How to maintain your fans, Also how to succesfully perform fan surgery

erocker · Dec 4, 2010

I use just a little synthetic brake caliper grease if a fan becomes noisy be it ball bearing or sleeve. The stuff lasts forever. 2 years ago I did it to one fan and haven't had a problem since.

avatar_raq · Dec 4, 2010

@OP:
Excellent guide, many thanks!

silkstone · Dec 5, 2010

I tried this with an old broken CM fan, but there seems to be no way to remove that little cap. CM must glue them down, i even tried "sawing" round the edge of the cap with a razor, to no avail

F1reFly · Dec 5, 2010

streetfighter 2 said:
You can't be serious? I know WD40 isn't conductive but spraying a fan while it's running inside your case is just disturbingly dangerous. WD40 is like a dust magnet and it often forms a capacitive gel when it does so. It also breaks down thermal grease.

nah, it works great. i used to do that for years, even with house fans. But i mean c'mon, even if it could hurt them, you can buy 120mm fans for like $7 these days!
Anymore, i've accumalated about 5 extra 120mm's like new in my closet. may come in handy sometime but their so cheap anymore i figured many computer enthusiasts had tons of them laying around.

de.das.dude · Mar 14, 2011

guys i did a small experiment,

took everything apart, cleaned the axle with KEROSENE and put the blade in place with the C- Washer and instead of grease i filled to the brim of the whole with coconut oil and put the cap back on, and cleaned off the excess coconut oil. its working like a charm and theres no noise even though there were some when i used grease!!

AsRock · Mar 14, 2011

de.das.dude said:
guys i did a small experiment,

took everything apart, cleaned the axle with KEROSENE and put the blade in place with the C- Washer and instead of grease i filled to the brim of the whole with coconut oil and put the cap back on, and cleaned off the excess coconut oil. its working like a charm and theres no noise even though there were some when i used grease!!

Cool now the metal will be all silky and smooth

. Noise has properly gone due to removing the crap that was rubbing.

I use superlube and do the same thing.

http://www.super-lube.com/where-to-use-super-lube-ez-160.htm

de.das.dude · Mar 14, 2011

AsRock said:
metal will be all silky and smooth

LOL. yes. and no the rubbin part was already clean, but there was a wooshy noise eft. that is gone now. and my 4yr old fan that has been tunnin continuously at 2700rpm is now at 2600rpm. almost as good as new.

Brandenburg · Mar 20, 2011

I use 3 in 1 machine oil.. Fan was making all kinds of noise.. Now it just sounds like a jet motor.. was screeching bad before i put a few drops of oil in her

this beast .. is well... a beast of a fan
Scythe DFS123812-3000 "ULTRA KAZE" 120 x 38 mm Cas...

de.das.dude · Mar 21, 2011

Brandenburg said:
I use 3 in 1 machine oil.. Fan was making all kinds of noise.. Now it just sounds like a jet motor.. was screeching bad before i put a few drops of oil in her

this beast .. is well... a beast of a fan
Scythe DFS123812-3000 "ULTRA KAZE" 120 x 38 mm Cas...

hi there, dirty ol' man XD

Undead46 · Mar 21, 2011

Side note for everyone with Noctua fans.
You cannot remove the fan blades without breaking a plastic part in the bearing.

de.das.dude · Mar 21, 2011

Undead46 said:
Side note for everyone with Noctua fans.
You cannot remove the fan blades without breaking a plastic part in the bearing.

i think u are talking about the C clip. and is it broken in half?

micropage7 · Mar 21, 2011

silkstone said:
I tried this with an old broken CM fan, but there seems to be no way to remove that little cap. CM must glue them down, i even tried "sawing" round the edge of the cap with a razor, to no avail

yeah some brand doesnt like if you do that so they glue that, i ever experienced the same thing on my 8600GT, i tried to open the it and i broke it :banghead:

and the last i replaced it with generic casing fan

i use castrol motor oil as lubricant, so far it works nice

AsRock · Mar 21, 2011

Dunno if he just on about the clip or what. I my self would like to hear it better explained or even pictures

..

Zalman put there's in a plastic casing although a dremal is you friend lol.

Brandenburg · Mar 21, 2011

Last time I lost a C clip, I improvised and used a bread tie.. Stripped all the cloth off the tie.. used a needle nose pliers to cut it to size and twisted the tie on.. Wasn't for a fan though.. was for a video card cooler.. Haven't had a problem yet

theJesus · May 12, 2011

Black Panther said:
I use Vaseline, works fine.

