Cooling fan behaving strangely when it gets colder.

Hello,

I just noticed something strange, never seen this before.

I was venting my appartment in this winter... and it's pretty cold
outside... the temperature inside dropped to 12 degrees celcius... me
wearing a jacket for fun and warmth..

Suddenly one of the fans of the PC starts to make this weird car like
sound...

I fiddle a bit with speed and then turn PC off to see if it was indeed the
PC.

And yes it was...

Then I used screw driver to turn the fan blades manually and it seems a bit
though to turn the fan blades..

So I am guessing the cold either frooze the oil a little bit... or more
likely the steel itself expanded a little bit... which might make it harder
to turn these fan blades !

I thought I'd report this in case a "ice-age" happens ! LOL.

Then again... would our PCs still need cooling fans ?!

Well... maybe... if we can keep temperature up... but let's supposed it
drops below 10 degrees celcius... we humans might survive... but what about
our PCs ?!

Will the PC fan blades/shafts/holes all JAM UP ?!

I think this is worth investigating further what happens if a PC is cooled
down but cold air/temperature.

Though I have a feeling intel already knows what happens... but might be
keeping it a secret !

Bye,
Skybuck.

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in message
.. .
Hello,

I just noticed something strange, never seen this before.

I was venting my appartment in this winter... and it's pretty cold
outside... the temperature inside dropped to 12 degrees celcius... me
wearing a jacket for fun and warmth..

Suddenly one of the fans of the PC starts to make this weird car like
sound...

I fiddle a bit with speed and then turn PC off to see if it was indeed the
PC.

And yes it was...

Then I used screw driver to turn the fan blades manually and it seems a
bit though to turn the fan blades..

So I am guessing the cold either frooze the oil a little bit... or more
likely the steel itself expanded a little bit... which might make it
harder to turn these fan blades !

I thought I'd report this in case a "ice-age" happens ! LOL.

Then again... would our PCs still need cooling fans ?!

Well... maybe... if we can keep temperature up... but let's supposed it
drops below 10 degrees celcius... we humans might survive... but what
about our PCs ?!

Will the PC fan blades/shafts/holes all JAM UP ?!

I think this is worth investigating further what happens if a PC is cooled
down but cold air/temperature.

Though I have a feeling intel already knows what happens... but might be
keeping it a secret !

Bye,
Skybuck.

I think it would be more likely that the oil thickened than the steel
expanding. I can't imagine that the fan manufacturers would use a
multi-viscosity oil ("Check the memory, and fill the fan with 10W30 :-)" ).

Steel doesn't expand when it's cooled, it shrinks. Now, I guess it would be
possible for the steel to expand as it got warmer because the fan wasn't
turning at speed because of the thick oil, and then added to the noise.

I guess the lesson is to not turn off your heat, and wait until spring to
air out :-) Good story though; now I know why one my older server fans would
make noise in the really cold server closet. I always thought it was because
it had dried out some. Now I guess it was because the oil thickened. Wish I
still had it so I could test that out, but that was more 20 years ago. Live
and learn :-)

Thanks!
--
SC Tom

"SC Tom" writes:

"Skybuck Flying" wrote in message
.. .
Hello,

I just noticed something strange, never seen this before.

I was venting my appartment in this winter... and it's pretty cold
outside... the temperature inside dropped to 12 degrees
celcius... me wearing a jacket for fun and warmth..

Suddenly one of the fans of the PC starts to make this weird car
like sound...

I fiddle a bit with speed and then turn PC off to see if it was
indeed the PC.

And yes it was...

Then I used screw driver to turn the fan blades manually and it
seems a bit though to turn the fan blades..

So I am guessing the cold either frooze the oil a little bit... or
more likely the steel itself expanded a little bit... which might
make it harder to turn these fan blades !

I thought I'd report this in case a "ice-age" happens ! LOL.

Then again... would our PCs still need cooling fans ?!

Well... maybe... if we can keep temperature up... but let's supposed
it drops below 10 degrees celcius... we humans might survive... but
what about our PCs ?!

Will the PC fan blades/shafts/holes all JAM UP ?!

I think this is worth investigating further what happens if a PC is
cooled down but cold air/temperature.

Though I have a feeling intel already knows what happens... but
might be keeping it a secret !

Bye,
Skybuck.

I think it would be more likely that the oil thickened than the steel
expanding. I can't imagine that the fan manufacturers would use a
multi-viscosity oil ("Check the memory, and fill the fan with 10W30
:-)" ).

Steel doesn't expand when it's cooled, it shrinks. Now, I guess it
would be possible for the steel to expand as it got warmer because the
fan wasn't turning at speed because of the thick oil, and then added
to the noise.

I guess the lesson is to not turn off your heat, and wait until spring
to air out :-) Good story though; now I know why one my older server
fans would make noise in the really cold server closet. I always
thought it was because it had dried out some. Now I guess it was
because the oil thickened. Wish I still had it so I could test that
out, but that was more 20 years ago. Live and learn :-)

Thanks!

Getting noisy when cold (or when just starting, or when just shutting
off) is the classic symptom of a failing bearing. Replace the fan.

I re-oiled the fans myself with "sewing machine oil" lol.

Bye,
Skybuck =D

"
Getting noisy when cold (or when just starting, or when just shutting
off) is the classic symptom of a failing bearing. Replace the fan.
"

Could be something to it, not sure though.

I opened up the big fan of the antec 1200 computer case.

I bent some metal washer to get it out.

Then I re-bent it back cause it was necessary to hold the fan in place.

Ever since it does make slightly more noise.

So it could be the big fan turning a bit less well..

Though for now I believe it's actually the little 90 mm fan in the back and
at the top.

I also thought maybe the oil dried out faster at the top one because more
heat is expelled from the top fan in the back, then the fan behind it.

This computer case has two fans in the back.

Also when I shut down the computer I noticed how the fan below it kept
spinning a while, while the top fan stopped pretty fast.

It could also be that some strange dust, spider web or something else
suddenly flew in it...

Anyway it only lasted for a minute or so.

Right now everything is fine... so I do believe it might have been cold
induced ! or maybe even a combination... or a little bump against the
table who knows... but probably the cold !

Bye,
Skybuck

On 22/01/2016 1:24 AM, Skybuck Flying wrote:

"
Getting noisy when cold (or when just starting, or when just shutting
off) is the classic symptom of a failing bearing. Replace the fan.
"

Could be something to it, not sure though.

I opened up the big fan of the antec 1200 computer case.

I bent some metal washer to get it out.

Then I re-bent it back cause it was necessary to hold the fan in place.

Ever since it does make slightly more noise.

So it could be the big fan turning a bit less well..

Though for now I believe it's actually the little 90 mm fan in the back
and at the top.

I also thought maybe the oil dried out faster at the top one because
more heat is expelled from the top fan in the back, then the fan behind it.

This computer case has two fans in the back.

Also when I shut down the computer I noticed how the fan below it kept
spinning a while, while the top fan stopped pretty fast.

It could also be that some strange dust, spider web or something else
suddenly flew in it...

Anyway it only lasted for a minute or so.

Right now everything is fine... so I do believe it might have been cold
induced ! or maybe even a combination... or a little bump against
the table who knows... but probably the cold !

Bye,
Skybuck


As said before, that is the classic description of a gummed up or dry
bearing in the fan. Oil it and it's fixed.