How to properly clean a TV and monitor screen

In today’s world, the era of flat-panel TVs and monitors, cleaning the screen from dust and other contaminants may not seem like an easy task at all, especially if your device has a touchscreen type screen. Of course, such screens are rarely installed in monitors and not used in TVs at all. But in laptops and special devices, such as screens in cars, monitors in cash registers, touchscreen screens are used very often. And phones all have touch screens.

What kind of detergents can be used

Televisions produced since 2000, are those with LCD, LED screen, or plasma screen. What you should know about these televisions. LCD and LED TVs have screens made of plastic, and as you know plastic dissolves with aggressive detergents which contain alcohol or other aggressive components. The purpose of these components is to wash the dirt intensively, but they are designed only for special surfaces, e.g. stainless steel.

Note: Never use window, bath or kitchen detergents to clean the TV screen. These products usually contain ingredients that can react with the coating of the screen and damage it. White spots may appear on the screen.

Some models of TVs, usually the premium segment and plasma TVs, may have protective glass in front of the screen. But it is still not recommended to clean such TVs with glass cleaners. For a very simple reason, these televisions may have a special coating on the glass, if you use a glass or mirror cleaner, the alcohol included in the detergent may react with the coating.

Note: To clean any screen, use only special screen cleaners such as Screen Clean for monitors and televisions. These cleaners do not contain alcohol or other ingredients that can damage the screen.

Before using the screen cleaner for the first time, clean a small area of the screen, such as the bottom corner of the screen in the most inconspicuous place. Although the cleaner may be designed to clean a TV or monitor screen, the display manufacturer may have applied an anti-reflective coating to the screen which may react with the cleaner.

How to Clean a Flat Screen TV

Now about how to properly clean your TV screen, I will tell you in detail how and why you need to clean it in a specific sequence.

1. Unplug the TV from the mains. This is required by safety regulations.
2. Take a soft cloth, such as a microfiber cloth. Such special surface care cloths have no fibers in their structure, do not use a cloth made of coarse materials and paper towels. Rough cloths can leave scratches on the screen, and paper towels will leave bits of paper on the screen and are difficult to remove from the screen.
3. Use a dry cloth first, and gently wipe off the dust without pressing down hard on the screen. Some people recommend wiping the screen in a circular motion. But I recommend wiping the screen around the edges near the frame first, and then the entire screen before reaching the screen frame. The dust is very fine if you wipe the screen with a rag to the frame of the screen, the dust will accumulate where the screen and frame join, and it is very hard to remove it from there.
4. Use a damp cloth if you still have dirt on the screen, use a special detergent for screens. Do not spray detergent on the screen. You may not have time to wipe it off, and it may get under the frame of the screen. Spray the detergent onto a cloth. Then gently wipe the TV screen without pressing hard.

How to clean a TV with an electron beam tube

These are older televisions, the screen in these televisions is made of glass, you can clean these screens in the same way you clean flat screens. But you can also use window cleaners. These televisions have a glass screen and there are no coatings, so there is very little chance of damaging the screen. Given that such TVs are 20 years old or more, you probably know how to clean the screen of such a TV.