INFO:  A beginner's guide to changing out a fan in a Power Supply Unit.

Intro:

    Well, your power supply fan is making some nasty noise. Do you ignore it? Buy a new power supply? Or just replace the fan? If your PSU is working fine, you can just replace the fan. I've seen fans go bad after a week. I also have some fans that have been working for 5+ years without a hitch. In this illustrated guide, I'll show you how to replace your PSU fan, and get you good as new for cheap. I realize this is geared toward a newbie, but hey, new people are coming into the PC scene every day...

 

Disclaimer:

    While I've seen and heard different opinions on the safety of opening a PSU, I'll report what I feel is as accurate as far as I can tell:

    To discharge a PSU, leave it unplugged for 24 hours. Or, get a PSU tester, and leave it plugged in the PSU for at least 20 minutes. A PSU carries whatever your voltage is. 115 volts is, well, enough to knock you on your ass, but shouldn't kill a normal healthy person. The shock wouldn't last long. Nothing like operating a drill in a puddle of water per se. A CRT monitor, on the other hand, carries a tremendous amount of voltage. The CRT screen takes thousands of volts to operate. Get zapped by a monitor, you might as well be left for dead.

    Regardless, I've changed out at least 40 or so PSU fans in perfectly good power supply units. (Just bad fans.) I have never gotten shocked after unplugging them, and replacing the fan out right. That doesn't mean you won't. I may have just been lucky. For certain, be very careful not to touch ANYTHING in the PSU you, especially the capacitors and the heatsinks. I may not be accurate in this disclaimer, but, I'll rephrase myself in a way; neither I, nor ExtensionTech.net will be held responsible for you following this guide. You can endanger yourself in doing this, but you made that decision on your own. Thank you, please call again.

The burnt offering:

    While not a bad PSU in any regards, the Antec 250 watt PSU is rather bland with a black fan. I'll spare you the picture of it, because you can look at basically any "normal" PSU and well, black fan, steel, it doesn't look so great. Please note that most PSU's use 80mm fans. That however is changing because we all want quiet PC's. Make sure you know how large the fan is you are replacing...

    So here we go, why not make the old Antec PSU look like a new TrueBlue Antec PSU? (Note: There was nothing wrong with the fan in my instance. I just wanted it to look better!)
 

(1) There it is	(2) Specifications

Step 1:

    As you can see in picture 3, there are usually 4 small screws holding on a PSU cover. Remove them as pictured.
 

(3) Remove those to remove the cover	(4) Removed

 

(5) Inside of a PSU	(6) Another angle

Step 2:

    Look at the PSU, what kind of connector does the fan have in the PSU? Is it soldered in? Can you unplug it? This particular one, as you can see in 7 and 8, is connected via a Molex connector to the board. Pull that bad boy out then.
 

(7) Now you see it...	(8) Now you don't

Step 3:

    Generally, 4 normal self threading fan screws hold the fan to the PSU. Remove them as in picture 9 and 10. Picture 11 is what I pulled out of the PSU for giggles...
 

(9) Those hold the fan in	(10) Removed

 

(11) The old fan	(12) Wires stripped

Step 4:

    Strip the wires of of your fan that you will be replacing your current one with. I am using a Galaxy 80mm Blue LED fan for this one in particular. You can get them anywhere such as jab-tech, which is one of my favorite Mod Supply Stores, or just check the sponsor list on the site. Picture 12 shows two wires; black being negative, and red being positive. So what is with the yellow wire in picture 13? It is only needed for RPM monitoring, so we don't need it here. Lift up your label, as pictured in picture 13, and wiggle the wire back and forth. After a few seconds or so, the wire will break off cleanly from it's soldering point. Replace the sticker, trim off your fan connecter, and strip the wires on your PSU leads.
 

(13) Usually yellow colored wire, is extra	(14) Removed

Step 5:

    In this instance, it had some covering over the fan wires. No reason I can tell, other than neatness. Attach the wires with your Molex connector, or if you had to cut wires because your fan wires were soldered into your circuit board, do so carefully. Note: If you had to cut wires from your PSU to replace the fan, leave them as long as possible. You can never have too much wire really. Having too little is a deal breaker. So if you need to cut out a fan, cut the wires by the fan, and not the circuit board. You'll thank me later...
 

Step 6:

    Solder or electrical tape up your fan wires. It is your choice. If you are going to solder them, use some heat shrink to get the wires looking good, or, I guess, just tape them. I'm lazy, so I just taped mine. It's whatever you feel like doing really. Just make sure your wires are insulated so they won't cross, or touch anything else, and cause a short circuit. Think about it; no one will really see your work anyway, unless you put a clear cover on your PSU...
 

(15) Connected wires	(16) Fan mounted

Step 7:

    Lastly, after you have insulated your fan wires, mount the fan, put the cover back on, and fire it up! With any luck, you will get something like picture 17, or whatever fan you ultimately decided to put in your PSU.
 

(17) PSU fan blue	(18) PSU fan red

Closing:

    I figure since you are replacing the fan, you might as well make it something that looks more appealing. It is up to you. With many options of fans out there, you might as well pick up an LED fan. Just make sure the ones that have the exposed wiring/soldering DO NOT ground out against your case. If needed, wrap some electrical tape around the diameter of the fan so you won't have any issues. You don't see the tape I put around the red fan do you? I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. Let ME know if you have questions, concerns, or just take it up in the Forums by clicking the link in the navigation above.

    I have replaced PSU fans and used the 3 or 4 pin connectors and ran it thru the front of the PSU to piggyback onto the PSU, or motherboard power source. You can do that too it your wires are long enough. In that case, no soldering, nor worries about splicing wires. Also, as long as you match polarity, (the red and black wires) you can remove the shroud on the PSU board, (where your original fan was plugged in) and insert a 3 pin fan connecter, matching polarity of course, and be done quickly as well. I've done that numerous times on video cards as well.