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Forum Discussion
Adding Orbi 970 fan
I’m planning to add a fan to my Orbi 970 to help extend its lifespan, and I’m curious about how others have configured their setups. For instance, do you typically mount the fan on top to direct hot air upward and out? If so, how effective has that been in keeping the device cool? Alternatively, have you found better results by positioning the fan to blow air downward into the unit, or perhaps mounting it on the side to channel airflow upward and out through the top? I would greatly appreciate any advice or insights you can share. Thank you!
9 Replies
I keep one of these on top of my RBR pulling air from bottom to top or pulling air upwards from the RBR:
I've never used a fan with any of my netgear routers. At any given time, I've got about 120-150 devices connected to my network. While its warm, I wouldn't say its hot. CPU load sitting around 20-30% without armor/parental controls active.
- I’m with FURRYe38 , I have the same unit just sitting on top of the unit.
There’s a fine line on fan diameter for top use. There’s an 85mm solid round plate at top center on the RBE’s. Your fan will work better if the blades extend beyond the center plate so it can pull air up thru the RBE. But, if you go beyond a 145mm fan-base width, it will hang over the outside of the RBE, and end up pulling most of the fan air from the outside top of the router and not up thru the inside of the router (pulling air thru the router has more resistance than pulling unobstructed air from the outside of the router).
I have a 120mm diameter fan (I think that’s what furry has also) and it covers the top of the router (not an exact fit because my 120mm fan-base is a square shape while the RBE top is basically a modified triangular base.
You are wise to add this “insurance”. I use them on the router and satellites.a fan is never a bad idea as heat is the death of electronics. and with that expensive of a unit, its a pretty cheap investment. Its just not something that you have to have. Thats all I was going for with my setup description.
In the past year or so, there were posts in the forum of specific Orbi routers overheating, while other apparently identical units did not. At the time, there was speculation that perhaps some units came out of the factory with inadequate thermal paste. My opinion is:
- If manufactured correctly, these devices should not overheat in temperatures from 32 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Adding a cooling fan cannot possibly harm a router, and may actually increase performance or lifespan.
