Cleaning your flat screen TV is increasingly important in an era of heightened hygiene. Here’s everything you need to know about how to clean TVs and monitors.
Why Do You Need a Clean Flat Screen TV?
A flat screen TV looks amazing when its clean. But when its dusty and grimy the picture quality suffers and so does your enjoyment. Dusting the TV daily is wise as it ensures the TV works at its optimum capability. Excessive dust leads to heat build-up, which can result in poor performance. This is particularly relevant to smart TVs, which are essentially computers.
Grease and splashes can potentially prove more dangerous than dust, however. Coughs and sneezes can end up landing on a TV if not caught; grease can harbor bacteria. TVs might not be as bad as remotes or game controllers when it comes to the inadvertent collection of bacteria, but they’re still not good.
So, a flat screen should be:
Dust free Fingerprint free Free of splashes Free from droplets from sneezing and coughing
Simple, right?
Now that’s clear, here’s everything you need to know about how to clean a flat screen TV.
What You Need for Cleaning a Flat Screen TV
What do you use to clean a flat screen TV?
Before you start, make sure you have:
A soft microfiber cloth: It’s important that you don’t use paper towels, tissue, or rags as these can cause scratches on your TV screen. If you don’t have a microfiber cloth, an anti-static microfiber cloth such as the type used to clean eyeglasses and camera lenses, etc., can be used.
Distilled water spray: This should suffice for most cleaning.
Distilled water and soap spray: For tough grime, a mild solution of soap and water can be used. Panasonic recommends a very mild 100:1 ration of water to detergent for its screens.
Antibacterial spray: this is optional, depending on how clean you want to go. While you would probably discourage people from touching the TV set, it doesn’t hurt to ensure it is bacteria-free.
Incredibly, that’s all you need.
How to Clean Your LCD/LED/OLED TV Screen
Ready to clean your TV? Here’s what you need to do:
Turn off the TV. For safety, also unplug the unit from the mains electric. With the cloth, wipe the dust from your TV screen. You should also dust the sides and back of the TV. For greasy marks, spray the cloth, then wipe in small circles to loosen the dirt. It is vital that you do not spray the TV, as this can cause complications with the interior electrics. Tough muck? Use the water and soap spray, again spraying the cloth before wiping the TV screen clean. Finally, if you’re planning the deep clean, wet the cloth with the antibacterial spray. Wipe this across the screen, around the edges, buttons, and anywhere else that may be touched.
Your TV is now clean. Give it a moment to dry, then switch it back on.
Own an Old Tube TV? Here’s How to Clean That
Need to clean an old TV?
Old fashioned, pre-2005 TVs are typically cathode ray tube (CRT) screens, most often still used by retro gamers and some old computer systems and servers. Some later CRT models had flat screens, too, mostly for picture quality and aesthetic purposes.
Surprisingly, these glass screens are easier to clean than flat screen LCD and plasma sets. The glass screen means that you can use window cleaner. What you need is:
Anti-dust cloth. Standard window cleaner. If you don’t have any, make your own with a white vinegar/water mix of one-part vinegar to two-parts water. Suitable, glass-friendly cloth. This should be clean and dry before starting.
To clean your glass-screened tube TV:
Switch off the TV and unplug from the wall. Wipe the set down with the anti-dust cloth. Spray the window cleaner onto the cloth. Polish the screen as you would a window. Leave to dry for a few moments.
When you switch the old TV back on, the picture should look clean and bright once again.
Clean Your TV Remote, Too!
If you’ve taken the time to clean your TV and make it dust, dirt, and germ free, it makes sense to consider the remote.
Prone to gathering sweat and dead skin, dust, splashes from coughs, sneezes, and drinks, not to mention crumbs of food, a TV remote control is positively filthy. Sadly, taking remote controls apart to clean them isn’t straightforward.
If the device has bubble buttons, then wiping it clean should be straightforward. However, the type of remote control with rubber buttons is harder to deal with and for a full deep clean requires disassembly. There isn’t a standard way to do this as all remotes are different, but it’s worth researching.
Until you’ve found how to disassemble the remote control, tap it face down on the edge of a table. This will dislodge any loose crumbs and dirt before you wipe it down with a lightly dampened cloth. Again, consider antibacterial spray for the deep clean approach.
Now You Know How to Clean a Flat Screen TV
Cleaning your TV is surprisingly straightforward. These steps will work on typical LCD and AMOLED flat screen TVs, as well as plasma televisions. Furthermore, you can use the same techniques (but with different cleaning solution) on old tube-based flat screens.
With a clean flat screen TV, you can finally sit back and enjoy crystal clear shows and movies, as good as the day you bought it. But don’t leave it too long next time. Establish a regular routine to keep your TV clean of dust, dirt, and disease-causing bacteria.
