How does one lube a fan?

[DanDaMan315]

My ATI Silencer 3 fan makes very loud noises at start up. I need to lube it somehow, what type of lube should I use and whats the best way of doing this?

 

[Nohr]

Light household oil does the trick for me. Carefully peel back the fan's sticker and put a drop or two in the hole. Try to make sure it all goes in the hole or it can be hard to get the sticker back on if the fan surface is oily.

 

[Zepper]

DC fans generally don't need lubing. When it's making noise like that, it's time to replace it.

.bh.

 

[sharkeeper]

DC fans generally don't need lubing. When it's making noise like that, it's time to replace it.

Yep.

The fans were not designed to have their bearing loads exerted in the direction opposing the rotor OR dust invaded the bearing and caused fouling. The fan is toast. Replace it before your card fries when the rotor locks.

 

[wisdomtooth]

There's nothing wrong with lubing a fan to extend its life.

Witness the notorious Asus NB fans-- Spins at an insane default speed of 8000-9000RPMs. After just 1 or 2 months of use, it is going to start making all those godawful grinding noises. Sorry guys, but I ain't replacing my Asus NB fan every month.

For something like that, if you don't want to replace the stock part for whatever reason (one major one being that all NForce 4 boards have their NB fan in an incredibly STUPID location, right under the PCIe slots), you have no choice but to do periodic maintenance on the fan. Take it apart, clean off the dust bunnies, and lube the spindle.

 

[Eug]

I think lubing fans is a bad idea. The lube just attracts dust, and the stuff eventually gums everything up. If it's a bad fan, replace it. Blow out the dust first to see if it does anything though.

 

[WildHorse]

Instead of light oil that goes away fast, I put a drop of chain saw oil on the fans in one of my rigs.
I did it as an experiment.
It worked fine!

 

[lenjack]

The lube will not attract dust if you reapply the sticker which covers the hole.

 

[wisdomtooth]

I've been lubing motors for years, playing with 12VDC slot-racing cars and toy trains when I was young. All one has to do is apply just a dot on the bearing. It attracts dust only if you drench a bearing with oil flowing everywhere.

In my 20 years of playing with computers I've never had to replace a failed fan yet, because I maintain them well.

 

[Painman]

Light household oils gets gummy when the lighter hydrocarbons in it evaporate away. I like 30 weight motor oil since it's heavy enough to make a good film and not evaporate, yet light enough to let things move freely. I applied some to a K8N Neo4 NB fan and not only did it quiet down, it ran 1200 RPM faster after lubrication.

Bar & chain oil is similar to motor oil, I can imagine it being effective too.

 

[imported_bum]

I thought I saw a thread with a link to a lubricant that was specifically for this (and similar) purposes. Anyone have a clue?

 

[Zepper]

I'm fighting it........... Can't do it... The lube technique depends on whether the fan is male or female....

.bh.

Must be a full (of it) :moon: .