Replace the Cartridge or Rebuild the Fan?
When soldering a new bearing makes sense—and when field replacement is the safer call for active hosting.
Workshop rebuilds—new bearings pressed into an existing hub—can cost less per fan on paper. For production racks at 0.05 TH/s and above, we usually recommend field cartridge replacement instead.
Downtime math
Rebuilds require fan removal, bench time, and re-balancing. Even a skilled bench costs hours off the hash clock. Cartridge swaps target under one hour per unit onsite.
Balance and vibration
Imbalanced rebuilds transmit vibration into hash board mounts. Cartridges arrive factory-balanced to the shroud they ship with.
Warranty and liability
Self-rebuilt fans complicate insurance claims when a shroud crack propagates. Documented cartridge swaps with thermal logs give a clear maintenance trail for landlords and insurers.
When rebuild is reasonable
Single-unit hobby setups with spare bench time, no co-tenant SLA, and a stock of known-good bearings may rebuild economically. We still advise keeping one factory cartridge for A/B comparison.