Where can I buy fans for iMac7,1 (20" model)

[Povilas]

I have this problem with fans. They make very annoying noise. One day I was upgrading HDD and I saw that all fans are very dusty. I tried to clean them, but without luck. I can take my iMac to the premium reseller here in Lithuania, but they want ~350 litas it's ~150 USD. I could replace them myself, but my search of online stores came up empty and I rather spend saved money on beer because september 7 is the day Eurobasket 2009 starts

 

[California]

I have this problem with fans. They make very annoying noise. One day I was upgrading HDD and I saw that all fans are very dusty. I tried to clean them, but without luck. I can take my iMac to the premium reseller here in Lithuania, but they want ~350 litas it's ~150 USD. I could replace them myself, but my search of online stores came up empty and I rather spend saved money on beer because september 7 is the day Eurobasket 2009 starts

I don't know what an iMac 7.1 is but if you can get your fan out of the machine and get soap and water on it, then dry it completely I MEAN COMPLETELY DRY, there is no reason to buy new fans if your existing ones are just dusty, but functional.

IN other words, just clean them with soap and water.

Let them completely dry.

Pop it back in the case.

Open a beer.

 

[fabian9]

I don't know what an iMac 7.1 is but if you can get your fan out of the machine and get soap and water on it, then dry it completely I MEAN COMPLETELY DRY, there is no reason to buy new fans if your existing ones are just dusty, but functional.

IN other words, just clean them with soap and water.

Let them completely dry.

Pop it back in the case.

Open a beer.

Wouldn't canned air do the job? Just blow all the dust off?

 

[rgarjr]

1. Remove the fans from the machine
2. Blow them up with compressed air (air compressor, can, etc)
3. Crack open some beers and enjoy the basketball games

 

[Povilas]

Thanks for replying, but I did all of that, well, except soap part. It seems that bearings, if these fans have them, are dry and they make that noise. I used some oil and it helped for about a week, but the noise came back. It's so hard to find those fans. I have found some on ebay, but they are used and used is used I don't want to risk. My iMac is 365/7/24 on, so I can't sleep at night because of that noise. And if they fail? (fans) 2 years of 3645/24/7 is long enough for the fans I think.

 

[cynicism]

Do NOT use compressed air on fans

It's a very bad idea to use compressed air (or a compressor) to blow dust off fans, because you can make them spin too fast and destroy their bearings. In fact, it sounds like that may have happened to the OP.

There's a sticker on the hub covering the spot where adding lubricant may help. Sounds like it's too late, though.

Good luck finding replacement fans. You may have to give in and pay the money to have them replaced by the Apple service people.