Do fans normally slow down over time?

[mike87]

one of my case fans drastically slowed down over time... I'm gonna replace it, well all of my fans for that matter, but is it normal for a fan to slow down drastically over time, say, over the span of a year?

 

[Diablo2K]

I have never had any fans noticably sow down over time but I would imagine that its really likely to happen, especially on non ball bearing fans. Could be that it didn't get a good dose of lube at the factory or a dust bunny got sicked into the works. I wouldn't be surprised if I had a fan fail every now and then,guess I just been lucky.


Hmmm, was just remembering the old days when we had those 40mm fans on the chipset, I have had alot of those fail, as well as some 60mm CPU fans, but sense switching to 80mm or larger I have had no problems luckely.

 

[keenan]

I don't think brushless DC motors in general should change RPM in any significant way as they age, so if you're finding that's the case in your setup it's likely either because the load has increased (ie. dust clogged fans or more impedance on the airflow) or because the voltage driving them has changed.

 

[E.T]

Is it sleeve bearing fan?
And in horizontal position?