Spring has officially sprung! The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and it’s the perfect time to get done all that cleaning that we didn’t have the energy for in the winter. Your projector might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you start tidying up, but here’s why keeping up with your projector is more important than most people think:
Projectors give off a lot of heat and this makes them prone to overheating. Air vents inside the projector make sure that cool air gets drawn in and prevents the overheating. In order to keep dust and dirt out of the projector, these air vents also have a filter, which is meant to catch the debris before it can get into your lamp. If these filters are not cleaned when they need to be, they can get clogged, which can make your projector overheat, shut down, or even catch fire!
Dirty air vents/filters can also cause distorted images, color issues, and other lens problems if the debris gets onto the projector lens.
Generally, the filter should be cleaned every 100 to 300 hours, whenever you notice dust building up, or you start getting warning signs from the projector. Waiting until the image starts to get darker is not the best way to go, because in order for the human eye to detect the change in brightness, it has to dim down a lot, and by that time your projector could be in desperate need of cleaning.
Warning signs that you should look out for can vary based on your projector, they include:
- The temperature light is flashing orange or red
2. You see dust on the projector’s fan exhaust vent
3. A message alerting you to clean it
If you decide your projector’s air filters do need to be cleaned, it’s a quick and easy process. Looking at an Epson PowerLite 2000 projector as an example (which uses a ELPLP87 lamp), these are the basic steps to follow:
Turn off and unplug the projector.
- Open the air filter cover located on the right-hand side and pull out the air filter so you can clean both sides.
2. Gently remove the dust using a small electronics vacuum or a soft small brush.
3. Place the air filter back in and push until it clicks into place, and don’t forget to close the cover back up.
Simple as that! Remembering to clean your projector every so often can save you lots of time, trouble, and money. Another important part of your projector maintenance is keeping track of your lamp. Check out this article for more information about when and why you should replace your projector lamp. http://blog.purelandsupply.com/2020/04/28/does-your-projector-need-a-check-up/
