The Ramblings Of Jenn Shuey

Hubby and I purchased our first LCD HDTV last November, and I love it. There is only one thing that has always scared me about it. I didn’t have a clue how to properly clean the thing!

For the past 7 months I’ve tiptoed around cleaning it by wiping it with a soft cloth and hoping for the best. I dreaded the day a smudge showed up because I’m so afraid of damaging the delicate surface. We all know LCD HDTVs aren’t cheap, and I definitely can’t afford to be replacing one because my own stupidity caused me to ruin the screen.

Unfortunately the day of the smudge has arrived, and it’s finally time to clean the blasted thing properly. I did what I thought was best, and I asked the expert, a friend of ours who works in a local electronics store. He informed me I was freaking out over nothing, and it’s actually quite simple to clean an LCD TV without damaging the surface of the screen!

How do you do it? It really is simple!

1. Start by wiping the screen down with a clean dry cloth.  Make sure it’s a soft cloth because you don’t want to scratch the screen. After dusting the screen go ahead and wipe down the rest of the tv.
2. Mix up a solution of rubbing alcohol and water.  You may want to start with a very mild solution of 25% alcohol/75% water or less.  If that doesn’t do the trick you can increase the amount of alcohol in the solution, but NEVER use anything stronger than 50% alcohol/50% water as it will damage the screen.
3. If the entire screen is dirty you can dampen your cloth with the alcohol/water solution, and rub the entire screen lightly.  If there are tough spots on the screen, remove them using a q-tip dipped in the solution, but do not apply pressure as it will damage the screen.  The solution should break down any dirt or smudges on the screen.
4. Finally wipe the screen again with a clean dry cloth to remove any excess solution.

As usual, this was recommended to me because it’s the way my friend cleans the LCD TVs in the electronic store.  Try this at your own risk as I will not be liable for any damage that may occur.  I had absolutely no problem cleaning my LCD TV this way tonight, and it now looks great!