Vaseline as fan lubricant - so far so good. Any concern?

[orangpelupa]

So my sony vaio tap 11 fan rattling like mad and in this jungle there were no lubricant. So i use a goop of vaseline for super dry skin and... it works.

Its been 2 months now, and it still works. No rattling, no spin problem.

anything i should be concerned with?

 

[iroboto]

My worry is that it Won't last long. My suggestions: Open the fan. Clean. Use grease. Finish with wd40. Close.

 

[Grall]

I suspect vaseline isn't actually all that good as a lubricant, it's fairly thick at room temps (meaning relatively high resistance on the fan impeller shaft, lowering efficiency) and at high temps it might get rather runny, so risk of reduced, or not doing any lubrication at all possibly. But a laptop fan also has quite small loads put on it, so vaseline just might suffice...

If it still works after two months then perhaps it works. Avoid light lubricants like WD40 tho, I'd say. They evaporate over time, faster in hot-running environs like a PC laptop in a jungle.

 

[orangpelupa]

I suspect vaseline isn't actually all that good as a lubricant, it's fairly thick at room temps (meaning relatively high resistance on the fan impeller shaft, lowering efficiency) and at high temps it might get rather runny, so risk of reduced, or not doing any lubrication at all possibly. But a laptop fan also has quite small loads put on it, so vaseline just might suffice...

If it still works after two months then perhaps it works. Avoid light lubricants like WD40 tho, I'd say. They evaporate over time, faster in hot-running environs like a PC laptop in a jungle.

Yeah I was afraid it will melt and run to the motherboard. But for it seems to work well haha.

@iroboto

I heard wd40 is actually more like a cleaning agent than lubricant tho. Anyway I'll replace the fan when I got home in December.

I just wondering if there will be any potential dangers in the mean time.

 

[iroboto]

Yeah I was afraid it will melt and run to the motherboard. But for it seems to work well haha.

@iroboto

I heard wd40 is actually more like a cleaning agent than lubricant tho. Anyway I'll replace the fan when I got home in December.

I just wondering if there will be any potential dangers in the mean time.

Grall might be right. In some fans where heat is a non issue wd40 works great: ie case fans. Once you get into higher temps it will likely evapourate.

Fan rated Grease is probably your best bet.

 

[Sxotty]

wd40 is for getting water out of things. It is terrible as a lubricant. Most anything else will work better over the long haul. Silicon based lubricants last longer.

 

[Davros]

Vaseline as lubricant

LondonBoy your expertise are needed......

 

[entity279]

This was bound to happen ^^

 

[Davros]

You know I cant resist

 

[Alexko]

LondonBoy your expertise are needed......

I was wondering whether someone would make a joke like that. I should have known better than to doubt you.

 

[digitalwanderer]

wd40 is for getting water out of things. It is terrible as a lubricant. Most anything else will work better over the long haul. Silicon based lubricants last longer.

^^^^^THIS!^^^^^ ^^^^^^10,000xTHIS!^^^^^^

WD40 can actually mess up a lot of lubricants and break them down, it's a very temporary "fix" that will probably make the problem a whole lot worse.

I have some spray white lithium grease and a bottle of "high-speed turbo lubricant oil" made to put on motors for lubricant that I picked up when I was working on my dryer. The turbo lubricant is actually pretty awesome for any type of motor oiling situation, and I find the white lithium grease to be a bit messy and better for larger scare things. (Like garage door openers and such, got mine all smooth, quiet, and silky. Well worth the $5 can of good white lithium!)

I just hate seeing people recommend WD40 as a lubricant, the "WD" stands for "water displacement". It's intended to be used to spray down wet electronics to force the water off them as well as various practical jokes.

For lubricating stuff, please use a real lubricant. You'll be amazed at how much better a job it does and how much longer the fix lasts.

 

[digitalwanderer]

LondonBoy your expertise are needed......

No need, I have some expertise in this area although from a much more hetero perspective. Vaseline is an AWFUL lubricant for any type of sexual activities! You want something water soluble so it can come off/out easily in the shower, if you use vaseline you're going to be needing some serious oil cutting detergent to get it off like "Dawn", and even then it's a bitch!

Don't do it, just don't. I was fortunate, I learned the easy way. I had to slick down my hair for a play in 8th grade and I didn't know what to use so I used vaseline, and it took me over 20 washings to get that crap out!!! (Learned the next day about wetting my hair down and slicking it back and the coating it with hairspray to make it look the same...but it basically combed out. <roll> ) It stuck with me, and I was fortunate enough never to make that mistake.

Plenty of good water soluble lubes out there, and they're very inexpensive. Please don't use vaseline, you will regret it.