A client's complaint about my cleaning routine made me rethink everything

I had a client last month who pulled me aside after I finished a repair on their office server rack. They pointed out that I left a few dust bunnies near the intake fans and said, 'You fixed the hardware but you forgot the lungs.' That comment stuck with me. Now I bring a small handheld vacuum and spend 5 minutes cleaning around every case before I pack up. Anyone else get called out for something that seemed small but actually made a difference in how you work?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan3305d ago

The client's comment about "lungs" sounds a bit dramatic to me. I mean, dust bunnies near intake fans aren't great but it's not like you left a pile of trash inside the server case. Five minutes of vacuuming every job adds up fast when you're on a tight schedule. I get that clean gear runs cooler, but the real issue is whether the dust was actually blocking airflow or just sitting there looking ugly. Seems like a lot of extra hassle for something that probably wasn't causing any real harm.

andrew_miller905d ago

So have you actually seen the inside of a server room that's been neglected for a year or two, or is this more of a guess? I'm not trying to be difficult here, but in my experience it's rarely just a little bit of surface dust. That stuff builds up in layers and can get really packed into the fins of heat sinks and fan blades where you can't even see it at first. Your mileage may vary, but I've pulled enough dust bunnies out of equipment to know that what looks like "just sitting there looking ugly" is often already causing real heat buildup. It sneaks up on you slow.