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I've seen a number of complaints recently about users experiencing problems with the fans in their system.
Most fans are serviceable by design. Whether they're a case fan, a fan mounted on a CPU heatsink or a fan mounted on a GPU heatsink, the vast majority of fans can be serviced.
Today, I'm going to show, with photographs, how to reoil/regrease a fan bearing.
Have selected a pair of fans I've had for years. Neither actually NEED servicing, but for the purpose of today's demonstration, they will make for a good showing.
The first up is a CoolerMaster 120MM model.
Let's begin by pealing up the label, but take care not to pull it completely off.
Most fans have a rubber or plastic gasket covering the bearing chamber. It needs to be lifted up.
I use a razor blade to gently lift it up but a small flat-tip screw driver should do the trick as well.
Now that we have direct access to the bearing chamber, we can apply the lubricant. I use a special blend mix of 10W40 motor oil and Dielectric grease in a 50/50 ratio.
However, any quality oil will work fine. Try to avoid spray-can lubricants as they can be very messy to apply. WD-40 and similar spray fluids should be avoided as they're not designed to be a bearing oil and degrade/break-down easily.
It's easy to apply and only 3 or 4 drops are needed.
Not shown is how work the lube into the bearing shaft housing. Holding the frame of the fan with one hand and the fan hub in the other and work the fan hub in and out a few times. Then spin the fan a bit. Then pull the hub in and out a few times. Repeat that cycle a few times and your fan bearing is now well lubricated. Put the gasket back in place and seal the label back up.
And you're done!
Now we're going to look at a fan that is NOT easily serviced. This is uncommon, but they do exist. This example is from a Sparkle GeForce GTX560 2GB model.
Here is the fan dismounted from the heatsink.
And again we lift up the label.
Here I had to use a drill to remove some of the plastic frame to get access to the bearing chamber.
With this particular fan, the spaces in the bearing chamber housing are smaller and as such, less lubricant will fit in. I used 2 drops in this case. Worked the lube into the bearing by spinning the fan and doing the pull/push thing on the fan hub, then put in one more drop. Then I sealed up the label again.
Anyone is invited to pose questions and ask for advice on how to perform a fan servicing. Photo's are always helpful and encouraged. Please limit resolution to 1920x1080ish and use the "Attach files" button to post photo's directly in the forum post. External image hosting services can be troublesome.
As far as the "best" lubricant to use, I use something special and I can give a guide on how to make it, but any bearing oil you can find at a hardware store will do the job well.
So there you go folks, be courageous and service your fans with confidence! Cheers All!
@Greenslade
While I created this guide for everyone, you were the motivator for this thread. I hope this helps with your fan issue.
Most fans are serviceable by design. Whether they're a case fan, a fan mounted on a CPU heatsink or a fan mounted on a GPU heatsink, the vast majority of fans can be serviced.
Today, I'm going to show, with photographs, how to reoil/regrease a fan bearing.
Have selected a pair of fans I've had for years. Neither actually NEED servicing, but for the purpose of today's demonstration, they will make for a good showing.
The first up is a CoolerMaster 120MM model.
Let's begin by pealing up the label, but take care not to pull it completely off.
Most fans have a rubber or plastic gasket covering the bearing chamber. It needs to be lifted up.
I use a razor blade to gently lift it up but a small flat-tip screw driver should do the trick as well.
Now that we have direct access to the bearing chamber, we can apply the lubricant. I use a special blend mix of 10W40 motor oil and Dielectric grease in a 50/50 ratio.
However, any quality oil will work fine. Try to avoid spray-can lubricants as they can be very messy to apply. WD-40 and similar spray fluids should be avoided as they're not designed to be a bearing oil and degrade/break-down easily.
It's easy to apply and only 3 or 4 drops are needed.
Not shown is how work the lube into the bearing shaft housing. Holding the frame of the fan with one hand and the fan hub in the other and work the fan hub in and out a few times. Then spin the fan a bit. Then pull the hub in and out a few times. Repeat that cycle a few times and your fan bearing is now well lubricated. Put the gasket back in place and seal the label back up.
And you're done!
Now we're going to look at a fan that is NOT easily serviced. This is uncommon, but they do exist. This example is from a Sparkle GeForce GTX560 2GB model.
Here is the fan dismounted from the heatsink.
And again we lift up the label.
Here I had to use a drill to remove some of the plastic frame to get access to the bearing chamber.
With this particular fan, the spaces in the bearing chamber housing are smaller and as such, less lubricant will fit in. I used 2 drops in this case. Worked the lube into the bearing by spinning the fan and doing the pull/push thing on the fan hub, then put in one more drop. Then I sealed up the label again.
Anyone is invited to pose questions and ask for advice on how to perform a fan servicing. Photo's are always helpful and encouraged. Please limit resolution to 1920x1080ish and use the "Attach files" button to post photo's directly in the forum post. External image hosting services can be troublesome.
As far as the "best" lubricant to use, I use something special and I can give a guide on how to make it, but any bearing oil you can find at a hardware store will do the job well.
So there you go folks, be courageous and service your fans with confidence! Cheers All!
@Greenslade
While I created this guide for everyone, you were the motivator for this thread. I hope this helps with your fan issue.
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