How To Clean A Flat Screen TV

how to clean a flat screen tv

Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you most likely have just recently acquired a flat-screen TV and now have been tasked to clean it.

Or maybe you’ve had a flat-screen TV for years, have never cleaned it, and have finally just gotten around to looking up how to clean one.

Either way – what’s the point of having a nice, elegant flat-screen TV if it’s dirty and you can’t see anything?!

You need to clean that TV and fortunately for you, we can help.

Well, we won’t help you actually clean the TV but what we can do is give you some helpful tips on what you should do.

how to clean tv screen

You might think it’s simple but there are a few key things that you should know before jumping right in and cleaning your flat-screen TV.

What are they?

Read on to find out!

Can’t I Just Use Glass Cleaner?

flat screen tv cleaner

No! Absolutely not. Definitely No. Do not use glass cleaner.

Cleaning a flat-screen TV whether it’s plasma, LCD, or any other specialized type is a lot different than cleaning a regular old TV you may have laying around from 10 years ago.

You could easily use Windex and paper towels on those TVs without harming them.

They had extremely thick glass, so you could spray away, and it’d be clean in no time.

However, LCD panels are made of specially designed, flexible plastic that is very sensitive chemicals.

If you use any sort of cleaner at all, you could end up permanently damaging the coloring on the screen.

We’ll give you advice on what liquid you can use if you have some really stubborn smudges.

Can’t I Just Use a Paper Towel?

best way to clean flat screen tv

Any guesses?

This is going to be another hard no from us. While using the wrong type of glass cleaner can end up permanently damaging the color in your screen, using the wrong type of material to actually wipe the TV can end up leaving giant scratches on your TV.

These screens are very sensitive to the types of materials you can use to clean them without leaving scratches.

A paper towel is probably one of the worst things you could pick to clean your flat-screen TV.

The ideal choice is going to be a micro-fiber cloth.

A lot of people have one laying around from when they bought their laptop, camera, phone, etc.

clean flat screen tv

This is indeed the same exact type of cloth you’ll want to use. They’re extremely smooth and will cause no damage to your screen whatsoever.

If you don’t own one and absolutely don’t want to buy one, an old soft t-shirt turned inside out will most likely do the trick.

Steps to Cleaning

  1. First things first, make sure you turn your TV off and unplug it. Not a huge deal and you probably won’t get electrocuted BUT, it’s generally a good idea to unplug any electronics when you clean them.
    Plus, you can see the smudges, fingerprints, and dirt a whole lot easier if the screen is black.
  2. Now, using a microfiber cloth, gently wipe all over the screen. Do not press down hard whatsoever as you could end up damaging the pixels!
    And just like brushing your teeth, go ahead and use small circular motions as much as you can.
  3. If wiping with a microfiber cloth alone doesn’t get rid of all your smudges and dirt, then you’re going to need to resort to plan B.
    You need to mix together a concoction of water and vinegar at a ratio of 1:1. After that, dampen the cloth ever so slightly and go over everything again. This mixture should really be the only cleaning substance you try and put on your flat-screen TV. If you try any severe chemicals, you can end up damaging the pixels!

Tips and Things to Remember

      • We’ve already said this but it’s so important that it’s worth repeating: do not use paper towels! They can seriously damage and scratch up your flat-screen TV. Even if you don’t have a microfiber cloth, use a soft old t-shirt.
      • Try to avoid any cleaning products if at all possible, but especially any that has ammonia e.g. Windex.what do you use to clean a flat screen tv If you must use some sort of liquid, make a mixture of 50% water and 50% vinegar.
      • Never spray said liquid directly onto the TV. Always dampen your cloth first, and then use that to wipe that TV. If you spray directly onto it, there’s a much higher chance of the liquid leaking into the TV and damaging your screen.
      • If you’re really cautious or in serious doubt, double-check the cleaning methods suggested by your manufacturer.
        They might have a specific way they suggest cleaning it and often times your warranty can be voided if your TV stops working and they find out you used Windex or some other method to clean your TV other than what they suggested.
      • Don’t press down too hard! Even if you don’t use any chemicals and are using a microfiber cloth, you could still damage pixels if you press down too hard while cleaning.
        Pretend you are cleaning a baby when cleaning your TV. Okay, a weird example but it works.

Conclusion

Cleaning your flat-screen TV isn’t necessarily difficult, you just have to be careful and pay close attention to details.

It requires an extremely gentle hand and patience is definitely key in this situation.

Even if you’re doing everything correctly, you still need to be very gentle.

After you clean your flat-screen TV, you’re going to notice a huge difference.

Everything will look much clearer and it’ll feel like it’s brand new again.

If you follow everything we’ve said in this article, you have nothing to fear!

In under five minutes (or maybe 10 if you have an extra big TV), you’ll have a squeaky-clean TV that looks crystal clear.

We hope this helped and as always, thank you for reading!

Now that you know how to clean your flat-screen TV, take the time to read our guide about how to watch Netflix on DirecTV. Read it right here!

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Justin Stuart
Justin Stuart

Justin is the head writer for My Tech Reviewer and he ensures that readers always get what they are looking for. He's a hard worker and spends more hours writing for My Tech Reviewer than he works at his part-time electrician job.

Justin Stuart

Justin is the head writer for My Tech Reviewer and he ensures that readers always get what they are looking for. He's a hard worker and spends more hours writing for My Tech Reviewer than he works at his part-time electrician job.