[Shay 5]

AMEN!! :D :oldstry:

[Lindsayts]

Shay 5, on 19 February 2012 - 10:01 AM, said:

I tried everything I could think of, so,as a last resort, I took the CPU heat sink out, blew the dust out, and put new thermal grease on the processor. Now OR and TRS2010 have, SO FAR, run without shutting the thing down . :D :p I hope it stays that way. :blush:

A lot of people do not realise most of the fans used in computers can be lubricated which greatly extends there life. Under the label is a small depression where one can get access to the bearings a small drop of machine oil does wonders, being carefull not to spread it about at all. To keep the oil in I usually use a small piece of insulation tape or piece of stick on label and make sure the hole is sealed well. I do mine every two years usually around the first real hot day in December. Note not all fans have this but most do, also Thermaltake and Antec fans have a rubber plug over the hole which makes things a good deal easier. My oldest fans (thermaltake 80mm) would be now going for 6 years with this treatment.
It may be worth mentioning the standard fan/heatsink supplied with later Intel processors will not cool the cpu properly with all cores running in a warm room, the CPU throttling itself back to maintain a decent temperature.

Lindsay

[Alexey_Soljenitchev]

Lindsayts, on 20 February 2012 - 09:47 PM, said:

A lot of people do not realise most of the fans used in computers can be lubricated which greatly extends there life ... a small drop of machine oil does wonders ...

Ain't most of the computer fans nowadays equipped with ceramical bearings, which do not require lubrication ?

[thegrindre]

I have an Antec case with fans and power supply by Antec. Everything has been running fine over the past 5 or so years although, the fans are beginning to get noisy. I will look into this lubrication thing ASAP.
Many thanks for this little tid bit of knowledge. :D
:blush:

:p

[Lindsayts]

Alexey_Soljenitchev, on 20 February 2012 - 11:57 PM, said:

Ain't most of the computer fans nowadays equipped with ceramical bearings, which do not require lubrication ?

Some of the more expensive have very good bearings, Noctua being one but they have as yet not been around long enough to see how they go. There are still plenty of fans sold with plain bearings as they are cheap, these being quite adequate if kept lubricated. The fans getting noisy being a prime indication that attention is required. Most people including this writer have in the past just replaced the fans, I found this in most cases was not realy required.

[Lindsayts]

I thought I should give a bit more information. The tip is for sleeve bearing fans, so far I have found ball bearing and the new mag lev bearing fans to be OK.

The symptoms of a fan that needs oils is any kind of vibration or noise from the fan. I found in most cases computer techs will change the fan for a new one. If a fan is diffcult to access, say for instance the hard drive fan for a Thermaltake Xaser6 case I have replaced these with the newer maglev bearing fans.

The depression holding the shaft and thrust washer is under the label on the stationery side of the fan. Some of the real cheap fans do not have it so little can be done with them. The oil to use is called (in Australia anway) machine oil and is availible from most supermarkets for lubricating sewing machines and is a very light oil. WARNING do NOT repeat DO NOT use any kind of motor or engine oil, this has a viscosity way to high for this task and will actual cause drag in the bearings. Use just enough oil to free the bearing when spun by hand. It may take spinning the hand for 30 secs or so for the oil to penitrate.

I usually seal the hole with a 3/4 inch square piece of good quality insulation tape.

I have found the fans have varying lives before lubrication is required, Thermaltake fans seem to require this treatment after only a couple of years, but after a bit of oil last forever (so far) :-). I replaced the fans in my Antec 1080 case with Coolermaster fans with tacho leads so I could monitor the fan speeds.
Note: the computers at my place have to stand a room temp up to 38 degrees Centigrade (say 100 farenheit) so the cooling is critcal.

Good air flow and therefore good fans are critcal for any system in a warm climate to avoid cooking something.


PS, post writen whilst in the middle of preparing a casarole for my lunch over the next few days,

Lindsay

[spud]

For the ham handed 'oilers' amoung us the use of a small hypodermic needle makes the job neat and quick without the mess.
:wallbash: