Damage a case fan by vacuuming air vents from the outside?

Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?

micky,

Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

Theoretically ? Yes.

Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may
apply "excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe.

Consider this: When a fan rotates by itself it pushes itself *into* the
'puter ('cuz its blowing hot air out). When you put a vacuum cleaner to the
outside of he case you're effectivily pulling its blades *outof* the 'puter.
Which the fan is not really accustomed to ...

Also, most fans rotate rather lazily (otherwise they make *lots* of noise),
and when applying the right (or wrong :-) ) vacuum cleaner you can probably
spin them up above what they are designed to.

In short: its not so much that the blades will be ripped off (not much
chance of that), but that the fans bearings will become damaged, possibly
causing the fan to scew, getting wedged against a non-rotating part and
refuse to rotate anymore.

But also consider that those companies are mostly American, which tend to
warn users for the most obvious things (like putting a sticker on knifes
warning the user that the sharp edges might indeed be sharp), in an attempt
to indemnify themselves in case some numbscull thinks its a good idea to use
an industrial-strength suction device to "clean up" those fans. :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
micky schreef in berichtnieuws
...
Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?

micky wrote:
Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?

Your local computer store must love you.

"Well, I just got this new fan from you on Tuesday.
I was minding my own business, vacuuming the rug or
something, and the blades just flew off the fan!!!
I want my money back."

*******

To be semi-serious for a moment, even cleaning a fan
with a rag with solvent (isopropyl) on it,
*can ruin the bearing*. I've done it.

Some bearings on fans, have an internal spring to return
the blade to home position. If you tug on the hub hard
enough, you can dislodge the spring.

You need to treat the thing like Royalty, if
you're going to clean it. That means a little bit
of solvent (to act as a dust magnet). Hold the
fan blade from the back, so none of your pressure
is transferred to the hub. And so on.

To do a good job, in some cases you might want
to remove the four mounting devices (screws or
clips), and work on it outside the computer.

Dells tend to be a little special, because they have
a high-power (100CFM) fan as a blower on the CPU
heatsink. And it doubles as a case ventilation fan.
So Dell tries to do everything with the one fan.
When the thermistor says the case is too hot, that
five-wire fan can really speed up. And then it sounds
like a vacuum cleaner.

For one of those, you wouldn't think of being lazy and
taking shortcuts. If you needed to clean it, you'd disassemble
the shroud and take it outside the PC and work on it. While
there are so-called "exact replacements" for fans like
that (with the five pin connector), only one or two companies
source them, so you could easily no longer have a source for
them. Whereas a lot of other computer designs, any old
replacement case fan would do.

Your Optiplex might not be that bad, but before you become
"abusive" with the fan, check on the Internet and see if
a replacement fan for the 755 is even available.

Paul

On Mon, 23 Jan 2017 04:37:03 -0500, micky
wrote:

Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?


Almost impossible with a vacuum cleaner, but possible with a
blower. A fan is a generator. If you spin it fast enough you can
generate enough electricity to damage something.
I use a leaf blower to clean my PC once a year, but I put
clips on all the fans first so they won't turn.
It has nothing to do with "bending the fan".
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012

On 1/23/2017 1:37 AM, micky wrote:
Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?


I think the case fan is rarely the problem.
I buy all my computers at garage sales. I've never, ever
had a case fan that had a dirt problem.
I've had MANY CPU fans 100% blocked with cat hair.

If you think you've got dust, take it apart and blow it
out with compressed air, concentrating on the CPU fan.
You don't want it to spin. I stick a toothpick into it
while I'm blowing on it.

Yes, you can damage stuff if you use 200PSI.
Don't do that. Just barely enough is plenty.

mike on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 04:20:19 -0800 typed in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
On 1/23/2017 1:37 AM, micky wrote:
Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?


I think the case fan is rarely the problem.
I buy all my computers at garage sales. I've never, ever
had a case fan that had a dirt problem.
I've had MANY CPU fans 100% blocked with cat hair.

