[Elecraft] How and How Often to Clean KPA-1500 Cooling Systems?

[N4ZR]

I'm uncomfortable with temp above 70C.  I infer from the manual that the 
displayed temp is that of the final transistor heat sink, and they say 
it will hard fault at 112C.  Not in my shack!  Still looking for an 
answer to the cleaning question, though, particularly for the power supply.

73, Pete N4ZR
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On 3/27/2021 2:44 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> On 3/27/2021 9:23 AM, N4ZR wrote:
>> The other day I noticed some buildup of dust on the top vents of my 
>> power supply.
>
> Neighbor K6XX is the mfg engineer for both of Elecraft's amps. Bob 
> lost everything (except one of his towers) in a big wildfire this 
> summer, along with three other hams I know. For a contest a few months 
> ago, he borrowed my KPA1500, and when he returned it, told me it was 
> super dusty. My shack is pretty dusty, and I was running the fans all 
> the time, often at a high setting, because I use WSJT modes on 6M and 
> 160 a lot. His advice was to set the fan speed default to zero and let 
> the amp determine the fan speed. Using 120 sec TX cycles at 1kW on 
> 160, I've seen 95C temps, and the amp is still happy. I wouldn't do 
> that on 6M, where the amp is least efficient.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
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