Even better is Lubrimax.

That makes me want to experiment with some of the different sex lubes I have :roll:

Athlonite · May 12, 2011

um are you guys only just working this out now I've been doing this for the last 20 years the best thing to use was 3 in 1 oil but then I found a lubricant designed for skate board wheel bearings is far better it's like 3in1 but with a high graphite content

de.das.dude · May 12, 2011

who cares about the oil LOL.

micropage7 · May 12, 2011

Athlonite said:
um are you guys only just working this out now I've been doing this for the last 20 years the best thing to use was 3 in 1 oil but then I found a lubricant designed for skate board wheel bearings is far better it's like 3in1 but with a high graphite content

graphite could flow electric. i dont think its safe enough although it performs well

theJesus · May 12, 2011

Athlonite said:
um are you guys only just working this out now I've been doing this for the last 20 years the best thing to use was 3 in 1 oil but then I found a lubricant designed for skate board wheel bearings is far better it's like 3in1 but with a high graphite content

I've only been alive for the past 21 years :laugh:

I've never actually bothered doing this since I view the death of a crappy fan as an excuse for me to buy a nice one (if one of the nice ones dies, I might do it), but I've known about it and am not a stranger to taking fans apart.

Athlonite · May 12, 2011

micropage7 said:
graphite could flow electric. i dont think its safe enough although it performs well

I spose it would if you used half a bottle a small drop is all you should need

FordGT90Concept · May 12, 2011

I never thought of trying to repair a fan before by relubricating it. Makes sense though except...most of the fans I see in this thread are sleeve bearing fans. What about ball, twister, and hydro bearings?

micropage7 · May 12, 2011

FordGT90Concept said:
I never thought of trying to repair a fan before by relubricating it. Makes sense though except...most of the fans I see in this thread are sleeve bearing fans. What about ball, twister, and hydro bearings?

i guess coz its wide applied and you can find so many fans that use that from cheap to expensive thing so theres alot people who use that than hydro or other

copenhagen69 · May 12, 2011

great little guide here

de.das.dude · May 12, 2011

FordGT90Concept said:
I never thought of trying to repair a fan before by relubricating it. Makes sense though except...most of the fans I see in this thread are sleeve bearing fans. What about ball, twister, and hydro bearings?

i dont have any of those. moreover no camera anymore.

micropage7 said:
i guess coz its wide applied and you can find so many fans that use that from cheap to expensive thing so theres alot people who use that than hydro or other

as mentioned, i dont has those type of fans, i cant afford them.

FordGT90Concept · May 12, 2011

CPU fans are virtually always one or two ball. Case fans are almost always sleeve.

Hydro is not cheap but it lasts a long time. Twister is what Enermax uses in its PSU fans. You wouldn't have either of those unless you went out of your way to buy them. XD

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling	EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory	32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 4090
Storage	WD m.2
Display(s)	LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case	Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s)	Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard	Tester84
Software	Windows 11

System Name	Simon
Processor	Core i7 5820K @ 4.4GHz @1.25v core, 1.9v input, 1.12v system agent, 0.9v cache - 24/7 & P95 stable
Motherboard	ASUS X99 Deluxe U3.1, BIOS 3101
Cooling	Corsair H110i GTX + 2 x Corsair ML140 Pro Red LED, exhaust @ top panel
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 4x 8GB 2666 MHz 16, 18, 18, 35, 2T (Stock)
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X (OC BIOS), +60 MHz GPU, +450 MHz Memory
Storage	Samsung 960 Evo 500 Gb, WD Green + White Label, total 17 TB
Display(s)	3x Samsung CFG73 (24" 1920x1080, 144Hz) in 2D Surround, LG C7 OLED TV (55", 4K, 60Hz)
Case	Corsair 760T + Corsair SP120 Perf.Ed. + 3x ML 140 Pro Red + DEMCI Dust Filter Kit + DeepCool RGB LED
Audio Device(s)	Creative SB Z, Topping E30 + SMSL SP200, Hifiman 4XX, beyerdynamic 770 250Ω, Audeze iSine 10, HD6xx
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000i + APC BackUPS RS1500 (modded w/ 130 AH Kung Long Batteries) + APC Smart UPS SUA1500i
Mouse	Razer Naga Chroma + Reflex Lab Extended Mouse Pad + Xbox One S Controller + 3 x Xbox 360 Controllers
Keyboard	Corsiar K70 RGB (2016 Edition) Cherry Mx Red w/ custom Arabic-legend shine-through keycaps
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 - ver. 20H2
Benchmark Scores	Onkyo TX-NR626 AV Receiver, speakers: 4x Yamaha NS-M325 + Yamaha NS-C3290 + Proson Libre Sub 8.1

