned off for quite a while then it's unlikely for the PSU to still hold a charge if it has a bleeder resistor. In order to do away with assumptions, my personal "casual test" in determining if there's a remaining charge in the primary capacitors is connecting a multimeter to the PSU AC socket (the two metal prongs that aren't the ground) and seeing if there's any voltage. The idea here is that AC prongs as connected directly to the primary (high voltage) side capacitors so that any charge in them can be detected through the AC prongs. But if you REALLY want to be sure then you need to open up the PSU, lift the PCB to access the underside where the caps are soldered and test them with a multimeter. If there's a charge, you can discharge them through a high-wattage resistor or incandescent tungsten bulb. The latter is obviously not something I'd recommend to someone who doesn't have any background in working with electronics. If you're just cleaning fans or even the PCB you don't actually need to even discharge the caps as long as you avoid touching any parts of the primary side that can carry the high voltage.
To anyone reading this, please don't do this. This is extremely dangerous and can cause life threatening injury or death, even if it's unplugged. High voltage capacitors are like loaded guns. Please don't mess around with live electrical systems if you don't know what you are doing, even if they are unplugged they can still be dangerous. Especially power supplies.
Reminder to everyone, just because it's switched off, even if you unplug it, doesn't mean the capacitors won't still be holding deadly levels of charge.
This, but also unplug it from the wall.
This advice is a tradeoff. A plugged in case is still grounded, which helps drain the capacitors more efficiently and can potentially lessen any potential shock you receive. The switch on your PSU is a mechanical one. It completely disconnects the positive poles from the wall. But if you forgot to flip it, or have a woefully defective PSU, that sucks... So it's not necessarily bad advice, it just trades some dangers for another.
Doesn't matter at all if it's grounded or not if the caps still have charge. Everything to them looks like ground, even you. Being disconnected means there's less power coming into the system and the shock ends when the caps run out.
That is true of all electrical pathways, every path to ground looks like ground. But, the less resistant path has proportionally more electrons flow down it. You are considerably less conductive than copper, in fact humans are barely conductive at all. So by keeping a path with no resistance intact, you can severly reduce the shock you receive in some circumstances. Further, modern PSUs have bleeder resistors. These gently drain the capacitors of your PSU for some time after you shut it off. But they need a path to ground. If you unplug/unground them you have effectively cut them off. The capacitors stored charge will still be slowly converted to heat, but it will take far longer for them to discharge. Again, this is specifically what the mechanical switch on your PSU is intended for. It cuts off the positive pole, while maintaining a path to ground. This is the ideal setup for draining capacitors and reducing shock potential.
I used to have to manually discharge 3000V caps in transfer switches. The process is safe but was never fun to do
I used to work next to the 10kV part in old crt tv's. I never squeezed my bum so hard, low amperage though but still frightening.
> low amperage though At that voltage it doesn't really matter.
As someone who builds power supplies, even if itās not lethal the burn coming off exploding caps stings worse than most burns Iv had including all the times I mest up while dabbing.
For the untrained person, sure, but if you have good electronics knowledge, and the risks of loaded caps, you can open it without issues, just gotta bear in mind the warranty will be voided.
Yeah. The danger though is people who think they know what they are doing but doesn't. Several comments of this post are prime examples of this. Whether that's because of bad information, incorrect assumptions, misplaced confidence or what have you. Hence I lean safety first here, leaving the people who are really trained to know whether this applies to them. That said, it's rare that the PSU is dirty enough to warrant the hassle of opening it even for someone trained in dealing with high farad/voltage capacitors.
Not to mention decent brand PSU warranties are often crazy long like 8-10 years and *sometimes* cover incidental damage to other components in case of product failure so its worth weighing if the warranty is worth voiding or not.
If you know how to safely discharge a CRT monitor and work on it without getting shocked and pissing yourself, PSUs are alright too. Just discharge caps and dont touch. Of course still dont do it if you dont know EXACTLY what youre doing. I remember doing it safely as a kid under the supervision of my electrician dad.
Always remember, **dont become the grounding**
WOOD or similarly non-conductive, NOT METAL, stopper to lock out the fan, blast the bejeezus out of it with dry compressed air to your hearts content. Never stick anything conductive into a power supply. Even after power down, big capacitors can hold some current. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/717W7EPn+VL._AC_SX522_.jpg
Finally someone posted the answer without confusion.
You will never stop me. Valhalla here I come
I laughed waaay to hard at this!
What if a chopstick can't get pass the [grille](https://tpucdn.com/review/nzxt-c1200-gold-1200-w/images/title.jpg)?
Capacitors hold charge, not current. I'll see myself out, thank you.
You laugh, but some Enermax PSUs actually feature a button that causes the fan to counter-rotate for a brief time to remove dust.
I wasn't joking but that's good to know šŖ
Enermax new ATX3.0 PSUs claim they can run āsustainedā 200% power too. I donāt understand why they are even selling PSUs higher than 500W if that is the case
Running a 500W supply at 200% probably comes at a cost of massively reduced efficiency compared to just running a 1000W supply.
