How to clean your Tv the right way
Although modern flat-panel TVs aren’t literally dust magnets like CRTs with their static charges, your TV will still accumulate dust and dirt over time. This is not only bad because it degrades picture quality, but also because dust and dirt that gets into your TV can interfere with its normal operation and even shorten its lifespan.
So you need to clean your TV like anything else in your home, but if you do it wrong, you run the risk of making things worse or even permanently damaging it. So, let’s get the basics right and bring this image to perfection without doing anything regrettable.
Cleaning instructions specified by your TV manufacturer always the priority. If any of the tips you read below conflict with what your manufacturer recommends, follow what your manufacturer says.
The first thing we need to clean a TV (or monitor) is tools. You need a soft cloth that won’t scratch your screen, or a feather duster. In addition to this, you need about three high-quality microfiber cloths. If you don’t clean your expensive glasses or sunglasses with this cloth, it has nothing to do with your TV screen. If you need to use a liquid to clean your screen, then you should use distilled water.
Do not use tap water or drinking water. Although the minerals in drinking water are good for you, if you wipe your screen with tap water, it will leave behind mineral residue when it evaporates which will show up as ugly streaks. I’ve made this mistake exactly once in my life with an LCD computer screen, and I’ve never been able to properly get rid of the mineral stains on it.
Do not use alcohol, ammonia, household window cleaners, or rough paper towels on the surface of your screen. I like to use a specially designed LCD screen cleaning solution that comes with a microfiber cloth.
A cleaner once sprayed furniture polish directly onto the screen of one of my old LCD TVs, and it wasn’t pretty. We managed to improve things by wiping it down with LCD cleaning fluid, but it never looked right again.
If you opt for a specialized LCD screen cleaning fluid, carefully read reviews from people who have used it. Like any product, they are not all equal.
Preparation: Turn off, unplug and position
Once you have all the items you need to clean your TV, turn it off and unplug it. Examine the dark screen for any spots or residue that might need attention. I use my smartphone’s flashlight shining off-axis to reveal fingerprints and smudges on my TVs.
Depending on how your setup is organized, you may want to move the TV to a location that makes cleaning easier or allows you to see what’s on the screen surface. For my wall-mounted TVs, I simply clean them in place.
Step-by-step cleaning technique
Using a dry microfiber cloth or soft duster, begin by removing dust from the surface of the screen. Don’t press too hard on the screen, for many reasons, but partly because you don’t want to scratch it with dust particles or anything hard that might be stuck to the surface of the screen. Gently wipe the dust from the top of the screen to the bottom.
Never make circular motions on the screen, no matter what type of cleaning pass you are making. Excess dust should collect at the bottom frame, where I usually gently wipe it away in a single horizontal motion.
If, after removing the dust, you notice stains, greasy fingerprints or something like that, you can wet clean the screen. If you don’t see this, stop at this point.
Dampen a clean microfiber cloth with distilled water or your LCD screen cleaning fluid, then wipe the screen. gently in broad vertical lines from top to bottom. When you’re finished, you may want to take a clean, dry microfiber cloth to repeat the same process, but dry off any excess liquid. Never spray water or other liquid directly on the TV.
You can now turn your TV back on after returning it to its normal position.
Maintenance Schedule and Quick Fixes
If your TV is nice and clean and you try to never touch it directly on the screen with your fingers, then just lightly dust it every week with a clean microfiber cloth.
If you see “spots” on the TV that do not disappear after wiping with distilled water or LCD cleaning fluid, the surface coating may be damaged or there may be another problem that cannot be resolved by cleaning. Now is a good time to contact customer service for advice, although in practice the best you can do is learn to live with it.
