Disaster Avoided
By fishtiger58
@fishtiger58 (29823)
Momence, Illinois
October 7, 2017 9:11am CST
My son is a hot guy. He doesn't care for summer he is more a winter kind of guy. So when he sleeps he runs a fan in his room, all year long. Last night I was watching the Dodger game and playing on my computer. I thought my son had gone to bed because I thought I could hear his fan running. How wrong I was.
When I realized that it wasn't his fan, I put my head down near my computer tower and it was coming from my computer. I quickly turned off my computer. Periodically I open my computer tower and clean the 2 fans that are inside. They get dusty and I don't think it's good for the fans to be overly dusty, makes them work harder I think.
I disconnected all the cords and carried my tower into the kitchen, took the side off so I could access the fans. Other than being dusty everything looked fine. But it was not. I then plugged the power cord into the computer and turned it on. The one fan was not running and it started to smoke. Not good. The other fan seemed fine. I thought I was going to have to see about getting another fan on Saturday.
My husband came into the kitchen and said maybe we can change out the fan with one from another computer tower I had in the basement that no longer worked. So that's what we did and now my computer is running like a top. For some time I could occasionally hear my computer running, now it's as quite as a mouse.
I probably have 4 computer towers in the basement that no longer work, and my husband wants to take them to a place that takes electronics to throw away. So glad he hadn't done that yet, this probably saved us at least 35 dollars maybe more.
Guess we might just keep those towers or maybe I should just take out all the fans for the future, and then get rid of the rest, you never know.
Image is the inside of a computer tower by Pixabay
18 people like this
17 responses
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
7 Oct 17
I would take out the parts that can be used to fix other broken parts. Can save you a pretty penny in the long run.
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
7 Oct 17
Thankfully my husband suggested that, I would have never thought to do that, so glad we did. I am one to run right out and buy another computer without waiting to get it fixed. So glad it's running like a top now.
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
7 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 my exidiot kept everything. Had to toss out a bunch of nothing when I had to clean out our old place.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
7 Oct 17
@ElusiveButterfly My hubby is a bit of a pack rat too. But I make him take that mess to the barn, he can fill that barn up to the rafters as long at it's not in my house lol.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (457238)
• Switzerland
7 Oct 17
We also have several towers in the basement and some have been disassembled to keep some parts that can be useful. A fan does not cost a lot, but it's a shame to buy when when you can use from an old tower. I cleaned my tower 4 days ago, it was a bit noisy, in fact it was dusty.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (457238)
• Switzerland
8 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 As soon as I notice that my tower becomes noisy, I open it and vacuum.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
9 Oct 17
@LadyDuck I do occasionally open and dust mine but for some reason I let that slip my mind.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
8 Oct 17
It had been a while since I opened mine up and cleaned it. This fan going out could have been my fault but really glad an old one worked.
1 person likes this
@Shellyann36 (11385)
• United States
13 Oct 17
Glad you discovered the problem before it could blow up on you! I would save the parts off of the old computers if you can. You never know when you can use a spare part.
1 person likes this
@Shellyann36 (11385)
• United States
13 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 
My hubby has told me the same thing about ours. As long as they know I guess. Hubby has spent time watching the videos online about taking computers apart and selling the scrap metals from them.
My hubby has told me the same thing about ours. As long as they know I guess. Hubby has spent time watching the videos online about taking computers apart and selling the scrap metals from them.1 person likes this
@Shellyann36 (11385)
• United States
13 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 My hubby has told me the same thing about ours. As long as they know I guess. Hubby has spent time watching the videos online about taking computers apart and selling the scrap metals from them.
My hubby has told me the same thing about ours. As long as they know I guess. Hubby has spent time watching the videos online about taking computers apart and selling the scrap metals from them.1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
13 Oct 17
I must have 4 computer towers in the basement and yes we are keeping them for parts. Inside a computer tower is not that complicated actually, according to my husband.
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
7 Oct 17
That's great that you had one so you didn't have to buy another one.
