Dust just loves keyboards. It’s kind of like modern-day kids in that sense. Kids love pushing buttons, and keyboards are all about the buttons. Dust has seemed to be a common enemy of all computer devices and other electrical items like television sets, desktops, tablets, refrigerators and the like. And since no one wants to dust their house every second or third day and there only seems to be a heightened importance in removing dust around electronics, the concept of a very narrow mechanism for dust removal was invented.

[Image courtesy of Jess! S? from Flickr via a Creative Commons license]Compressed air is great for clearing dust and dirt off computer monitors and keyboards, but it does have some other less-than-useful ingredients.

Say hello to canned air. It was quite a revolution when aerosol cans of highly compressed air sent a strong burst of air over a keyboard or computer monitor, blasting away all of the dust that could get into various components of a computer and cause damage and ineffective use. Something as natural as the air we breathe getting rid of something that is naturally created but can be a pest to 21st-century technology. What could be the harm in using air around a computer, right?

Maybe you haven’t noticed, but the ingredients label on the side of a canned-air container does not only say, “air and natural preservatives.”

There are a few other things in canned air – some of them are things that some of us can’t pronounce. And that could be a bad thing if you’re not paying attention. You see, these  other “ingredients” in canned air are usually propellants – chemicals that help propel the air in the can. These chemicals are generally liquids, and as these cans are not necessarily the most airtight things in the world, there is a risk of the chemicals leaking out of the can or escaping just from the air being expelled.

And what is the big deal about these chemicals? Well they are somewhat toxic in that they can be dangerous if inhaled, and can cause frostbite – frostbite! – if touched. These gases are also flammable, and could ignite a flash fire if the gases escape from the can (even with a regular use over a keyboard) and make contact with a spark or some electrical switch that is on. These cans are under very high pressure, and if they get too hot they can explode – which means they can’t be stored anywhere that could reach a temperature of 120 degrees or higher – such as a car or in a garage during the summer.

And if these cans are used in an area without a reasonable amount of ventilation, the gases could cause dizziness or other more serious effects with prolonged exposure. And in a few rare instances, blowing compressed air directly on the skin can cause major problems – the chemicals could get into the blood through a break in the skin, and that could cause an air bubble (embolism) which could result in any number of serious consequences, including death. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged to take proper precautions with these canned-air products – while the chances of serious problems is very low, there are very reasonable steps to take to keep from being at any risk, as long as you know that there isn’t just air in those cans.

What you don’t know, in this case, could very well hurt you.

If you’d like to read more, check out this blog post.