# Can anyone recommend a fan grease ?



## natr0n (Mar 31, 2015)

I have a large collection of fans basically. I take apart,wash and clean old fans, oil and save for using on whatever.

I don't like using sewing oil anymore.

I want to use grease. Can someone recommend what they use ?


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## FreedomEclipse (Mar 31, 2015)

Grease wont get inside the bearing where its needed like oil can. Recommend using either sewing oil or '3in1' oil


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## natr0n (Mar 31, 2015)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Grease wont get inside the bearing where its needed like oil can. Recommend using either sewing oil or '3in1' oil




I will grease the bearing; as I take them apart already.

direct application basically


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## Jetster (Mar 31, 2015)

I don't think it matters what you use. Vaseline or bearing grease or Phil Wood 3 waterproof grease


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## natr0n (Mar 31, 2015)

Jetster said:


> I don't think it matters what you use. Vaseline or bearing grease or Phil Wood 3 waterproof grease




I have tried vaseline it melts after a while. even tried vegetable shortening which works well in testing lol


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## Frick (Mar 31, 2015)

natr0n said:


> I don't like using sewing oil anymore.



Why not?


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## natr0n (Mar 31, 2015)

Frick said:


> Why not?



it drips, have to be very careful to seal plunger then put sticker or tape back as well

the grease seems more cleanly to me


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## micropage7 (Mar 31, 2015)

grease is little bit heavier than oil, so it may affect your fan rpm
and it may harder to get into small parts

i use motor oil
just two drops for standard fan for smaller fan just one drop


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## Breew (Mar 31, 2015)

First off the fan , most of them use OIL to float the shaft in the bearings and is designed for LIQUID lubercation. and grease is solid and will push out. What I have changed to for most fans is Silicone oil its a tiny bit thicker and doesn't tend to evaporate or gum up the shaft.
a small touch drop or two refills the shaft and well , Never flood it, or fill it all up .. its just a few tiny drops not big drops like from a 3in1 bottle. On ebay there is a good oil i use for most computer application , you can search for pinball oil. It has brought back almost frozen fans.. so I have use that and fantron silicon oil but that's hard to find.
IF the fan uses magnetic float bearings DON'T oil them as the oil WILL slow the fan and is not needed as the magnetic field is the oil,


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## Devon68 (Mar 31, 2015)

You could try WD-40 maybe


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## micropage7 (Mar 31, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> You could try WD-40 maybe


i just use wd-40 for rusting bolt


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## Jetster (Mar 31, 2015)

micropage7 said:


> i just use wd-40 for rusting bolt



http://wd40.com/img/WD-40_2000_uses.pdf


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## Devon68 (Mar 31, 2015)

> http://wd40.com/img/WD-40_2000_uses.pdf


Wow I knew it was good for some things, but that list is HUGE.


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## FreedomEclipse (Mar 31, 2015)

Devon68 said:


> You could try WD-40 maybe



would not use WD-40.

Yes its a lubricant but not in the same way as 3in1 or machine oil. WD-40 first and foremost is a water displacer. and in some ways a degreaser. Its not recommended for mechanical parts like bike chains as it dries up and leaves a 'film' of lubricant which can flake off and wont keep moving parts lubricated.


WD-40 has its uses, and is good for many things but not fan lubrication


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## Caring1 (Mar 31, 2015)

Graphite powder or Graphite grease


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## dorsetknob (Mar 31, 2015)

some where on this site  i heard Olive Oil  applied with a hypodermic syringe was a very good Lube ( Extra virgin for purity).

Edit
is this " ghetto "


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## AsRock (Mar 31, 2015)

Breew said:


> First off the fan , most of them use OIL to float the shaft in the bearings and is designed for LIQUID lubercation. and grease is solid and will push out. What I have changed to for most fans is Silicone oil its a tiny bit thicker and doesn't tend to evaporate or gum up the shaft.
> a small touch drop or two refills the shaft and well , Never flood it, or fill it all up .. its just a few tiny drops not big drops like from a 3in1 bottle. On ebay there is a good oil i use for most computer application , you can search for pinball oil. It has brought back almost frozen fans.. so I have use that and fantron silicon oil but that's hard to find.
> IF the fan uses magnetic float bearings DON'T oil them as the oil WILL slow the fan and is not needed as the magnetic field is the oil,



You mean like what i use ?, it's the one in a tub not in a can.  Stuff worked for so many thing for me.
http://www.super-lube.com/

Although some fans the bearings are sealed so it has to be thin like washing machine oil which this comes in that form too.


