Oiling PC fans

In this post we looked at how to reduce high temperature of your PC components and now it's time to look at what you can do to reduce the noise that your PC outputs.


There are usually two reasons for a loud noise from a PC. One reason is dust that settles between a fan and a heatsink, resulting in the air not getting through which leads to an overheating heatsink and a processor that is too hot. When that happens, your PC starts to run the fan at full speed resulting in a loud noise. We covered dust in our last topic, but if you did not read it, click here.

The second reason is a worn out fan bearing. Usually they are lubricated in the factory, but that does not last forever. Sooner or later, the lubricant will run out of any fan and the fan will start to run slower and make a loud noise. The loud noise indicates that it's time to oil the fans. You can use any light oil like the 3-In-One Multi-Purpose Oil for that.

There are two fans that you need to oil, the CPU fan and the fan from the power supply unit. All fans have a sticker on top of the bearing that you need to remove before applying the oil.

Carefully remove the sticker, but don't worry if you rip it. You can even use a simple tape to cover the bearing if something happens. Some fans will have a small rubber cap under the sticker, but you can easily remove with with your nails or something sharp. if you see the bearing now, apply only 1 drop of oil which will be enough for several months until a good year or even more. Now put the sticker back on and we are done. You might want to use a glue stick if the sticker does not stick, just don't use liquid glue, because it could run in to the bearing and make it worse.

Most CPU fans can be accessed easily without removing it, but in most cases you will need to take out the PSU to access those fans.

If you have a PSU like the one in the picture, you don't need to open the cover to access the fan. You can simply unscrew the 4 screws and you will have access to the fan. Some power supply units will have two fans and you will need to take the cover off to access the second fan. A word of warning here, on the cover there might be a little sticker over one screw or over the side which prevents you from removing the cover without damaging those. The stickers are there for warranty and if you damage one, you will void the warranty. Unfortunately you can't the the PSU to the store for oiling because they won't replace the sticker so it's your call if you want to void the warranty for a quieter PC or not.