System Name	Gaming System / HTPC-Server
Processor	i7 8700K (@4.8 Ghz All-Core) / R7 5900X
Motherboard	Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming / MSI B450 Mortar Max
Cooling	CM ML360 / CM ML240L
Memory	16Gb Hynix @3200 MHz / 16Gb Hynix @3000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Zotac 3080 / Colorful 1060
Storage	750G MX300 + 2x500G NVMe / 40Tb Reds + 1Tb WD Blue NVMe
Display(s)	LG 27GN800-B 27'' 2K 144Hz / Sony TV
Case	Xigmatek Aquarius Plus / Corsair Air 240
Audio Device(s)	On Board Realtek
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III Gold 750W / Andyson TX-700 Platinum
Mouse	Logitech G502 Hero / K400+
Keyboard	Wooting Two / K400+
Software	Windows 10 x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R15 = 1542 3D Mark Timespy = 9758

Processor	Phenom 2 965 Black Edition OC
Motherboard	MSI G65
Cooling	H50 Liquid Cooling
Memory	6 gig DDR3
Video Card(s)	GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Real SSD c300
Display(s)	Sony 40" 3D LED TV
Case	Fractal Design-define mini
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sigma 3d
Power Supply	Tagen 900 watt
Software	Windows 7 x64

System Name	Monke \| Work Thinkpad\| Old Monke
Processor	Ryzen 5600X \| Ryzen 5500U \| FX8320
Motherboard	ASRock B550 Extreme4 \| ? \| Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling	240mm Rad \| Not needed \| hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB \| 16 GB DDR4 3600 \| 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB \| Vega 8 \| Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage	Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) \| some samsung SSD
Display(s)	Dell 2723DS \| Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS \| Dell 2240L
Case	Ant Esports Tempered case \| Thinkpad \| Antec
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Z333 \| Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e \| not needed \| Corsair GS 600
Mouse	Logitech G400 \| nipple
Keyboard	Logitech G213 \| stock kb is awesome \| Logitech K230
VR HMD	;_;
Software	Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores	There are no marks on my bench

Processor	AMD 3900X \ AMD 7700X
Motherboard	ASRock AM4 X570 Pro 4 \ ASUS X670Xe TUF
Cooling	D15
Memory	Patriot 2x16GB PVS432G320C6K \ G.Skill Flare X5 F5-6000J3238F 2x16GB
Video Card(s)	eVga GTX1060 SSC \ XFX RX 6950XT RX-695XATBD9
Storage	Sammy 860, MX500, Sabrent Rocket 4 Sammy Evo 980 \ 1xSabrent Rocket 4+, Sammy 2x990 Pro
Display(s)	Samsung 1080P \ LG 43UN700
Case	Fractal Design Pop Air 2x140mm fans from Torrent \ Fractal Design Torrent 2 SilverStone FHP141x2
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V677 \ Yamaha CX-830+Yamaha MX-630 Infinity RS4000\Paradigm P Studio 20, Blue Yeti
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime TX-750 \ Corsair RM1000X Shift
Mouse	Steelseries Sensei wireless \ Steelseries Sensei wireless
Keyboard	Logitech K120 \ Wooting Two HE
Benchmark Scores	Meh benchmarks.

System Name	ALIENWARE R8
Processor	INTEL I5 9500 @3.9Ghz
Motherboard	ALIENWARE 02XRCM
Cooling	ALIENWAR Liqid Cooler
Memory	DDR4 16GB @2.8Ghz
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA GForce RTX 2070 8GB
Storage	512 MB M.2, KINGSTON 480 GB SSD,SEAGATE 3 TB
Display(s)	VIZIO E-241 25" TV
Case	ALIENWARE R8
Power Supply	850 WATTS
Mouse	ROSWILL NEON M60
Keyboard	ALIENWARE
Software	WIN 10

