Slip Stream 1200rpm: need replacement after 3 years?

[jjwa]

Hello!

Three years ago I have bought 5 Scythe Slip Stream 1200rpm fans. My computer has been running 24/7 and judging by the inside of my computer case (I clean it out regularly), the environment can get a bit dusty. I have used them in combination with a fancontroller (Zalman ZM-MFC1), they have often been running on lower speeds, but never below 5V. I believe the startup voltage is ~3.5V, so I was not expecting any issues because of that.

But I am afraid it looks like my fans need to be replaced.

• One fan makes a humming noise. On full speed it is loud enough for me to not have a 'silent computer' at all, and makes me want to turn it off. It sounds like the fan is out of balance.
• One fan sometimes does not start spinning at all, for example after rebooting the computer. The fan is attached to a fancontroller like all others, but was getting ~10.5V, so undervolting should not have been the issue. It happened several times, and sometimes it would start running if I gave it a little spin with my finger.
• One fan runs very slowly, visibly, and I can see it because of the LED indicator on the fan controller.

That is 3 out of 5 fans. So I would have to replace all 5, because maybe the other 2 will start running badly soon as well...


So I have three questions for Scythe:

• Is it normal for the fans to stop functioning as they should, after 3 years of use? Even when undervolted (5V at the lowest) and with some dust.
• I assume my warranty was for 2 years, but is it possible Scythe is willing to replace these fans for me, if they stopped working much quicker than they should?
• Should or could I do a bit of maintenance myself? I have carefully removed the dust from the blade edges now and then, but I have also read about removing the sticker from the fan's hub, and adding a bit of oil. Should I do this? What kind of oil should I use?

And maybe I should mention that the Scythe cooler on my Ninja is still running without problems, and on full speed.

Thanks for reading this, and let me say that before they stopped working well, I was very satisfied with Scythe . The fans cooled very well at very silent speeds!


jjwa