If you think you've got dust, take it apart and blow it
out with compressed air,

Use the canned stuff. Don't take it into the shop and blow it out
with air from the 120 psi line - with or without the inline oiler.
--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

In alt.comp.hardware, on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 11:23:18 -0800, pyotr
filipivich wrote:

mike on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 04:20:19 -0800 typed in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
On 1/23/2017 1:37 AM, micky wrote:
Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?


I think the case fan is rarely the problem.
I buy all my computers at garage sales. I've never, ever
had a case fan that had a dirt problem.
I've had MANY CPU fans 100% blocked with cat hair.

If you think you've got dust, take it apart and blow it
out with compressed air,

Use the canned stuff. Don't take it into the shop and blow it out
with air from the 120 psi line - with or without the inline oiler.

What about the grease gun? Where do I use that?

I don't have a 120 psi line, but I have the image of a can of air having
no more force than a spray can of paint or bug spray. Is that really
enough to move the dust, some of which I think is sort of stuck to
whatever it's stuck to?

micky on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 20:43:41 -0500
typed in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
In alt.comp.hardware, on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 11:23:18 -0800, pyotr
filipivich wrote:

mike on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 04:20:19 -0800 typed in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
On 1/23/2017 1:37 AM, micky wrote:
Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?


I think the case fan is rarely the problem.
I buy all my computers at garage sales. I've never, ever
had a case fan that had a dirt problem.
I've had MANY CPU fans 100% blocked with cat hair.

If you think you've got dust, take it apart and blow it
out with compressed air,

Use the canned stuff. Don't take it into the shop and blow it out
with air from the 120 psi line - with or without the inline oiler.

What about the grease gun? Where do I use that?

I don't have a 120 psi line, but I have the image of a can of air having
no more force than a spray can of paint or bug spray.

Pretty much.

Is that really
enough to move the dust, some of which I think is sort of stuck to
whatever it's stuck to?

The spray cans will have a little tube, which lets you aim that
"low" pressure airblast into a specific spot.

There is, of course, a major difference between what is considered
"normal levels of dust" in various parts of the world. Like the
useful life of air filters in cars, depends on conditions. Occasional
trips around town in the rainy season - no problem. Being the second
or third vehicle on dirt roads in summer - you'll be knocking the dirt
out every time you stop for gas.

--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

micky on 2017/01/23 wrote:

In alt.comp.hardware, on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 11:23:18 -0800, pyotr
filipivich wrote:

mike on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 04:20:19 -0800 typed in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
On 1/23/2017 1:37 AM, micky wrote:
Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?


I think the case fan is rarely the problem.
I buy all my computers at garage sales. I've never, ever
had a case fan that had a dirt problem.
I've had MANY CPU fans 100% blocked with cat hair.

If you think you've got dust, take it apart and blow it
out with compressed air,

Use the canned stuff. Don't take it into the shop and blow it out
with air from the 120 psi line - with or without the inline oiler.

What about the grease gun? Where do I use that?

I don't have a 120 psi line, but I have the image of a can of air having
no more force than a spray can of paint or bug spray. Is that really
enough to move the dust, some of which I think is sort of stuck to
whatever it's stuck to?

Well, what ELSE is inside a can of spray paint? Oh yeah, the emulsified
particulate solution AND the propellant. So obviously the can cannot
contain only propellant. What happens as you use up the propellant in a
spray paint can? Yep, the pressure goes down. You know that a can of
spray paint will get colder as the propellant gets converted from high
to low[er] pressure. A can of compressed air will frost over and get
too cold to hold after only using part of the can. The canned air will
also wane in pressure as the propellant gets used up but you are
starting with a hell of a lot more propellant.

Also, the nozzle of a spray paint can is designed to mist (aerate) the
emulsified particulate, not spew it out as fast as it can. The flow
rate is throttled and turbulence is deliberate increased to produce a
more even spray pattern.

