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?