cleaning dirty option 81 1

[mindamartine]

I have a option 81 that got some dust in it (It's been "on" for 16 years). Can I use canned air to clean the cards and the insides? I will of course be turning off power completely to do the work.
Thanks in advance for your help

 

[nessman]

I wouldn't bother. Those phone systems are designed to live in some pretty tough environments and a little bit of dust isn't going to hurt it. This falls under the category of if it ain't broke don't fix it. Pulling all those cards runs the risk of mixing them up during reinstallation or putting them in the wrong slots no matter how carefully you relabel them, or things not coming back up the right way when you power the switch back up.

Just clean the air filter in the pedestal with some compressed air and a garden hose (let dry completely before replacing) during routine preventative maintenance.

 

[mindamartine]

Hey Nessman,
It is kinda broken. Have been getting PWR013 and PWR053 (system monitor up and down)off and on for weeks. It finally stopped working alltogether and I repalced system monitor and serial cable. Was ok for about 2 weeks and now I am getting the same codes again. I am thinking all that dust/dirt may have finally gotten to the backplane. The switch is in a federal building basement that is kinda yucky.

 

[nessman]

Ugh... electronics in basement - never a good thing.

In that case I'm thinking you'll want to cut power to the PBX, pull the fan/blower assembly from the pedistal, and vacuum out the bulk of it, and use compressed air to blow it out.

Do you have high humidty/moisture issues near the PBX? Instances of standing/puddled water under the PBX?

 

[mindamartine]

No high moisture/humidty. No puddled water. Just dusty with dirt and dry wall dust. The floor is concrete. Sometimes there is construction going on next door and the dust just seems to filter thru the ceiling tiles. Other people have access to the room (Qwest and such) and I have come in to find ceiling tiles popped and not put back in. This switch has been in for 17 years.
Thanks for your input.

 

[nessman]

Dry dust by itself generally doesn't conduct electricity and shouldn't affect things. Have to wonder if you have a failing component elsewhere... have you cleaned out the rectifiers in your power supply?