Michał Stekla
Surely many of us have wondered how to clean the dirty screen of our television. It has become a common belief that cleaning should be done only dry, however, in this way, we do not always manage to deal with every stain on the screen. So what will we need to safely clean the screen with liquid? Can every type of screen be treated this way?
Which cloth to choose?
For cleaning the screen matrix, we should use only dedicated microfiber cloths for screens. They may differ in structure, but most commonly we encounter two types, examples of which can be seen in the image below.
It is not a very good idea to use universal cloths for windows, even if the manufacturer states that they are made of microfiber. Their hard structure can cause micro-scratches on the screen, which we cannot repair. Remember that cloths used for cleaning the screen should only be used for this purpose. If they serve other tasks in our household, dirt from other surfaces may settle on them, and once again our screen is at risk of scratching.
We should also never soak or wash such a cloth, as minerals that cause the effect visible below are likely to remain on it.
So we already know what cloth we need, and since we are talking about wet cleaning, what liquid would be appropriate for this? Perhaps let's focus on what detergents to avoid. Surely each of us has glass cleaner, and since the screen is a certain type of "glass", why not use this product? Well, nothing could be further from the truth ;) Using such detergents can leave marks on the screen, and we certainly didn't start cleaning to dirty our screen even more.
In this case, demineralised water is helpful, which may be more effective when heated in a pot of water. A liquid dedicated to screens is also recommended, which can clean any type of screen except for QD-Oleds with a glossy coating. So how do we clean it? Don't worry, we will find out shortly.
LCD, OLED, QLED Displays
We have the appropriate cloth, liquid, and our stain, so let's get to work! It’s best to use two cloths, one for wet cleaning and the other for drying. We fold the cloth into four and apply our water/liquid to the fabric. It’s important not to spray it on the screen, as the liquid could seep under the LCD screen coating if we spray it at the edge. We only clean the soiled area and try to press lightly against the screen. If the surface is still dirty, we can repeat the process on a clean side of the cloth. Finally, it’s worth "polishing" the matrix with a dry cloth, moving it gently across the entire surface while also applying light pressure. This way, our unwanted stains should disappear for good :)
Problem with QD-Oled
And what if this way we could actually clean the QD-Oled matrix? Is it resistant to removing greasy stains?
Of course, the stains will come off our TV using the method above, but this process may cause a slight, matte, blue glow to appear, as seen below.
In reality, it does not affect the comfort of using the television, but it stands out against the entire screen.
In cases where our screen is filled with such patterns, a solution may be to wipe it all over with a damp cloth, making it uniform and the differences no longer visible.
Cleaning QD-Oled
So how can we safely clean our QD-Oled without making a "hash" of it? :)
While searching for a solution, we found Samsung's official recommendation. It concerns using a 70% ethanol solution for cleaning - yes, that's right, we're talking about ethyl alcohol.
This information needed to be checked immediately.
We got straight to the test (you do what you have to in the name of science), and it really works! We also tested that purer ethanol, e.g. rectified spirit (about 95%), performs better. Although the initial thought might suggest that this method would damage our display, nothing of the sort occurred, and we cleaned the same area four times.
Nonetheless, we recommend caution, as we must remember that wet cleaning should be used in emergency situations and I do not recommend regularly cleaning the television this way. We should also not attempt to clean any displays other than QD-Oled with ethanol.
And what if our display is dirty not on the surface, but inside? If dust has entered between the layers of the display or there are stains known as the DSM effect, resulting from uneven distribution of backlight, we will not be able to clean it. In that case, we only have the option of service.
