Dust In The Wind --- and my amp

Been thinking about this for a while. Have a QSC power amp and live in a house that collects more dust than anyplace I've ever lived in. Is there any kind of filter that can be stuck on the outside of that fan cage that will filter the dust with little or no impairment to circulation? Don't even use that amp much and the fan is half covered already with dust - and the amp stays covered when not in use.

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"The only Holy Grail thats exists in the bass world is not in the bass, it's in the player."

 

Yeh, crossed my mind to jeri-rig it but these fans don't draw much and logic would tell you that QSC would have incorporated a filter (something they could sell aftermarket) if there wasn't a reason not too - like the fan's pushing limits to do it's job without adding air restriction. And the dust issue is neglible relative to overheating, one thing you definitely don't want to do with these things.

A lawnmower engine for example will draw a lot more than air than that fan. I messed with make shift speaker grill cloth a bit and was amazed at how something that struck me as sufficiently porous would just shut that speaker down.

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"The only Holy Grail that exists in the bass world is not in the bass, it's in the player."

 

Yeh, crossed my mind to jeri-rig it but these fans don't draw much and logic would tell you that QSC would have incorporated a filter (something they could sell aftermarket) if there wasn't a reason not too - like the fan's pushing limits to do it's job without adding air restriction. And the dust issue is neglible relative to overheating, one thing you definitely don't want to do with these things.

A lawnmower engine for example will draw a lot more than air than that fan. I messed with make shift speaker grill cloth a bit and was amazed at how something that struck me as sufficiently porous would just shut that speaker down.

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"The only Holy Grail that exists in the bass world is not in the bass, it's in the player."

 

Yeh, looks like progress - and cheap too! Thanks. May call QSC abthing. out the air flow

 

The material itself will affect airflow, density whatever. The fact it's designed for a power amp is a good start. But yeh, a clogged filter would be worse than none at all. But I hadn't thought about a filter you clean instead of replace.

Thanks

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The only Holy Grail that exists in the bass world is not in the bass, it's in the player."

 

I appreciate the suggestion and actually hadn't expected something that would be tailor made. But I got the impression this filter was generic aftermarket even though it seemed made for QSC. I assume different fan motors in different amps pull different amounts of air depending on the needs and design of the amp. Given that, some filters may work for some amps and on other amps they may be contraindicated. I don't that know but it was just something I was going to follow up on. The one thing I know I don't want is to unwittingly add a filter that will choke down the cooling system. I was and I am going to pickup one of these filters you suggested.

As for the last line, can't remember the last time somebody called me kid.

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"The only Holy Grail that exists in the bass world is not in the bass, it's in the player." (JRB)

 

Maybe a little sarcasm isn't such a bad thing. Motivated me to jump on this sooner than I probably would.

Called QSC and the tech said as long as the amps not being pushed it should be no problem. The implication being that if you're going to be in a hot environment with the pedal to the floor, it would be prudent to remove the filter for the time being.

Thanks and hope this post helped some other QSC owners.

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"The only Holy Grail that exists in the bass world is not in the bass, it's in the player."

 

Appreciate the feedback Bob. The tech I spoke with qualified that the filter must be maintained. The amp is my home rig and is not in a rack. One thing I was going to do before installing the filter recommended in a previous post (which I did order -w/shipping cost 3 x's that of the filter I might ad) was pull the cover and see if the dust was collecting in the guts as on the fan. If so, blow it out and it'd also function in part as a baseline as to whether the filter worked. As long as a clean filter will not cause the unit to overheat, I'm not concerned. It will be kept clean.

 

Just as a followup,

Pulled the lid on the QSC and there was no dust in the housing. The fan port looks like an enclosed tunnel that runs 80% the length of the unit. Never pried the lid off one of these before but I expected it to pretty much just be open. There were a few cobwebs in the corners but the interior of the amp was essentially spotless.

The filter is supposed to arrive today. The fan grill screws also attatch the fan housing to the amp, they don't just hold the grill cover on. So if anybody does this they may want to just remove 3 of the screws and loosen the 4th and let the grill swing down and use one of the other screws to put the first screw in the new grill. It looks you'd have no problem manipulating the fan to restart screws but you might run into to some unecessary grief.

 

Yeh, heatpump. Outside Charlotte (we almost won - but not a bad football team for a bunch of Nascar drivers).

Filter gets changed monthly without fail. Who knows? It's not like the air is full of dust around here. Lots of trees and it's unusual for the wind to kick up. I've spent winters in Key West where the wind blows 10-15 knots most of the time and you don't have the dust like this.