Tech Question re greasing a CPU fan

[bellatrys]

(And please people, if you don't know, don't speculate! It doesn't help. Really.) All information may be contained on the internets, but finding it is another matter. My cooling fan abruptly started making that old-style loud computer fan noise, and that's not something I'm nostalgic for to say the least, plus I don't really want to have it burn

Comments

[voxwoman]

if the fan is making noise, it's because the bearings are likely on their way out (if not shot completely). I believe these things use grease instead of oil. However, a replacement fan is under 20 dollars, and I think you'd be better off just getting a new fan.

[voxwoman]

OK I found this on a forum... You want non-penetrating oil, like sewing machine oil rather than motor oil...

http://www.colug.net/pipermail/colug432/2006-February/002271.html

[voxwoman]

BTW, I googled on "cpu fan relubricating" which would keep one out of the oil-cooled computer area completely.

...

[bellatrys]

Okay, I still don't have a job. If I *absolutely have* to, I will get a new fan, but I'm trying to fix this short-term right now so that my chronic severe headaches which are exacerbated by noise don't make me unable to work on my freelance stuff, to try to pay the rent next month.

I also don't have a sewing machine, ergo no sewing machine oil around the house. I read that post. Is mineral oil an equivalent/acceptable substitute Y/N? This is what I'm trying to find out, not "Hey, you can use something else entirely!" or "I think it does, but I've never bothered to check - oops no it doesn't" like when I asked about Bryce exports and found out after wasting time on a humonguous download that no the 5.5 didn't either.

(This is why I never ask for directions on the road, either. It's not because I'm a "masculine" woman, it's because I never get clear answers!)

Re: ...

[si1ence_]

this page explicitly recommends mineral oil:

Pretty much any light oil will do. Plain old 3-IN-ONE or sewing machine oil from the supermarket is fine. Note that the usual red-label 3-IN-ONE that I'm using above has a vegetable oil base, and may gum things up if used over and over. This isn't likely to be a big problem with fan bearings (it's usually only an issue in automotive and other high temperature applications), but if you're concerned then you should get the blue-label mineral based version.

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know.

[bellatrys]

I also have various kinds of vegetable oils on hand, but I was even more dubious about them, and turns out my instincts were right even if I didn't know what exactly for. Mine's the blue label 99.9% mineral oil, no fragrances or anything, so I will give it a shot.

Re: Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know.

[ronin_kakuhito]

I was about to say that it depends on the mineral oil (light or heavy) but my search gave me this:
Sewing Machine Oil = Light White Mineral Oil
and
White Mineral Oil is another word for clear mineral oil.

so a light clear mineral oil should be good.

And no vegetable oils. They gum things up too quickly. Especially for high speed long duration processes like cpu fans.

Re: Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know.

[bellatrys]

Especially for high speed long duration processes like cpu fans.

I bet it's the heat, I bet that dries it right out - I'm drawing on my arts training here, but you have to cook linseed oil to make it work in oil painting, and the grand invention of oil painting was that you could get a nice hard skin on your artwork without having the brushstrokes dry right away like the protein-based egg-tempera format.

Re: Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know.

[ronin_kakuhito]

Some of that is decreasing water content, some of that is causing chemical reactions in the oil itself. (Sme of the second does the first, and water contents in store bought oils are usually very low.) Mineral oil can be heated a lot more before you start changing the structures of its components than most vegetable oils. (even low level long term heating speeds those reactions up, so it will degrade both sorts of oils, but it does so to the relatively reactive vegetable oils much faster than the things that make up mineral oil.)

aha, yes, that fits with my oil lamp experiments, too

[bellatrys]

now that I think of it, seeing how much light an olive oil clay lamp gives, and I do recall how they develop a skin inside, vs the popular for decor mineral oil lamps which aren't so messy and wipe clean even after repeat use. (Yes, total archeonerd. But it might come in handy someday!)

Re: Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know.

[voxwoman]

My sources on User Friendly say that mineral oil will break down faster than machine oil, but if it's a temporary fix until your employment picks up, and that's all you have on hand, I'd go for it. (actually, if it were me, I'd use the sewing machine oil, since I have that in the house, and I'd loan it to you if you lived nearby)

Thank you 8-)

[bellatrys]

I'd loan it to you if you lived nearby)

Next time I'm out I can pick some up - I just don't have a car, and walking 2 miles round trip in this weather is something I try to do when I can combine errands.