Clean a Rear Projection TV - A Quick Maintenance Guide

Clean a Rear Projection TV - A Quick Maintenance Guide
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Electronic and electrical components generally attract and gather a lot of dust and your TV is the same; sometimes having small children around the house also means having all sorts of creative and artistic fingerprint-smudges on your screen. Luckily it is quite easy to clean your set without scratching the screen and ruining it permanently, and you can also clean the insides to some extent due to the air vents present (unless you go through the trouble of unscrewing panels and opening the TV set).

This brief guide will show you the steps you can take to efficiently clean a rear-projection TV simply by using a vacuum cleaner, a feather duster and some cleaning liquid. It is quite easy to do and is worth the effort; apart from the fact that you will actually see better with a clean screen, dust can also block the vents and your set can over-heat.

Cleaning Your Screen

First, make sure the set is switched off and unplugged: leave it that way for an about an hour to let it cool down. Get a cross-headed screwdriver so you can unscrew the back-panels if you wish to clean thoroughly. You might need to remove a protective cover if you have an older set, which you can either slide off or unscrew.

Get hold of a glass-cleaner spray which isn’t corrosive, as that can lead to problems and damage the glass. Free and clear glass cleaner is fine, as is Formula 409 or Spic and Span; avoid cleaners with ammonia or similarly harmful solutions.

Spray a bit of your chosen glass-cleaner onto a soft cloth to wipe the surface of the screen; microfiber cloths and soft cloths are ideal for this purpose so you should buy one. Just wipe away and this should get rid of any marks or fingerprints, and then you can put the protective cover back if you had one.

Thorough Cleaning

You can also unscrew the back panels, with the cross-headed screwdriver, and clean the projection lamp; consult the manual of your TV for schematics as to where it is. You do not need to do this at all costs, as cleaning the screen is sufficient, and I would suggest that you avoid it if you are unsure on which part is which.

An easier way to clean the insides is simply to use a vacuum cleaner through the air-vents, and remove and dust which clogs the vents, which could result in overheating the set.