Talk about a “first world problem.” DIRECTV’s receivers and clients are so reliable, that they sit there gathering dust in your home year after year. If you think about it, that level of reliability is something pretty impressive. At a time when most of us rotate out our consumer electronics every other year, having something sit on the nightstand for a decade seems like quite an achievement.
But, it does bring up the problem of dust inside the box itself. Dust stops the box from dissipating heat as effectively, and that can make it fail sooner. That’s true of all consumer electronics.. The easy answer would be to open the case and blow it out with some canned air. Or, if you’re more environmentally friendly, use one of those little vacuums designed for this sort of thing. It will take care of things without the use of messy propellants. There’s only one thing you should consider.
Officially, you should never ever open your DIRECTV box.
If you have satellite TV at home, all your equipment… isn’t really yours. DIRECTV, as well as pretty much every pay-TV provider, uses a lease model to put equipment in homes. This allows them to get a lot of depreciation benefits that you, as a home user, wouldn’t take anyway. It also gives them an easy pathway to upgrade you when new equipment comes along. And best of all, it gives pay-TV companies the right to take the equipment back if you change providers. After a quick refurbishment, it can go out to someone else.
Since you don’t own it, the owner of the box gets to say what you can and cannot do. And, in this case they’re pretty clear. You can’t open it, not for nothing. There’s almost always a tamper-evident sticker to make you think twice, and even if you’re able to bypass that, it’s not always easy to even open the thing. Most of DIRECTV’s boxes use plastic tabs instead of screws. With some internet searches and about half a dozen screwdrivers, it’s possible, but the evidence of your deed will be very obvious.
When DIRECTV itself opens these boxes, they use special metal jigs. I’ve seen them and they’re pretty cool. You press the box down on one, and bing-bang-boom the cover just lifts off. But unless you have one of those, you’ll end up with telltale scratches when you open the box. When they figure out you’ve done it, you can get charged a hefty fee.
So, what to do
The easiest thing to do, honestly, is nothing. These boxes, especially the little Genie clients, are incredibly reliable. A layer of dust may shorten their lives a bit, but so far I’ve seen no evidence that it’s really a factor. I know people who have been using their C31 clients since they launched 11 years ago, and they still work exactly the same. The best solution is just to leave the thing alone. If it fails, remember it’s leased. Generally a call to your DIRECTV dealer at 888-233-7563 will let you get another one for a minimal charge.
If you absolutely must dust, first unplug everything and take the box away from the TV and other electronics. Gently shake to get rid of surface dust. Then blow air in from the vents. That’s about all you can do. You should be able to get rid of enough surface dust to make sure your receiver or client box is working at its best.
Commercial customers, this one’s for you
In many cases, commercial customers do own their equipment. So, you’re technically free to do whatever you want with it. I’m still not sure I’d recommend opening the boxes up, because it’s so annoyingly hard to do. But, if you do own your equipment you’re free to maintain it as you choose.
If you’re not sure whether or not you own your equipment, there’s one way to find out. Call the experts at Signal Connect. We’re DIRECTV’s dealer of the year and we can go straight into their systems to check the status of your equipment. While we’re there, we’ll let you know if you qualify for new services or upgrades. It’s all part of our top-notch service.
When you’re ready, call us at 888-233-7563. We’re here during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get right back to you!