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## Caring1 (Mar 31, 2015)

dorsetknob said:


> some where on this site  i heard Olive Oil  applied with a hypodermic syringe was a very good Lube ( Extra virgin for purity).
> 
> Edit
> is this " ghetto "


You are talking about for the fans and not personal use, right?  
Cos I've never heard of it.


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## dorsetknob (Mar 31, 2015)

yes for small motors and fans .

Its a lubricant its  "" Non electrical conducting "" ( VERY IMPORTANT ) and if applied through a hypodermic syringe very precise.
also with very careful application it can refill those Sealed bearings ( as long as you reseal the hypodermic syringe puncture with super glue).


Ps  yes you can use it for what your thinking ie personal use


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## natr0n (Mar 31, 2015)

So cleaned and washed 3 clear plastic fans blue led coolermasters(pictured air drying).My Dad found some automotive grease in a piston in the shed which is on the foil. I will run that qtip with a small bit of grease around the fan shafts then put back together.
(I pretested the grease before washing fan.It works amazingly well.)


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## jaggerwild (Apr 9, 2015)

Wheel bearing grease is fine. Don't go crazy with it.


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## MrGenius (Apr 9, 2015)

If you're going to use automotive grease I would avoid any of the thick and tacky greases. And though many wheel bearing greases would work(ish), some of them are very thick, and very tacky. Don't use those. No red, marine, or other thick and tacky types. They'll work(ish), but will rob your fans of rpm due to their overly viscous consistency. Yellow, brown, black, or white colored are typically not tacky or too thick. But grease can be any color, and you really need to understand the specific properties you're looking for in a specific application. The most important of those is NLGI grade. Most stuff you'll find on the shelves is going to be NLGI #2. And IMO would be on the thick side for use as a fan bearing/sleeve grease. Meaning, most automotive grease is too thick by default. Mainly because it's not meant for high rpm applications. But if I had to use grease, I would at least try to find some NLGI #1 with minimal thickness and little to no tackifiers. EP additives aren't needed, but wouldn't affect performance negatively.

But I would never actually use grease of any type, because I know better. I use oil. Any kind of oil is going to lubricate your fans better than any kind of grease. That's why there's no such thing as fan grease. 

And good god, don't use 3-in-1. Unless you want your whole place to reek like that nasty smelling crap.


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## Breew (Apr 9, 2015)

Well having seen some fans that used grease that pushed out of the bearing quickly I wont use it. I personally still use a good oil. NON detergent motor oil or my fav oil i get off of ebay.. liquid bearings.  Oil floats the shaft on most fans unless there magnetic bearing fans then don't use any oil. When you turn off or even when running the oil flows back in and keep the metal in the riffle bearings from contact. Grease is to thick to let the fan turn at full rpm and cause extra heat that may let it turn faster but it will in time shorten the fan life.. a slightly thick oil is fine like non-detergent 40 motor oil. if you use 3n1 then reoiling is what you have to do every 6m minimum.  never never never use a detergent oil as it will when evaporated leave gum behind. 

here is a good short 


The type of bearing used in a fan can affect its performance and noise. Most computer fans use one of the following bearing types:

* Sleeve bearings use two surfaces lubricated with oil or grease as a friction contact. They often use porous sintered sleeves to be self-lubricating, requiring only infrequent maintenance or replacement. Sleeve bearings are less durable at higher temperatures as the contact surfaces wear and the lubricant dries up, eventually leading to failure; however, lifetime is similar at relatively low ambient temperatures. Sleeve bearings may be more likely to fail at higher temperatures, and may perform poorly when mounted in any orientation other than horizontal. The lifespan of a sleeve-bearing fan may be around 40,000 hours at 50 °C. Fans that use sleeve bearings are generally cheaper than fans that use ball bearings, and are quieter at lower speeds early in their life, but can become noisy as they age.

* Rifle bearings are similar to sleeve bearings, but are quieter and have almost as much lifespan as ball bearings. The bearing has a spiral groove in it that pumps fluid from a reservoir. This allows them to be safely mounted with the shaft vertical (unlike sleeve bearings), since the fluid being pumped lubricates the top of the shaft. The pumping also ensures sufficient lubricant on the shaft, reducing noise, and increasing lifespan.

