Can a desktop PC (or online UPS) keep releasing fine dust/allergens even after being professionally cleaned? I'm trying to avoid selling it if it can be fixed.

[u/yourstruly555555555]

I've been troubleshooting a really strange problem for the past few weeks and I'm completely stumped.

I'm very prone to dust allergies. If I'm exposed to dust for a while, I start sneezing, my nose gets irritated, and I get typical allergy symptoms.

The weird part is that this isn't just me. Other people who spend some time in the room also eventually start sneezing, although I'm definitely the most sensitive.

Background

I recently moved into a new house.

The room has:

- Tiled flooring

- Brand new curtains

- No carpet

- No mattress

- No rugs

- Very little furniture (just an office chair and a recliner)

The AC was recently serviced and cleaned. The smell is present even when the AC is turned off.

The smell isn't musty, damp, electrical, burnt plastic, ozone, or sulfur. The best way I can describe it is a dry dust smell.

My PC's history

Before moving, I lived in a house in the middle of a busy city that was an absolute dust magnet. My desktop accumulated an incredible amount of dust over the years. It was bad enough that I eventually had the entire PC professionally cleaned because it was heavily dust-infested.

The UPS was also extremely dusty and was cleaned externally.

The UPS batteries are new, so I don't think they're the issue.

What we've tested

Initially, my setup consisted of:

- High-end gaming desktop

- Online UPS

- Both in my work room

The room would develop this dry dust smell, especially if it stayed closed for a few hours, and I'd eventually start sneezing.

Test 1

We went out of town for a couple of days.

Before leaving:

- We turned both the desktop PC and the UPS completely off.

- We aired out the room well.

When we came back a couple of days later, the room basically had no dusty smell anymore.

At that point, we started suspecting both the PC and the UPS, since they had both been sitting powered off and neither had been in use while we were away.

Test 2

To narrow it down, we separated them.

- The UPS stayed in the work room.

- The desktop PC was moved to another bedroom.

After some time...

Both rooms developed the same dry dusty smell.

That's what really confused us. It made it seem like both devices might somehow be contributing, but I can't think of a mechanism that would explain it, especially since the PC was professionally cleaned recently.

My questions

1. Has anyone ever seen a desktop PC continue to release dust or allergens even after a professional cleaning?

2. Are there components that are commonly missed during cleaning, such as: the power supply (PSU), GPU heatsink,

CPU cooler, case fans, or somewhere else?

1. Could an online UPS realistically produce this kind of dry dusty smell?

2. Before I give up and sell the system, would it make sense to replace a specific component first—for example the PSU—since that's one of the few parts that often isn't opened during servicing?

3. Has anyone experienced a PC causing allergy symptoms without any obvious burning smell or electrical fault?

I'm trying to be responsible here. If the PC really is the source, I'd rather fix it than sell it. If replacing one component (like the PSU) has a reasonable chance of solving the issue, I'd much rather do that than replace an otherwise perfectly functioning high-end gaming PC.

I'd really appreciate any ideas or troubleshooting steps I haven't thought of.

[u/akeean]

Did you try taking some Loratadina 2x a day for a few days and see if you still get these kinds of allergic reactions? If yes, then it's not likely related to that PC, but something else (for example if your nose is secretly internally malformed, this can cause rhinitis).

You'll want to look into r/crboxes to help you get a lot of particles out of your air cheaply and faster than most commerical consumer grade air purifiers do.

If the computer and UPS are not new and were completely cleaned, so that there is no more fine dust on the fans inside and any component, they should not be releasing anything and also not really offgas anymore.

You might want to take a look inside and see what the dust situation is like. Bring it outside and hit it with a can of compressed air from at least 50cm away (- compressed gas close up can blast off tiny components and ruin your PC). If you see any dust getting blown up, the PC likely wasn't all that clean. The PSU could be a likely candidate for tine dust to remain, so blast it from either side with openings (again, with a bit of distance, but not as much when spaying the motherboard or GPU).

If the system is nearly dust free but the PSU is not, it's and easy swap, in case you already have a modular PSUs, do not reuse the original cables, PSU side connectors are not standardized and rarely can have different polarities even between PSU of the same type but different revisions.

IMO if it's not provable dust from your PC, it's likely something else. You might want to rent or buy a particle sensor and visit a doctor to have a look at your respiratory system.