Processor	i7-2600K @ 4.5GHz - 1.335VCore
Motherboard	ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution (B3)
Cooling	Noctua NH-D14
Memory	G.SKILL Ripjaws X 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 2133MHz 7-11-8-27-1N (F3-12800CL6D-4GBXH)
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 6950 (Unlocked)
Storage	OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD (OS & Games), 500GB WD Caviar Blue, 250GB WD Caviar Blue
Display(s)	Dell 23" U2311H IPS Monitor
Case	Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Software	Windows 7 Professional - 64bit

System Name	micropage7
Processor	Intel Xeon X3470
Motherboard	Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. P55A-UD3R (Socket 1156)
Cooling	Enermax ETS-T40F
Memory	Samsung 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800
Storage	V-GEN03AS18EU120GB, Seagate 2 x 1TB and Seagate 4TB
Display(s)	Samsung 21 inch LCD Wide Screen
Case	Icute Super 18
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte
Power Supply	Silverstone 600 Watt
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Sades Excalibur + Taihao keycaps
Software	Win 7 64-bit
Benchmark Scores	Classified

System Name	Desktop\|\| Virtual Host 0
Processor	Intel Core i5 2500-K @ 4.3ghz \|\| 2x Xeon L5630 (total 8 cores, 16 threads)
Motherboard	ASUS P8Z68-V \|\| Dell PowerEdge R710 (Intel 5520 chipset)
Cooling	Corsair Hydro H100 \|\| Stock hotplug fans and passive heatsinks
Memory	4x4gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 \|\| 12x4gb Hynix DDR3 1066 FB-DIMMs
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 760 Gaming Twin Frozr 4GB OC \|\| Don't know, don't care
Storage	Hitachi 7K3000 2TB \|\| 6x300gb 15k rpm SAS internal hotswap, 12x3tb Seagate NAS drives in enclosure
Display(s)	ViewSonic VA2349S \|\| remote iDRAC KVM console
Case	Antec P280 \|\| Dell PowerEdge R710
Audio Device(s)	HRT MusicStreamer II+ and Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 \|\| Don't know, don't care
Power Supply	SeaSonic X650 Gold \|\| 2x870w hot-swappable
Mouse	Logitech G500 \|\| remote iDRAC KVM console
Keyboard	Logitech G510 \|\| remote iDRAC KVM console
Software	Win7 Ultimate x64 \|\| VMware vSphere 6.0 with vCenter Server 6.0
Benchmark Scores	Over 9000 on the scouter

System Name	Cumquat 2021
Processor	AMD RyZen R7 7800X3D
Motherboard	Asus Strix X670E - E Gaming WIFI
Cooling	Deep Cool LT720 + CM MasterGel Pro TP + Lian Li Uni Fan V2
Memory	32GB GSkill Trident Z5 Neo 6000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ OC RX6800 16GB DDR6 2270Cclk / 2010Mclk
Storage	1x Adata SX8200PRO NVMe 1TB gen3 x4 1X Samsung 980 Pro NVMe Gen 4 x4 1TB, 12TB of HDD Storage
Display(s)	AOC 24G2 IPS 144Hz FreeSync Premium 1920x1080p
Case	Lian Li O11D XL ROG edition
Audio Device(s)	RX6800 via HDMI + Pioneer VSX-531 amp Technics 100W 5.1 Speaker set
Power Supply	EVGA 1000W G5 Gold
Mouse	Logitech G502 Proteus Core Wired
Keyboard	Logitech G915 Wireless
Software	Windows 11 X64 PRO (build 23H2)
Benchmark Scores	it sucks even more less now ;)

System Name	BY-2021
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (65w eco profile)
Motherboard	MSI B550 Gaming Plus
Cooling	Scythe Mugen (rev 5)
Memory	2 x Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 32 GiB
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate Exos X20 TB 7200 RPM
Display(s)	Nixeus NX-EDG274K (3840x2160@144 DP) + Samsung SyncMaster 906BW (1440x900@60 HDMI-DVI)
Case	Coolermaster HAF 932 w/ USB 3.0 5.25" bay + USB 3.2 (A+C) 3.5" bay
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1150, Micca OriGen+
Power Supply	Enermax Platimax 850w
Mouse	Nixeus REVEL-X
Keyboard	Tesoro Excalibur
Software	Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Benchmark Scores	Faster than the tortoise; slower than the hare.

System Name	ASUS ROG Zephrus M15
Processor	AMD Rhyzen 7 4800HS
Memory	16GB
Video Card(s)	Geforce RTX 2060
Storage	1TB

How to maintain your fans, Also how to succesfully perform fan surgery

Sticky this?

Yes (will re write thread with better pics and stuff.

No

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