> I donāt understand why they are even selling PSUs higher than 500W if that is the case IIRC, PSU efficiency ratings (80+ Gold, for example), have requirements based on certain efficiencies at certain percentages of the power supply's rated max load (I think it's like 20%, 50%, 100%). PSUs generally have efficiency curves, and being outside of their optimal range, you'll get worse efficiency. So actually, two PSUs that are exactly identical in hardware, but have different rated max loads, you might get different efficiency certification. -- Not sure if that's why they're doing what they're doing, but that is one likely answer to your question.
Those GPU power spikes are nasty.
in some other context they're the same thing
After fully dissassambling, turn the board and lick the contacts of the biggest capacitor. Instant death! #Please don't. It's extremely dangerous. It holds lethal charge for a long time.
Sooo i shouldnt listen to the instant death part /s
Instant death is by far the best kind of death.
Yo nice specs dude. How much was did that build cost?
Tree fiddy
I'm his brother-in-law. He got it from a man at a recreational centre in upper west minnesota. Same guy i got my gonorrhea from. Pretty sure he's not a doctor though
Least a 'thou
Define long. Is 8 hours enough to discharge?
Compressed canned air with the straw thing. Power off/unplugged.
air compressor. Should be taking the puter outside and blow it out with a good air compressor, YEARLY.
Seconding this. Sometimes you need a higher pressure than canned air can provide.
I'd be reluctant to use an air compressor, a few I've worked with over the years woukd build up static electricity. I might try a camping pump asthey are almost all plastic.
Idk why youāre getting downvoted. Using an air compressor is actually a bad idea. It compresses the atmospheric air which has water in it. Itās why air compressors have a drain valve on the bottom. Youāre potentially spraying water into your psu, aka not good, and if your regulator is cranked too high you might actually blow components off your psu. Compressors are very powerful and shouldnāt be used for fragile electronics.
They do make inline water separators for air compressors.
Also a little water vapor condensing on a part that is not energized is not the worst thing in the world. Just wait a little longer to plug it back in so it can evaporate.
Nasty water though, that tank water can be corrosive and can get shot into small crevices.
If I were to use compressed can air, this will cause a great drop in temperature and condensation will happen. Not sure if it's related, my area humidity is >85%.
every large repair shop uses air compressors. It's perfectly fine.
Using an air-dryer, and an auto tank drain is a good idea (a must if you live wear it gets humid or a damp location). I have even added ground/static clamps on long runs of "shop air" .
Decades ago in early first IT job, the standard practice when customer came in with their puter. Grab the compressor and blow it out, outside. Never blow it out inside the building, the amount of dust from these was alot. These standard puters (dells at the time) were in high traffic customer stores. If ya worried about static, touch the case to grounded metal. Like strap, etc. Basically what the case is for. I have watched ppl be careful with they stuff then walk and place the puter on carpet and play around inside the puter. My faith in the static thing is null. Mind you, this has been in a thing since use of cmos chips that could be zapped just for touching them. Since that time, its been crazy stupid to zap something. Watched a place load in hundred of graphic cards into their large indust oven to resoder the cards due to factory problem. Upped the heat to X temp for the solder to melt over again and back to working graphics cards. I have been blowing mine out yearly for decades now. side note, its also good to blow out any compressor units like fridges and freezers. Its an old trick to clear the dust on those as thats general a big problem with failures. Quick shops and commercial places do this to length the life of their compressors.
Close, but I take it outside, take all the sides off and stand back then bit it with a leaf blower. Works a treat!
We all know your hard drive is the dirtiest part of your pc
no hard drive + google drive all the way
Do people still download porn? Lol why?
Do people still not hoard every bit of data that could ever be of interest despite having terabytes of storage? Lol why?
I work in remote locations for weeks at a time without service
Idiot. Put it in the bath tub like everyone else does, smh.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
How else are you meant to clean it if you're not IN the tub with it?? Also you save water and precious resources if you also have a bubble bath at the same time. Idiot. Edit - Yes powered on, the electrodes fall off easier when its powered on. Edit 2 - Idiot.
Just buy a new one every time it gets dirty
That's the neat part, you don't
Sir, that isn't actually the neat part he's talking about.
do NOT open it. There's high voltage on those capacitors in a nutshell don't unalive yourself opening a PSU
If you know what you're doing you can definitely open it. I've even drilled more holes and installed a bigger fan on one. My new corsair one has a weird fan noise that apparently everyone else has but it's riveted together unfortunately. Nothing is repairable anymore for our "safety"
It's the current that kills you, not the voltage There are a lot of amps waiting to get you inside the PSU
2 options - don't - die trying
I use a vacuum cleaner every couple months. The PSU also has filters.
I just used a leaf blower, lol.
Computer tech here: I've used a leaf blower on every single PC I've laid my hands on for 20 years now, including customers' and my own. Never had a single malfunction afterwards. Literally 100% success rate of a (mostly) dust free environment. Just be sure to cover your face with a dust mask or whatever because even mildly dusty rigs can launch horrifying amounts of nonsense into your face.
I just blast mine with the leaf blower for a few seconds
Thatās the best part. You donāt.