By the way, you are probably more accustomed to those fixed or
non-refillable air cans, like you get at a typical computer or hardware
retail store. I've use compress air cans that have a micro-adjustable
nozzle that you screw onto the can (first you slide a collar on the
spray head onto a rim on the can and then screw down the delivery tube
onto the can. That is needed due to the much pressure of those cans.
In fact, you can puncture your skin if you open the valve all the way up
on a new can using the smallest aperture nozzle size. Typically those
air sprayers are not supposed to be full open. They are adjustable for
flow rate and have a large weighted trigger to direct a more exact and
consistent pressure at the nozzle tip. Those are expensive. You don't
find them in computer or hardware stores. The cans can be repressurized
with a pump. I got some from a friend that worked at Medtronics in the
QA and failure analysis labs.

I just use the simple non-refillable cans at the computer and hardware
stores. You've never used one of those? If you did, you wouldn't think
they were anywhere as near the throttled low flow rate of spray paint
cans of which only a portion of their volume is the propellant.

On 1/24/2017 3:01 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
micky on 2017/01/23 wrote:

In alt.comp.hardware, on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 11:23:18 -0800, pyotr
filipivich wrote:

mike on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 04:20:19 -0800 typed in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general the following:
On 1/23/2017 1:37 AM, micky wrote:
Can you damage a case fan by vacuuming the air vents from the outside?

(I have a Dell Optiplex 775 with the original fan. )

It seems more than safe to me, but I happened to read the manual for a
Noctua fan and it says not to use a vacuum cleaner or it may apply
"excessive force to the fan". I find that hard to believe. I've pushed
on the vanes of other 3, 4, and 5" fans and they don't bend at all with
the kind of force vacuum cleaners exert. In fact I think they would be
hard to break. Are Noctua fans more fragile than others?


I think the case fan is rarely the problem.
I buy all my computers at garage sales. I've never, ever
had a case fan that had a dirt problem.
I've had MANY CPU fans 100% blocked with cat hair.

If you think you've got dust, take it apart and blow it
out with compressed air,

Use the canned stuff. Don't take it into the shop and blow it out
with air from the 120 psi line - with or without the inline oiler.

What about the grease gun? Where do I use that?

I don't have a 120 psi line, but I have the image of a can of air having
no more force than a spray can of paint or bug spray. Is that really
enough to move the dust, some of which I think is sort of stuck to
whatever it's stuck to?

Well, what ELSE is inside a can of spray paint? Oh yeah, the emulsified
particulate solution AND the propellant. So obviously the can cannot
contain only propellant. What happens as you use up the propellant in a
spray paint can? Yep, the pressure goes down. You know that a can of
spray paint will get colder as the propellant gets converted from high
to low[er] pressure. A can of compressed air will frost over and get
too cold to hold after only using part of the can. The canned air will
also wane in pressure as the propellant gets used up but you are
starting with a hell of a lot more propellant.

Also, the nozzle of a spray paint can is designed to mist (aerate) the
emulsified particulate, not spew it out as fast as it can. The flow
rate is throttled and turbulence is deliberate increased to produce a
more even spray pattern.

By the way, you are probably more accustomed to those fixed or
non-refillable air cans, like you get at a typical computer or hardware
retail store.

I think you're confusing compressed air with a phase-change propellant.
You can't get enough compressed air into a "duster" can to do anything
useful. You can use air pressure to dispense a small percentage
volume of
payload, like paint, but the pressure varies considerably as you use it up.
The downside is that phase change propellants useful at human
temperatures and spray can pressures have side effects, like
flammability or ozone depletion
or toxicity.

I've use compress air cans that have a micro-adjustable
nozzle that you screw onto the can (first you slide a collar on the
spray head onto a rim on the can and then screw down the delivery tube
onto the can. That is needed due to the much pressure of those cans.
In fact, you can puncture your skin if you open the valve all the way up
on a new can using the smallest aperture nozzle size. Typically those
air sprayers are not supposed to be full open. They are adjustable for
flow rate and have a large weighted trigger to direct a more exact and
consistent pressure at the nozzle tip. Those are expensive. You don't
find them in computer or hardware stores. The cans can be repressurized
with a pump. I got some from a friend that worked at Medtronics in the
QA and failure analysis labs.

I just use the simple non-refillable cans at the computer and hardware
stores. You've never used one of those? If you did, you wouldn't think
they were anywhere as near the throttled low flow rate of spray paint
cans of which only a portion of their volume is the propellant.