* Ball bearings: Though generally more expensive, ball bearing fans do not suffer the same orientation limitations as sleeve bearing fans, are more durable at higher temperatures, and are quieter than sleeve-bearing fans at higher rotation speeds. The lifespan of a ball bearing fan may be over 60,000 hours at 50 °C.

* Fluid bearings have the advantages of near-silent operation and high life expectancy (comparable to ball bearings), but tend to be the most expensive.

* Magnetic bearings or maglev bearings, in which the fan is repelled from the bearing by magnetism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_bearing


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## RejZoR (Apr 9, 2015)

Sleeve bearings are awesome for maintenance. I'm using the most usual synthetic motor oil (for the car). Works great. But any technical oil for machines will do the trick, just make sure it's thick enough, otherwise you'll have it all over the fan due to centrifugal forces...


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## 95Viper (Apr 10, 2015)

natr0n said:


> I will run that qtip with a small bit of grease around the fan shafts then put back together.



Be sure that a fiber off of the Q-Tip is not in the mix, as it can cause it to bind up.

I, personally, use Excelle Lubricants #XL1300 - XL Gear 15ml... I use this on RCs, model trains,  other small moving parts and motor bearings.
I get it from Trainworld and sometimes my local hobby shops have it for a little less $$$.
Phoenix Unlimited packages it.  And, they have different types.

I like the one I linked to.   It is synthetic, lubes well and does not seem to go all over the place (stays were you put it).


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## jsfitz54 (Apr 10, 2015)

Try a turbine oil, like these with zoom spout:  http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=zoom oil&tag=tec06d-20

Appliance part supply houses usually carry this as well.
Heating and plumbing supply houses.


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## MrGenius (Apr 10, 2015)

I have 6 sleeve bearing fans that I've run continuous 24/7/365 for over 13 years now. And I've never lubed a single one of them. The metal used for sleeve bearings is typically oil-impregnated bronze. And technically doesn't "require" additional lubrication during its lifetime. I've killed a sleeve bearing fan or 2 electronically, but I've never had one run long enough to kill the bearing. We'll see how that goes...

I'm a professional mechanic, among other things. So I pretty much know all there is to know about oil, grease, bearings of all types, lubrication theory in general, etc., etc., etc.. I needs no wiki on this one.


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## Athlonite (Apr 10, 2015)

MrGenius said:


> I have 6 sleeve bearing fans that I've run continuous 24/7/365 for over 13 years now. And I've never lubed a single one of them. The metal used for sleeve bearings is typically oil-impregnated bronze. And technically doesn't "require" additional lubrication during its lifetime. I've killed a sleeve bearing fan or 2 electronically, but I've never had one run long enough to kill the bearing. We'll see how that goes...
> 
> I'm a professional mechanic, among other things. So I pretty much know all there is to know about oil, grease, bearings of all types, lubrication theory in general, etc., etc., etc.. I needs no wiki on this one.



And yet I've had four die from drying out not including 2 on a couple of less than 12 month old HIS Radeon HD5770 GPU's, alot depends on who makes the fan HIS chose to use cheap nasty non standard size junk from china so replacing them was a bit of a mission


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## natr0n (Apr 10, 2015)

RejZoR said:


> Sleeve bearings are awesome for maintenance. I'm using the most usual synthetic motor oil (for the car). Works great. But any technical oil for machines will do the trick, just make sure it's thick enough, otherwise you'll have it all over the fan due to centrifugal forces...




yeah, this was meant for sleeve bearings. I used them for about a week with the auto type grease and had no issues they ran same rpm.

As for ball bearings I will take everyone's recommendations on oils.

Most of all my fans are sleeve based.


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## Liquid Cool (Apr 10, 2015)

3-n-1 has a special blend oil for '1/4 hp motors and above', I use the stuff when I rebuild old LakeWood box fans.  It works especially well on pc fans.  Highly recommend it...cheap and gets the job done.


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## Breew (Apr 30, 2015)

Have use the 3n1 blue. Its 30 weight NON detergent motor oil. Works good and doesn't gum up the works. Don't need much but found a small bottle of rotron fan oil <silicone oil> and never went back. I have fans running that are 8+ years old on that stuff and they haven't lost any rpm's or make any noise. Cant find it any more or would get another tiny bottle.


