TiVo fan noise

7540 Views 15 Replies 12 Participants Last post by Davyburns, Oct 16, 2008

aerialplug

Discussion Starter · Jan 21, 2006

Much has been said about replacement hard drives (been there, done that).

Many have had to replace the remote control. (been there, done that too).

Some also have had to replace the power supply (bought it, but not had to do that yet).

A few have also had major modem problems (thankfully, not me, yet)

Little has been mentioned about the cooling fan though. Mine has been getting noticeably louder over the last few days.

For many years now I've had a PC online 24 hours a day in my office to serve various servers and periodically the fan in the power supply gets louder and louder to the point of failing. However, this is the first time I've heard the TiVo fan start to get louder :-/

I have a ready replacement from my second US TiVo which only gets fired up a couple of times a year to record programmes that clash (due to the final death of my last VHS recorder) but I'd like to hear other pepople's thoughts about whether any of you guys have had to replace the fan and if there's a way to extend it's life a bit...?

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terryeden

· #2 · Jan 21, 2006

Easiest way to quiten any computer - and make it last longer - is take off the case and blow out all the dust.

Get an aeroduster from Maplin and get rid of that clogging dust.

I once cleaned out an old banking computer that can't have been opened in 20 years. As well as the huge dust bunnies, spiders and webs, I found a couple of old £1 notes. I doubt there'll be anything quite as lucrative hidden inside your TiVo, though!

Glesgie

· #3 · Jan 21, 2006

Since its a standard PC fan, I replaced mine with a super quiet one a couple of years ago
and still going strong.

aerialplug

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 21, 2006

terryeden said:
Easiest way to quiten any computer - and make it last longer - is take off the case and blow out all the dust.

Blowing the dust out seems to have made a difference. The rhythmic noise it had started making has stopped. I guess anything with moving parts, especially since it's been in almost constant movement for over 5 years is eventually going to wear down! I've had PC fans die on me with only 1-2 years of operation so I guess the TiVo fan is doing quite well for itself.

terryeden

· #5 · Jan 21, 2006

You'll also notice that without the dust it runs a lot cooler.

b166er

· #6 · Jan 21, 2006

aerialplug said:
Blowing the dust out seems to have made a difference.

I noticed that too. Blew all the dust out when I upgraded the drive and added a Cachecard recently.

Gavin

· #7 · Jan 21, 2006

I took mine out when I upped the drive to a 120gb, and put it back using some slips cut off a of the spongy rubber mouse mat between the case and the fan to stop it resonating with the case. Worked a treat, I also did the same with the bathroom extracter fan in the loft to cut down resonanace and that worked well too..

AMc

· #8 · Jan 23, 2006

Likewise when I fitted my cachecard a christmas I cleaned the fan itself (gentle wipe with a cloth) and it was noticably quieter after that.
Now while we're on the subject of fans can anyone help with my query here...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=282769

Cheers!

Paul Stimpson

· #9 · Jan 23, 2006

Hi,

Just removing the dust should make a fan balance better so reducing the noise. In my experience though by the time you hear the noise the damage has already been done and the bearing is on the way out. Cleaning the thing will buy you some more time though.

I have been trying some low noise fans out in my large tower PC. They make it a lot quieter but I did find that a lot of them reduce the noise by using a lower fan speed (and hence less airflow.) If you're going to change a standard fan to a low-noise one in anything make sure it is shifting enough air to keep the device cool.

Cheers,
Paul.

aerialplug

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 23, 2006

Yeah - I know what difference a badly balanced fan can make - with the speed a PC fan rotates at, some dust can make it resonate.

I fly RC model helicopters and even a tiny bit of tape on the blade can make all the difference between a perfectly balanced pair of rotors and an imbalance that's likely to shake the craft to bits!

The blue tape is purely cosmetic (you otherwise can hardly see the rotors at full speed as they go round so quickly. The white tape is for balance. Without the tape, the craft will still fly but can sometimes go into an wobble that increases until it becomes uncontrollable and this usually leads to a crash and another trip to the model shop for parts...

You can see that I've also had to fine-balance the tail rotor as well even though this is a carbon fibre rotor which is usually pre-balanced in the factory.

The little lego dude came along for the ride

[Edit: Changed the URL of the image - I'm not sure if you have to have an account to download the picture from the original location]

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George

· #11 · Jan 24, 2006

aerialplug said:
Yeah - I know what difference a badly balanced fan can make - with the speed a PC fan rotates at, some dust can make it resonate.

I fly RC model helicopters and even a tiny bit of tape on the blade can make all the difference between a perfectly balanced pair of rotors and an imbalance that's likely to shake the craft to bits!

A freind of mine flies microlights (basically a lightweight aircraft), they balance the props on those using tiny dabs of paint......

George

abiallan

· #12 · Oct 15, 2008

Since its a standard PC fan, and since it was in a separate room sound doesnt matter just let it be

dont waste ur money on these stuffs:up:

Pugwash

· #13 · Oct 15, 2008

Fans can suddenly get louder if you've moved the unit. A little shake unsettles the carefully balanced dust and off it rattles. It usually quietens again after a few hours if it's going to with a PC.
If there was room I'd be sticking a 12cm fan inside the tivo and running it slower.

TCM2007

· #14 · Oct 15, 2008

Zombie thread lives!

Pugwash

· #15 · Oct 15, 2008

That'll teach me to check the dates...

Davyburns

· #16 · Oct 16, 2008

Just Out of interest, some 32 months on, Is your fan still going, Arielman?

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