Quiet fans

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Peter

I'm looking for a quiet 80mm fan. At the moment I've got two 80mm
Zalman's (and a 92mm one) but after just a year one or both of them
have started to make a grinding noise when cold. It's getting worse
so I want to replace them. I want a quiet one and one that's going to
last more than 12 months. Overal I've been disappointed with the
Zalman's, I paid £15 each (they're just over £5 on the internet :-().

I've been thinking about a Vantec Stealth. They have dual ball
bearings and a lifetime warranty. The noise level is 21db, (Zalmans
are 20db), and they shift 27cfm which I think is more than the
Zalmans. Has anyone got one? Do you know what the noise levels are
like compared to the Zalman's or other quiet fans?
 
I'm looking for a quiet 80mm fan. At the moment I've got two 80mm
Zalman's (and a 92mm one) but after just a year one or both of them
have started to make a grinding noise when cold. It's getting worse
so I want to replace them. I want a quiet one and one that's going to
last more than 12 months. Overal I've been disappointed with the
Zalman's, I paid £15 each (they're just over £5 on the internet :-().

I've been thinking about a Vantec Stealth. They have dual ball
bearings and a lifetime warranty. The noise level is 21db, (Zalmans
are 20db), and they shift 27cfm which I think is more than the
Zalmans. Has anyone got one? Do you know what the noise levels are
like compared to the Zalman's or other quiet fans?
Click to expand...

Put a drop of heavyweight oil or very light grease into the fan
bearing. Odds are they'll work fine for a long time, perhaps many
years.

If you really want to replace them the Vantecs will last a lot longer
but Panaflo or Papst are much quieter and also long-lasting. Of the
two the panaflo is usually the better value. The proper part number
for the Panaflo is "FBA08A12L1A", with "8" being 80mm, "12" being 12V,
and "L" being low speed, opposed to "M" or "H" for med, high.

If the fan is for power supply exhaust I'd recommend a dual
ball-bearing fan but for any other vertical orientation a good
sleeve-bearing fan like the Panaflo or Papst (Papst come in both ball
and sleeve bearing) should be fine.
 
kony said:
Put a drop of heavyweight oil or very light grease into the fan
bearing. Odds are they'll work fine for a long time, perhaps many
years.

If you really want to replace them the Vantecs will last a lot longer
but Panaflo or Papst are much quieter and also long-lasting. Of the
two the panaflo is usually the better value. The proper part number
for the Panaflo is "FBA08A12L1A", with "8" being 80mm, "12" being 12V,
and "L" being low speed, opposed to "M" or "H" for med, high.

If the fan is for power supply exhaust I'd recommend a dual
ball-bearing fan but for any other vertical orientation a good
sleeve-bearing fan like the Panaflo or Papst (Papst come in both ball
and sleeve bearing) should be fine.
Click to expand...

I could try oiling the fans. I tried it with a 50mm ball bearing one
and it did do much though :-(

Papst costs £16.80 each and they also only come in a 4 pin molex
connector, not a three pin.

I'm considering a gasket thing to reduce vibration and maybe a
resistor to take voltage to 10V. Does anybody know what the gasket
things are like? I can't hear any vibration from my machine. If I
got the reisistor I think it would probably make the Stealth at least
as quiet as the others.
 
I could try oiling the fans. I tried it with a 50mm ball bearing one
and it did do much though :-(
Click to expand...

Larger fans generally have superior bearing systems and if it was a
decent fan when new, will often respond quite well to oiling.. it
should be a very thick oil or light grease.

Ball-bearing fans, on the other hand, shouldn't be oiled, generally
get obnoxiously loud and by the time a ball-bearing is far enough gone
to make it obvious there's an RPM or much louder noise the balls are
way too deformed to respond well to lube.

Papst costs £16.80 each and they also only come in a 4 pin molex
connector, not a three pin.
Click to expand...

I thought I'd seen some with 3 pin, but perhaps they're not common.

I'm considering a gasket thing to reduce vibration and maybe a
resistor to take voltage to 10V. Does anybody know what the gasket
things are like? I can't hear any vibration from my machine. If I
got the reisistor I think it would probably make the Stealth at least
as quiet as the others.
Click to expand...

A decent fan should be balanced well enough that there's little to no
vibration unless it's a very poor/thin system case. A worn out sleeve
bearing fan may vibrate regardless. Even if you reduce the voltage on
the Vantec, it will be slightly louder than a Papst sleeve-bearing or
Panaflo with same voltage-reduction. Most fans don't get much quieter
from a mere 2V reduction though, generally 6-8V is much quiter if the
application will tolerate the corresponding airflow reduction.
 
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