Give a new life to your Synology disk station: change its cooling fan

After some years of use, you’ll notice the increase noise coming from the cooling system. Any ventilator on the market, even the more expensive, or the more silent will wear off and start making noise. Replacing the ventilator is done in less than 2 minutes if you follow this little how to.

Choosing the right ventilator

• Don’t pay too much, better choose a cheap model and replace it every year or two
• Below 19 dB, it is difficult to hear a ventilator running, don’t go over 22dB noise
• You need a 80mm x 80mm x 25mm it is a standard size, you cant go wrong in a shop (other common size are 92mm and 120mm)
• Check that the connector is a 3 pin Molex.
• It need to run on 12volts, the lower the voltage, the lower the noise, but too low and the NAS may overheat since the air flow is also reduced.

I paid this Xilence case fan 8 euros, sold as being silent 15dB, 1500 rpm, 18.67 CFM, not running below 7V.

You can safely choose any brand:  Papst, Be quiet!, Revoltec, Zalman, Noctua, Noiseblocker, all of these are good if they meet the above requirement, unfortunately the were not available in my favorite shop (www.digitec.ch)

Open the back side of your Synology NAS, remove the old case fan and replace by the new one, it is so simple.

The old one and the new one side by side

Everything is in place

You can now enjoy your Synology NAS, the silence is back!