I came across this website that claims that you need to oil computer fans.

Do any of you guys actually do this? It seems really strange to me.

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I came across this website that claims that you need to oil computer fans.

Do any of you guys actually do this? It seems really strange to me.

Yes some computer fans are sealed with just the sticker & eventually the seal breaks letting the oil out. Honestly at the rate I have this failure happen I just replace the fan. I've got some fan that are 10+ years around that haven't shown any signs of giving it up yet.

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I've never tried to oil a computer fan, but my experience with attempting to oil household fans tells me that it would be a bad idea. Once you start oiling the fan the oil will pick up dust much more quickly and you will have to clean and re-oil very frequently just to keep the fan moving. Just replace the fans.

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It's just plain easier to replace the fan for $5 than it is to waste your time re-greasing fans.

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I came across this website that claims that you need to oil computer fans.

Do any of you guys actually do this? It seems really strange to me.

Yes some computer fans are sealed with just the sticker & eventually the seal breaks letting the oil out. Honestly at the rate I have this failure happen I just replace the fan. I've got some fan that are 10+ years around that haven't shown any signs of giving it up yet.

Same here. My WinXP Celeron PC has been going 7 years since 2003, crunching S@H nearly 12 hours a day for the past 3 years. I've never cleaned it or opened it up. Who knows how much cat hair, dust and dirt is stuck inside the CPU fan, case fan, ports and motherboard...

I'll bet it'll still be crunching when it is 10 years old.

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- Luke.

I once oiled a 40 mm fan, I carefully removed the sticker, a drop of engine oil, sticker back on so no dust come in there and it runned after that much longer than before this procedure was necessary. And if I would need it again it still will work without any problem.

EDIT: but I would not have done it if the fan didn't have problems with spinning up (was running with reduced voltage).

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I came across this website that claims that you need to oil computer fans.

Do any of you guys actually do this? It seems really strange to me.

When the seals fail (it's usually the other one, not the "sticker" that fails) the fan is going to die soon.

A little oil can get you through a few days so you can get to the store...

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Hi, I once oiled a fan from a old video card,(GeForce 7300), which resonates when (trying to)spin(ning) up. It did help, for a few weeks :)

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roller bearing fans I have, sleeve bearings I would not oil....

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roller bearing fans I have, sleeve bearings I would not oil....

Agreed.

As a matter of fact.. I was actually seriously considering making a thread last night regarding this. On my Thermaltake Armor case, the rear 120 fan started making noises. It was only in the early stages, so a swift smack on the back of the case and it would go away for a few hours. I had a spare 120 laying around that used to be the combination CPU cooler and case cooler for some store-bought system, so I plugged it in and the fan throttling onboard worked great..

..until one of the CPUs got above 40C (I had shut the system down for about half an hour while pulling the old fan out and removing the video card since the fan header is underneath it), then it sounded like a data center when that 120 got up to 7000rpm!

Decided to re-evaluate my options. Wanted another 120 with blue LEDs, and it turns out that with shipping, it was going to be $10+. Peeled the sticker back, popped the rubber seal out, and three drops of 5w-30.. beautiful once again.

I have known about this trick since about 2003 and have done it multiple times. It has saved me from frying CPUs on many occasions. Sleeve bearings are just done when they start rattling and making noises. There is no saving them. All this oil trick does is buy you enough time to replace it. Ball bearing fans can take a beating. I have one 80mm dual ball-bearing fan that is well over 10 years old now, and I have peeled the sticker back three times, usually about every 2.5-3 years.

So that's my two cents. Use whatever exchange rate you want to determine how much it is worth. :p

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Linux laptop:
record uptime: 1511d 20h 19m (ended due to the power brick giving-up)

I've tried oiling fans that have become noisy only to find they don't last long before needing oiling again. I'm not sure which oil would be best (I've tried light oil, engine oil and grease with no long term success) but it's easier just to replace the fan, especially if you're keen to minimise down-time!

80mm fans are cheap enough while 120mm fans aren't as cheap. I sometimes use used fans if they look like they haven't had much use and then as soon as they get noisy they go in the bin.

A fan controller is a good way to prolong the life of a fan if that fan doesn't need to run at maximum speed all the time.

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Brian.

This all depends on the bearings that are inside the fan, and whether it was sealed or not. Sleeve bearings fail first, they normally have a small amount of of lubrication and as it gets warms a leaks out it is gone...

Ball bearings, I have seen where you get "dry" and some small amount of lubrication. If they are designed to run dry and run for extended periods they wear groves in the "race" and the balls become "out of round" (power supply fans). After you shut them down and let things cool, they tend to sound like a jet engine warming up until the balls fall back into the grooves (dust does not matter a lot it just gets ground up and is part of what wears the grooves).
Sealed ball bearings with lubication, the seals evenually leak and the lubrication along with that. When it is gone, replace it. There are more kinds of grease depending on temperature range and application than you could ever guess at. If you can get to it, a light oil (such as 3-in-one oil is your best "short term" bet). Then once again dust is your enemy.

Case Fans (run from the power supply), always look for Ball Bearing Fans. They really are cheap.

Multispeed fans that run from the system bus are a bit of a different matter.

For most part the "cheap fix is replace it," time spent in trying to figure out what oil or grease to use is wasted time.

Regards

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