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## Solarsails (Jun 25, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> Graphite powder or Graphite grease



Graphite is a fairly good lubricant for very specific cases.  The problem with graphite as a lubricant is that it can cause very fast friction type abrasion when used on materials that aren't specifically coated to protect from this abrasion.  Plastics and certain metals can suffer massive accelerated wear from the use of graphite as a lubricant.  Graphite is best used on parts of a system that aren't in motion constantly or in motion infrequently, such as hinges, padlocks, etc.  Using graphite on the axle of a fan moving at thousands of RPMs is actually not a recommended application for graphite powder.

Information is one of those things that has no expiration date. Information is timeless. I never could understand why some people make a big deal out of replying to older threads.  I've run a BBS since the late 1980s and there is no difference in replying to older threads, at all.  Personally I think its some sort of retentive personality trait that causes people to loose their marbles when someone replies to an older thread; they will delete threads or lock them and I ask to what end?  Why? Its one of those things that makes absolutely no logical sense.  So perhaps someone could enlighten me with regard to what is the big deal to replying to an old thread.


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## Caring1 (Jun 25, 2020)

Solarsails said:


> Personally I think its some sort of retentive personality trait that causes people to loose their marbles when someone replies to an older thread
> So perhaps someone could enlighten me with regard to what is the big deal to replying to an old thread.


Personally I think it takes a retentive person to reply to a 5 year old thread thinking their reply will still be relevant, especially on a Tech site!


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## newtekie1 (Jun 25, 2020)

natr0n said:


> As for ball bearings I will take everyone's recommendations on oils.



I recommend automatic transmission fluid or motor oil.  I've rebuilt countless fans using 5w-30 or auto trans fluid and never had one fail again after.


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## xman2007 (Jun 25, 2020)

I love reading the start of a new thread to get half way through and realise it's a 5 year old necro thread and the best part is the new member was replying directly to a previous post, how they stumble upon these quite random yet specific threads is beyond me, bravo


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 25, 2020)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Grease wont get inside the bearing where its needed like oil can. Recommend using either sewing oil or '3in1' oil



Yeah. Id like to educate & correct my past self... '3in1' oil is not a good oil for fans. It eventually gums them up    f**kin scrub. get gud


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## AsRock (Jun 25, 2020)

Still using super lube, the fans have been in daily use.









						Can anyone recommend a fan grease ?
					

I have a large collection of fans basically. I take apart,wash and clean old fans, oil and save for using on whatever.  I don't like using sewing oil anymore.  I want to use grease. Can someone recommend what they use ?




					www.techpowerup.com


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## John Naylor (Jun 25, 2020)

We use Phanteks PH-140SPs ... as to why ?

1.  Take Noctua fan off a Noctua cooler and replace it with one of those and CPU temps drop 6C at same rpm


			Phanteks PH-F140(XP, SP, SP_LED) Fans: Testing -  Phanteks PH-F140 (XP, SP, SP_LED) Case Fan Review - Page 3
		


2.  Finished 1st in Fan Roundup at Silentpcreview.com








						First 140 mm Fan Roundup: Noctua, Phanteks, Xigmatek
					

140 mm fans from Noctua, Phanteks, and Xigmatek battle in our latest fan roundup with one emerging as a clear winner in both thermal performance and acoustics. May 21, 2013 by Lawrence Lee Last month we staged an epic shoot-out among some popular 120 mm fans. Some great sounding fans emerged but...




					silentpcreview.com
				




3,  Most of the time, the fans shut off as fan curver doesn't trigger thm to rurn on ... when gaming of stress testing, they will run 450 - 650 rpm and remain completelely inaudible at max OC

_"The Phanteks PH-F140HP/TS is the clear winner in every respect. It edged out the new Noctuas every step of the way, delivering the best overall results of any fan we’ve tested thus far. To top it off, it had cleanest, smoothest sound of all the new fans in this roundup. If we had to start from scratch, this might be our new reference model. "_

No as to the topic .... these cans typically seel for $13 - $15 ... but when newegg has a special, they cost about $10  and we buy em by the dozen.  For $10 a pop, it's not worth the time yo take fan apart.

If you do use a lubricant, there is no "one size fits all" alternative.  For ball bearing fans, use a light oil... for sleeve bearings, generally a heavier oil should be used... sewing machine oil is a good"compromise" option.  Another option that you may have readily available in the office if the poil supplied for paper shredders


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