Importance of cleaning fan outlets.....

[paulCC]

Hello - just an experience I wanted to share.

My 2011 Macbook Pro, 15, 2011 early has been quite noisy - fans running often at max RPMs, for long periods of time. Quite disturbing.....The temperature was never below 62 degree C after a few minutes warmup.

As I was switching to an SSD, and had the machine opened, I decided to try to clean the fan outlets, which requires removing the fans.

I found out the fan outlets almost completely clogged by dust !

Now, with the fan outlets clean, the Mac is running some 15 degree C cooler ( right now at 45 degree C ), and this with only 1 fan.

If you wonder about the one fan - I managed to destroy the connector on the right fan. I ventured to to run the computer with one fan only for now - iStats shows no hot parts, so-far-so-good.
Now the challenge of finding replacement fan on Ebay, that ships to the Czech republic.

And what makes me a bit angry - when the Apple service here in the Czech republic was replacing my battery under Applecare last year, I asked them to clean it. My guess is they did not, based on the noise the machine was making, and the amount of dust.

PaulCC.

 

[Doward]

Hello - just an experience I wanted to share.

My 2011 Macbook Pro, 15, 2011 early has been quite noisy - fans running often at max RPMs, for long periods of time. Quite disturbing.....The temperature was never below 62 degree C after a few minutes warmup.

As I was switching to an SSD, and had the machine opened, I decided to try to clean the fan outlets, which requires removing the fans.

I found out the fan outlets almost completely clogged by dust !

Now, with the fan outlets clean, the Mac is running some 15 degree C cooler ( right now at 45 degree C ), and this with only 1 fan.

If you wonder about the one fan - I managed to destroy the connector on the right fan. I ventured to to run the computer with one fan only for now - iStats shows no hot parts, so-far-so-good.
Now the challenge of finding replacement fan on Ebay, that ships to the Czech republic.

And what makes me a bit angry - when the Apple service here in the Czech republic was replacing my battery under Applecare last year, I asked them to clean it. My guess is they did not, based on the noise the machine was making, and the amount of dust.

PaulCC.

They may tell you to pound sand, but it may be worthwhile to talk to your local Apple store, especially if you have AppleCare.

Otherwise, I'd be happy to purchase and send you the appropriate fan, if you are unable to locate it and are willing to pay the shipping cost.

 

[paulCC]

They may tell you to pound sand, but it may be worthwhile to talk to your local Apple store, especially if you have AppleCare.

Otherwise, I'd be happy to purchase and send you the appropriate fan, if you are unable to locate it and are willing to pay the shipping cost.

Thank you for the offer of help ! This is very kind of you.

I see few of the fans available in Germany, even on Amazon.de, where they ship to my address here just fine. I plan to make some calls on Monday here locally, before I order abroad.

Paul.

 

[dastinger]

So, just blowing compressed air into the fans does not do it?

 

[paulCC]

So, just blowing compressed air into the fans does not do it?

Now that I understand more what the layout of the fans and heat sink looks like, my plan for future is to unscrew the fan assembly, lift it while the cable is attached, and clean the heat sink with a brush.

I did check some Youtube videos on blowing compressed air through the heat sink, basically into the direction of the fans. This looks like the wrong thing to do, blowing the accumulated dust into the fans and onto and under the logic board.

Sure would be interesting to see how Apple technicians do this.

Paul..

 

[Doward]

Now that I understand more what the layout of the fans and heat sink looks like, my plan for future is to unscrew the fan assembly, lift it while the cable is attached, and clean the heat sink with a brush.

I did check some Youtube videos on blowing compressed air through the heat sink, basically into the direction of the fans. This looks like the wrong thing to do, blowing the accumulated dust into the fans and onto and under the logic board.

Sure would be interesting to see how Apple technicians do this.

Paul..

Correct. Better to blow from the fans outward.

Best is to remove the fans from the heatsink, to clean between them.