2 people like this
@LovingMyBabies (85127)
• Valdosta, Georgia
7 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 That is awesome. =) Makes things much easier.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
7 Oct 17
For sure, I am one to run right out the minute my computer breaks, I can't be without one. So it was very cool and my computer is running great and ever so quiet.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
8 Oct 17
Yup the build up of dust can ruin a computer. You can take out the hard drive and destroy it. When we junk computers we always take out the hard drive and destroy it with a hammer.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111064)
• El Paso, Texas
8 Oct 17
I guess I could @fishtiger58 I just hoped to find a way to recycle it without compromising any of my personal information.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
9 Oct 17
@rebelann I think destroying the hard drive is really the only way.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (246334)
• United States
11 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 My husband is less knowledgeable than I am regarding computers, and I'm an idiot! 
. You are darn lucky and your hubs is smart. Neither of us know about a fan. 
. You are darn lucky and your hubs is smart. Neither of us know about a fan. 1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
11 Oct 17
So do I Dianne, I can't tell you how many old ones I have in the basement. I was getting ready to go buy one right then and there lol. Hubby said lets just try and woohooo it worked.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
12 Oct 17
@DianneN Actually most towers have two fans and both need to be cleaned.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
8 Oct 17
Oh yes what a good idea that was fishtiger!!! Saved you a bit of money for sure.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
9 Oct 17
It did and my computer was up and running in just over an hour.
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11121)
• Malaysia
7 Oct 17
Glad you got it fixed, how old is the computer?
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11121)
• Malaysia
7 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 That's good, plus it's not that old so it's almost like using a new one 
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
7 Oct 17
@cahaya1983 It really is, it's so quiet now I love that.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
7 Oct 17
I think it's about 3 years old, other than the fan breaking the computer works great. And now I don't have to worry about the fan.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79548)
• United States
11 Oct 17
You're lucky your husband realized you could change out the fans. Not something i would have thought of.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
12 Oct 17
I was getting ready to go to the store buy a new computer lol, I'm glad he thought of it, never in a million years would I have,.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
13 Oct 17
Your smart to keep the old one for parts, we always get rid of them when they die. I might need to start doing that too...
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
15 Oct 17
Yup I would have never thought to do that, glad hubby did. I was all set to take off and go buy another one.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
9 Oct 17
Yea it was pretty awesome I was so pleased.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
11 Oct 17
I was so pleased, I would have never thought to try that, glad my husband did. Computer still so darn quiet love that.
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66857)
• Philippines
8 Oct 17
hmmm, i think here, that is what we call the CPU. (central processing unit)
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66857)
• Philippines
9 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 the CPU is where the fan is found.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
9 Oct 17
@ridingbet Oh ok I learn something new everyday thanks.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
8 Oct 17
Are you sure, because it's just a fan.
1 person likes this
@FayeHazel (40248)
• United States
8 Oct 17
It's good to clean out those computers. When you said your son was hot... I thought for a minute... lol! I was going to say - give him my number
1 person likes this
@FayeHazel (40248)
• United States
9 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 Lol! Give him my number then. ;-) Just kiddin
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (169535)
• United States
7 Oct 17
It's nice you had those extra towers on hand. I always use a laptop. I almost had a disaster yesterday too however, I was cleaning my tilt windows and one of them flipped all the way down when I was outsidec cleaning it and i almost creamed the cat. Forunately, it stayed in the track also, because if it fell on the floor it might have broken and cost beaucoup bucks to fix!
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
7 Oct 17
yup those windows are not like windows of old, you break one you get a new piece of glass. With the newer ones you have to buy the whole window. And they certainly are not cheap. I love that we were able to fix my computer, I'm one to run out and buy a new one right away. I sell on ebay and have to have my computer up and running.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
8 Oct 17
You are not dumb. I bet lots of people don't know. The only reason I know is my brother used to be in the computer repair business, and he told me long ago to clean those fans and showed me how to do it.
1 person likes this
