[Community of A/V Enthusiasts]

Need to clean my plasma screen

So despite a kind but stern warning to NOT EVER clean my plasma TV (I dust it myself) our baby sitter who also cleans for us once in a while, last week decided our TV needed a good wiping down with a cloth dampened with I don't know what sort of cleanser.

Fortunately there's no sensitive anti-reflective coating on my plasma. But whatever she used, it did a terrible job on the screen... it's all smeered now. Any suggestions on how to restore the glass? I knew to never use cleansers, so just always dry-dusted it with a micro-fiber cloth. Now that the glass actually NEEDS cleaning though, I'm not sure what to use. I doubt water would do the trick.

Thanks for any suggestions...

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Walters on September 28, 2009 at 10:59am: Kieran,
I don't know whether this will work but I use a DROP of dishwaher soap on an old linen undershirt[wet the undershirt & put the soap on it] and it works on ALL the Panasonics I've had to clean. Use a lot of "gentle" elbow grease. Good luck.............I wish I knew what your sitter used; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kieran Coghlan on September 28, 2009 at 11:09am: "Linen undershirt"... would this be like regular t-shirt material, or are you talking about something else? I haven't had a chance to talk to her. I'll probably see her this week and will ask her then what she used. Probably either a dusting spray, or something akin to Windex.

Thanks!

Bob Walters said:
Kieran,
I don't know whether this will work but I use a DROP of dishwaher soap on an old linen undershirt[wet the undershirt & put the soap on it] and it works on ALL the Panasonics I've had to clean. Use a lot of "gentle" elbow grease. Good luck.............I wish I knew what your sitter used; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bob Walters on September 28, 2009 at 11:32am: Kieran,
Regular "old" t-shirt!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John E. Johnson, Jr. on September 28, 2009 at 4:21pm: Assuming the screen is actually glass and not plastic, just use some Windex to clean it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kieran Coghlan on September 28, 2009 at 4:51pm: Are not all plasma panels glass? Some have an anti-reflective coating (mine does not) but other than coatings, I thought they pretty much had to be glass...

John E. Johnson, Jr. said:
Assuming the screen is actually glass and not plastic, just use some Windex to clean it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bob Walters on September 29, 2009 at 4:05am: Folks,
I believe Windex has alcohol in it..............not good for plasmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by T. Rodney Tatum on September 29, 2009 at 4:58am: I use microfiber cloth dampened with pure water for my TV's, computer monitors and laptops.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by B Flo on September 29, 2009 at 5:14am: I don't know about Plasmas for sure, but here at work where we see a LOT of LCDs, we've had good luck with stuff like Belken's LCD monitor cleaning kit which is little more than a nice soft chamois pad and an isopropyl alcohol spritzer.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kieran Coghlan on September 29, 2009 at 10:44am: Interesting...

Seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there. I'm pretty sure the reason you wouldn't want to use alcohol on a plasma (or lcd for that matter) is because of the anti-reflective coating most plasmas have. I don't think there's anything inherent in plasma panels that would make alcohol-containing cleansers a bad idea. But then again, I don't know for sure, I'm just speculating. IOW, I can't think of a reason why alcohol would be bad, but I've heard so many warnings about what not to use on one's HDTV, that I've just avoided all liquids and just dry-dusted.

I'm thinking since my plasma has no coating on the screen, and it's glass, that there's no reason I couldn't clean it with windex or the like, & a soft cotton cloth.

If anyone knows otherwise please let me know! Thanks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim Milton on September 29, 2009 at 5:32pm: One part vinager to ten part water...works well on glass surfaces and leaves no streaking.

Kieran Coghlan said:
Interesting... Seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there. I'm pretty sure the reason you wouldn't want to use alcohol on a plasma (or lcd for that matter) is because of the anti-reflective coating most plasmas have. I don't think there's anything inherent in plasma panels that would make alcohol-containing cleansers a bad idea. But then again, I don't know for sure, I'm just speculating. IOW, I can't think of a reason why alcohol would be bad, but I've heard so many warnings about what not to use on one's HDTV, that I've just avoided all liquids and just dry-dusted.

I'm thinking since my plasma has no coating on the screen, and it's glass, that there's no reason I couldn't clean it with windex or the like, & a soft cotton cloth.

If anyone knows otherwise please let me know! Thanks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jared on October 2, 2009 at 8:34am: Are you positive there is no coating?
Most Plasmas I have seen have an anti-reflective coating.

You could try a eye-glass store (optomotrist, optician) and see what they have for cleaning anit-reflective coated eye glasses.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kieran Coghlan on October 2, 2009 at 12:39pm: Yep, I'm sure. It's a Samsung HPT5044 (or htp, I don't remember, but the 5044 is right)
http://samsungplasmatvfaq.com/index.php/Differences_between_models

Eye-glass cleaner is a good suggestion for any screen though... that and a good soft seamless, lintless cotton cloth.

Jared said:
Are you positive there is no coating?
Most Plasmas I have seen have an anti-reflective coating.

You could try a eye-glass store (optomotrist, optician) and see what they have for cleaning anit-reflective coated eye glasses.; ▶ Reply to This