Lubing Fans

[rellison]

I had a customer bring in a computer today that had a dead fan in the power supply. Luckly I had a spare power supply fan that I put in the supply and then started the computer up. After looking things over the fan on the cpu is just barly turning and the fan on his video card is doing the same thing. They are rather noisy also. Some good cleaning on each of them and off and running they were again.

I was wondering would you have replaced the fans or clean and lube them like I did?? If you do lube them what do you use??? I give them a good shot of WD-40 that seems to do the trick for me...

Rick

 

[hondablaster]

I would have replaced the fans. I have heard of oiling the fans. And I researched it briefly. To confirm my own conclusion. Its a temporary fix. The fan is wore out and the oil helps it along, but its still wore out and when that oil oxidizes or wears thin you will have to do it again.

I have always replaced the fan. If it squeaks chirps or making any noise its gone.

A case fan.... I can see someone oiling it to save their client a buck. Anything critical, CPU, GPU, Northbridge etc. I would change it without hesitation.

Hondablaster

 

[iisjman07]

It depends. If it is merely stuck with inches of dust then I poke most out with a small paintbrush and then blow the rest. If it works, great, if it doesn't, new fan

 

[Doctor Micro]

New fans. No use in taking chances to save a few bucks.

+1 on ACG's advice. Fans are cheap. Oiling them is just delaying failure a bit longer. How many of these have you gotten back 3-4 months later with the same problem?

 

[studiot]

I agree with you fellas that a new fan is best.

However sometimes it is not possible, or not immediately possible. There are lots of types, how many do you carry in the field?
I find that for some shapes and sizes sourcing replacement can take a few weeks.

Meanwhile the user want's his machine running.

So a good clean, perhaps bending the plastic a little, WD40 or better to use Silicone Sewing Machine lube, which is not oil based, (Knitmaster is best) and pushing the spinner back down onto it's journal.

Remember some bearings come packed with grease and a light oil based lube will dissolve the remaining grease out and make quite a mess.
Oil is no good on teflon bearings either - you need silicone here.

 

[rellison]

I ended up replacing the Powersupply after it had been running for a few minutes the thing started smelling funky so I think some parts had already been cooked by te fan not spinning.. I have not had any of the fans I have lubed come back to me not working again. I don't get many dead fan jobs so If they are just dust caked I give them a good cleaning and some lube and so far no problems.. But thanks for the responses..

 

[NYJimbo]

Gee, I thought this thread was for fans of lubing..... You know...... How disappointing.....

Anyway, once a PSU starts acting up I replace it. Most good ones will not go noisy on you for at least 18 months. Our thermaltakes never seem to lose the fan or go noisy, so I guess its a quality issue. If you put a $15 PSU in a machine, expect to see it back in a year.

 

[Kenhelms]

yea I get them from IM for a couple of bucks. 3 sizes is all I see. Ive never replaced em. I only charge the customer 5 dollars for a fan. Really not worth it to risk it.

 

[retghy]

I usually replace the fan, mostly for the power supply, because we have a lot of dead PSU's laying around wich fans are still working like new.

But I've lubed many fans before depending if they have that little stopper (some kind of rubber cover that protects the fan axis), if they have it I lube, if there is only the sticker I prefer to replace.

And for the lubing part, I use normal oil, 1 drop only, to keep it from dripping and before putting the stopper back a little bit of grease (not natural grease, I dont know the brand, but it's color is bluish).

I did this to some of my machines and after months they still run smooth without any noise.

Some might now aprove my method but around here it's a little hard to find new replacements for the fans, and high prices too.

 

[Doctor Micro]

Some might now aprove my method but around here it's a little hard to find new replacements for the fans, and high prices too.

Really??? Where is "around here"?

 

[retghy]

Really??? Where is "around here"?

As I said I tried this on my own PC's and fans are still working smoothly, no noise and normal speeds, just because I don't use a recognized brand of certain things you use doesn't mean it wont work good.

Around here is Venezuela, South America.

 

[Sn@Ke]

I've always just put in new fans.

As far as I knew, fans are only rated for a certain amount of "hours" before the bearings start to wear, I also make sure not to spin them up when cleaning a computer with compressed air, as the RPM would take effect on the bearing / bushes of the cheap fans.

I've also just used WD40 on some old machines (they were gonna die anyway)

 

[Doctor Micro]

As I said I tried this on my own PC's and fans are still working smoothly, no noise and normal speeds, just because I don't use a recognized brand of certain things you use doesn't mean it wont work good.

Around here is Venezuela, South America.

Okay, now I understand. Thanks for the clarification.