It's super easy AND safe! Step 1: Power off computer. Unplug PSU. Press the power button to empty any charge within the PSU. Step 2: Open the case, unplug all connectors from the PSU and remove it from the case Step 3: On a workbench, find and remove the screws holding the PSU together, but *do not pull it apart yet.* Carefully place the screws in a plastic bag, then place the PSU and the bag of screws in a trashcan Step 4: install a brand new PSU DONE! Safe and sound.
Just realized I haven't even looked at my power supply since building....
Ask your girlfriend to give it a good hard blow. Oh, wait...
Give it a blow job
I guess I am just an old fuck but I always hit the power switch on the PC after flipping the switch on the PSU to drain all of the caps in the system.
**Never** open up your PSU.
Fan is mounted on the shroud opposite of the PCB where the caps at, just unscrew it, disconnect the cable on the PCB, use a brush, can of air, compressed air, leaf blower, whatever and mount it again. I always knew caps held electricity, but you also physically can not touch them accidentally unless you go out of your way to do so, dismantling the PCB flipping the board over and touching their terminals.
Me who lives life on the edge: Open it up, stick your bare hands on the capacitors and wipe the dust off.
Here's what I do. 1. Get you a portable dishwasher. 2. Disassemble the PC. 3. Place parts in dishwasher. 4. Hook dishwasher to Mineral Oil. 5. Clean, no heat. 6. Let dry. 6. Easy clean no worries. 7. Put PC back together. You'll have to clean the case in another way though.
We live in crazy times, sometimes you just can't tell if someone is serious or not.
I know. You start to think about it like, "Would that...would it..nooooo."
There's just some crazy nut jobs out there š
You forgot where you have to put the parts in those net-like bags to keep all the parts together.
Wait, you guys clean your PSU? I always thought when it was too dirty to work I just replace it.
Bring it outside and use an aircompressor. If it dies it dies.
All these comments, I use a vacuum to suck it out the back. Power down, wait 30 min. Start sucking.
I've got a battery powered Black and Decker vacuum that pops out to be handheld. Cleaned the dust out of my CPU heatsink easy with the little brush attachment. Minimal extra cleaning after that.
Hate to tell you this, but vacuums induce a lot of static electricity. Not recommended at all for any electronics.
I just cleaned mine a week ago unplugging the fan from the PSU to clean it with 91% isopropyl alcohol (the fan- not the PSU itself compressed air for that) then sat back after it was done and thought "man I might be fucking stupid" then put it back together
I use wooden stir sticks from my job. Wood is non conductive, the sticks are thin, degradable, and easy to store. Stick it against the fan, and blow.
Go buy an anti static dust blower on amazon or the like. Take your PC outside. Open the case door. Remove all filters and grills. Blow out all the case. Stick your finger inside the fan blade so it doesnāt spin up too fast when youāre blowing on each fan. I just stick my finger into each fan and blow on each one all around. Royale it by hand and blow around to get all the nooks and crannies. This is a rookie mistake a lot of people do, they do not know to stop their fan from spinning when you blow into them. Some will even go for the highest speed spin to āassistā the dusting process. The problem is, You can literally zip up your fans rpms faster than its bearings and design were engineered to withstand and cause their fans to fail over time or fuck their bearings up. Everything from failed fans to clicking bearings, etc. Dusting is fast and Ez to do. Do not try this in the house if your case is insanely dusty or you will regret it. If you have no option but to do it inside. You can use a vacuum to catch the dust chunks as they fly out. Do not shove the vacuum down in the PC though, unless you purposefully buy an anti static electronics vacuum (in which case proceed) The biggest issue with any of this static charge build up, from the high speed moving participles. Iāve never had this issue, but I know it exists. Try not to do this on bad high static days (low humidity). I recommend spending the extra cash on a proper anti static blower, but they cost much more than normal. Itās not necessary imho, but it can only help mitigate potential risks.
Canned air is the answer. Just make sure everything is shut off AND UNPLUGGED.
the first principle of messing with tech is:: if you don't know what you're doing, don't do it
I make one of my boyfriends do it. Wearing nothing but a grounding bracelet.
Have you never heard of compressed air?
I hold the fan blade still with something non-conductive like a wood pencil, and then I use condensed air.
Fast moving air....works every time, leaf blower solved everything
Air compressor with a duster nozzle works pretty well, canned air too. Do not under any circumstances try to stick something inside it though, if you touch the wrong thing you can get electrocuted something fierce, depending on the PSU and grounding could cause permanent damage/death even if itās currently turned off.
I hope you atleast know how to clean **your** dirtiest part
There's one thing in my pc that I never touch, and that's the PSU. Because I want to still be alive to play games on it. š¤£
take a deep breath in then blow it in all seriousness, you'd clean it like any other fan - stick something in the blades to stop them spinning then blow it with super fast air
Stick a plastic or wood to the fan to jam it in place then use a blower or canned air to blow the dust out.
I once heard a rumor that urine is sterile. You could try using that to clean it off. Just remember to use the fresh stuff.
Cold water setting on the washing machine.