? on chiller fans

[sadie]

Do you ever have to clean your chiller fans?  Mine are starting to make a bit of noise, like a hum.  I was thinking maybe they needed to be cleaned?  I looked up how to clean them, but didn't find any videos, only how to replace them. I got a new hood in Feb 21 because the one I had the lights didn't work right.  So it's only about a year old.

[seabass]

You might find some ideas here:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=clean+pc+fan

 

The only thing that I might be worried about is excess lubricant getting in the tank.  But if you don't overdo it (and/or the fan isn't directly over your tank), you'll probably be alright.

[patback]

I just cleaned a bunch of light fans. A little 91% isopropyl  took everything right off with a paper towel and a qtip. 

[seabass]

3 minutes ago, patback said:

I just cleaned a bunch of light fans. A little 91% isopropyl  took everything right off with a paper towel and a qtip. 

That sounds nice and safe (no lubricants to get in the water), as the alcohol will quickly evaporate.

[sadie]

thanks guys.  Is this something I should do every year as part of my annual cleaning?

[seabass]

That shouldn't hurt.  Or you could wait until you notice it needs cleaning (either visually, or if it's making noise).

[banasophia]

Are you talking about the fans in the lid of the Biocubes? I’ve never done anything to clean mine on either of my tanks, and probably wouldn’t unless it was making more noise than normal, but I did find this video by @SaltFishTV that shows how to do it. I don’t think I’d add the superglue to the screws at the end like he did because it seems like it would be difficult to get the screws back out in the future, but the rest of the video looks like a good way to do it.

 

 

[sadie]

• 
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• Sacramento, California
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Posted 46 minutes ago

Are you talking about the fans in the lid of the Biocubes?

 

yes!  Thank you.  It's not a terrible noise, not rattling or anything.  Just a little hum where before it was really quiet.  I will check out the video and see if it's worth it.  Back in 2000 when I had my first tank, I did a yearly cleaning and took the hood apart to clean everything and one of my fan things fell in my back chamber. I didn't know it (was rinsing stuff in my sink when it happened).  Slowly my tank started to crash and eventually I lost all of my LSP.  Some of my softies made it.  then I never took my hood apart again!!

 

I was told I could put plastic wrap over the tank to catch anything if it falls.  this might be a good idea just for salt creep stuff and dust.  I was thinking of taking the whole hood off cause that's pretty easy, but I have the chiller hoses going through my hood and I don't feel like doing all that again.  I think you said you notched yours to make it easier.  Maybe I will look into that.

 

thanks again!!