Dorm Tip - #311 cleaning window screens

It's getting hot in Tainan, the daytime temperatures are almost reaching 90F (32C). In the evening my room stays in the 80's. And my room is on the Northside of the dormitory, so at least I don't get direct sunlight.

Below is the table for conversion from Centigrade to Fahrenheit.

    C     F           C     F
    0  32.00      20  68.00
    1  33.80      21  69.80
    2  35.60      22  71.60
    3  37.40      23  73.40
    4  39.20      24  75.20
    5  41.00      25  77.00
    6  42.80      26  78.80
    7  44.60      27  80.60
    8  46.40      28  82.40
    9  48.20      29  84.20
   10  50.00      30  86.00
   11  51.80      31  87.80
   12  53.60      32  89.60
   13  55.40      33  91.40
   14  57.20      34  93.20
   15  59.00      35  95.00
   16  60.80      36  96.80
   17  62.60      37  98.60
   18  64.40      38 100.40
   19  66.20      39 102.20
   20  68.00      40 104.00

Just for kicks here is the C program that produced that table. (A computer without a C compiler is not really a computer.)

int main()
{
  int i;
  float c, f, c1, f1;
  for( i = 0; i < 21; i++ ) {
    c = i;
    c1 = c + 20;
    f = 32.0 + ( 9.0 / 5.0 ) * c;
    f1 = 32.0 + ( 9.0 / 5.0 ) * c1;
    printf( " %4.0f %6.2f    %4.0f %6.2f\n", c, f, c1, f1 );
  }
}

Anyway, in the dorm airflow is important, let the cool air in and the hot air out, and in the meantime don't let the mosquitoes in. So I don't like to keep the door open but I would like to get as much airflow through the screen windows as possible. Here is what my windows looked like before cleaning.

It has rained about once each month since I've been in Tainan and the dirt in the screen is dust. I thought I could just blast the dust off with compressed air as used to clean computer keyboards.

But the dust was caked in there and wouldn't bunged. Part of the problem is that the screen has to be cleaned from one side as it can't be taken out and I'm on the second floor. (DIY stands for Do It Yourself, it's pretty common in Taiwan). So I then used a solution of some general purpose cleaner like 409, Mr Clean, ... and scrubbed the screen from the inside, with used toothbrushes.

Now the dust was loosened but the cleaning solution was covering each screen hole.

 Now the compressed air came to the rescue and blew out the cleaning fluid, Now my screens are as clean as they can be.