Loud Fan

  • Thread starter Thread starter Airline Pedestal
  • Start date Start date
Fans mainly make noise when they or their heat sinks are full of dust, or
when the bearing is bad or out of lubrication. Most are pre-lubricated and
sealed at the factory. A good cleaning will also reduce heat by boosting the
fan and heat sink efficiency.

After a good dusting out, I have in successfully oiled fans by carefully
removing the label sticker on the fan's hub. To do this I use a sharp knife
to carefully peel the label back one side of the sticker but not all the
way. Just enough to expose the end of the motor shaft. Using a light weight
oil like 3-In-One or clock oil add a tiny drop to the end of the shaft (a
'pin oiler' for oiling clocks which works great). Wipe off the excess with a
cotton swab. Clean the plastic with alcohol just enough to remove any oil
where the label goes. Replace the label.

Fans also cause case noise as the air moves through the factory punched vent
holes. To reduce this noise the entire vent area is cut out with a Dremel
tool (all components removed from case first). The hole is covered with a
chrome wire grille which can be purchased at most computer stores.

(c:
 
Hi Everyone,

It would seem that the fan in my 3 to 4 year
old computer is getting noisier. I was wondering
if there is anyway to make it quieter. Oil something?
Replace something?

Thanks,

Airline
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/mayberry_randomizer/
Click to expand...

As previously mentioned by mark, a good cleaning would be a start.

You might also consider checking the mounting screws. If the mounting
isn't absolutely tight, you'd get a fairly loud buzzing noise that may
be intermittant or punctuated with quiet periods. You'll find that
because the fan has moving parts, the vibration from the moving fan
will work the screws loose after a while. It will take a long time,
but 3 years is a long time.

I wouldn't recommend oiling though, as fans tend to be sealed units
and oiling will produce the same effect as WW1 and early WW2 propeller
plane engines. Specifically, it will spew oil everywhere and if it's
the bearing that's gone, then it's likely that oiling will only be a
temporary fix.

If you have to replace the fan, look for a ball bearing fan, and if
it's the CPU fan, see if the store is willing to hook up and run a
test unit for you. The newer high RPM CPU fans tend to be
rediculously loud (considerably louder than the big case fans, we're
talking hair dryer here). You'll notice almost immediately if the
noise is going to be too much for you.
 
Airline Pedestal said:
Hi Everyone,

It would seem that the fan in my 3 to 4 year
old computer is getting noisier. I was wondering
if there is anyway to make it quieter. Oil something?
Replace something?



Thanks,

Airline
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/mayberry_randomizer/
Click to expand...

About 3 years is typical. We have a large testing lab and it seems at
about 3 years the fans start going bad (but leave ours running 24 hours
a day). At around $7 a fan, it's easier just to replace it. Case fans
are easy. For the power supply, you'll have to unplug it, remove it,
and open its case to get at the internal fan (which is probably an 80mm
unit which is often the same size for the case fans unless you have the
bigger 120mm units). You can get quieter fans, like Vantec's stealth
fan, but they will push a bit less air (i.e., instead of 35 CFM you get
27 CFM), so you should monitor your temperatures if you go with a
stealth fan. You might also want to add a stealth case fan to improve
exhaust CFM (i.e., get another working in tandem at the rear of the case
to pull out some more air). Right now in my home system, I'm just using
the single stealth fan in the power supply but added a case fan
(unconnected) if it was needed (it wasn't). Now my hard drives are the
noisy components so I'll check the noise ratings for my next ones (the
Maxtor is quiet but the Western Digital whines a lot). So I no longer
hear the fans and now the hard drives are driving me nuts, sort of like
closing the windows in the car and then hearing all the rattles and
squeaks.

If the airflow is turbulent or restricted, a fan can get noisy. I
opened my 2kVA UPS after 5 years of use (to replace the batteries) and
found a column of dust had congealed into a mass above the cooling fan.
I vacuumed it out and then blew out the rest (and then vacuumed the
room) and the noisy fan got a LOT quieter. Even the CPU fan got quieter
when I dusted it out thoroughly. Dust will also make components hotter.
Dust transmits heat very poorly.
 
Hi Everyone,

It would seem that the fan in my 3 to 4 year
old computer is getting noisier. I was wondering
if there is anyway to make it quieter. Oil something?
Replace something?
Click to expand...

If the fan has one or dual ball-bearings it's time to replace it, but
if it's a sleeve-bearing fan it might easily be revived and provide
years more service if oiled. I tend to disagree with another poster
about using light oil though, a heavyweight oil is needed to reduce
play in the worn bearing, will seep out less, and will reduce further
wear. The downside to thicker oil (or very light grease) is a slight
reduction in RPM, but a slight drop in fan RPM doesn't even linearly
coincide with realized airflow decrease, so the difference is
negligible. On the other hand, using TOO thin an oil will allow the
fan to continue vibrating, especially if it's not near perfect
balance, and might reduce RPM even more.

Ideally a synthetic gear oil would work well but realistically a drop
of oil off the car dipstick will work too.


Dave
 
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