How I Changed the 80mm Exhaust Fan of my PC's Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Several months back the cooling fan of my power supply unit (PSU) started making grinding noises at bootup. I ignored it the first few weeks then started to oil it once a month. While the method was VERY time consuming (I had to open up the fan, peel away the sticker masking its shaft, and drop a VERY minute amount of sewing machine oil on it) and dangerous (Oboy! There are some huge capacitors in there!), it was ultimately just a temporary fix --- after weeks of this, my fan started to slow, prompting me to purchase an 80mm fan from the nearest PC shop.

Pictures of the procedure---as well as a link to a guide---can be found after the jump.

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU WANT TO REPLACE YOUR PC POWER SUPPLY UNIT FAN, PLEASE REFER TO GUIDES PRESENTED ON OTHER SITES (a link to one such guide is provided immediately below). I MADE THE FOLLOWING GUIDE AS A SORT OF A "TECH JOURNAL," AS I ENJOYED DOING THE PROCEDURE; THIS IS IN NO WAY MEANT AS AN AUTHORITATIVE GUIDE ON THE MATTER. POWER SUPPLY UNITS DO CARRY HAZARDOUS ELECTRICAL CHARGES EVEN IF UNPLUGGED. I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF SOMETHING DIRE HAPPENS TO YOU OR YOUR HARDWARE. FOLLOW THE PROCEDURE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I made the following steps according to this excellent guide by David Kroll of ExtensionTech.net. While that guide is more comprehensive than this one, I uploaded these photos just in case some anxious (I know I was!) beginner wants to see more pictures of the procedure.


After cutting out the yellow wire of the new fan (it's useless for this procedure as the yellow wire is just for monitoring the fan's RPM and besides, my PC power supply unit only has two wires connecting it to the old fan), I put the new fan in place and prepared to cut out the PC power supply unit's wires from the old one.

A problem started here: the screws the new fan came with would not fit the PSU fan's holes. It was off to the nearest hardware shop to buy screws. I bought long ones. I also bought washers to hold the new fan in place.

Note: Unless you are pretty sure the alternative screws won't touch any part of the PC power supply, I don't recommend you doing this. This is my fan, my PSU, and my apartment; if they burn down, they're mine so there's n--- wait. The apartment's not mine... Rosing's going to get furious if it happens... Think of the lawsuit... Anyway...

To ensure that the washers won't fall off in the future, I placed small dabs of super glue after the washer. Big enough to hold the washers but small enough that I can easily chip them away if I want to replace the fan again in the future. Again, I don't recommend doing this (stupid PC shop supplying the wrong screws...).

The same pic delineated:

Having installed the PC PSU fan and ensuring that its wires are not waving in the air like those of a crazed, freeloading Illithid, I proceeded to cut the PC power supply unit's wires from my old fan. Notice that I've cut super close to the fan, following the ExtensionTech guide's instructions:

I then soldered the loose ends (from the new fan and the PC PSU's printed circuit board), slid the heatshrink tube over the exposed wiring, heated the heatshrink with my soldering iron and voila! A neat-looking connection! Be careful of the polarity! Black wire of the PC power supply unit board to the black wire of the new fan; red wire of the PC power supply unit board to the red wire of the new fan.

Here's a picture showing the connection before I slid the heatshrink over the whole thing (I'll post a separate article on how I did this in the next few days just in case someone wants more detailed pics):


The same pic delineated:


The whole thing up close (you can see thicker heatshrink tube covering the soldered wire):


The PC power supply unit with new fan in place just before I placed the PC PSU cover back on.


The PC power supply unit with the new 80mm exhaust fan spinning. PC bling bling! P Diddy easy now. How did one tech site say it?

"You're my boy Blue!" (and yes, that is indeed an original No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M's Way. I thought it might make for a good background. Bought it for $16. Mint condition. Grin. Grin.)