It’s been a while since I noticed that but I can’t find the reason. I selfhost :
- a linkding with docker
- a writefreely
- a bludit blog
- a CalDav (radicale)
There is a syncthing running for backups done with borg at night (automated with a crontab).
When I htop, I don’t see anything to hint me to what is causing the heating.
Any ideas of what I could do to investigate that?
Thanks a lot.
What’s your utilization? On how many cores?
Starting blind, I’d start with cleaning the case, fans and heat sinks with compressed air (canned is fine, do it outside). Dust builds up, and prevents proper cooling. DO NOT LET THE FANS SPIN WHILE CLEANING THEM, the reverse current will damage your system.
Check for any failed fans.
After that, changing the thermal paste might help depending on how well or how long ago it was applied originally. Paste is cheap so no need to be stingy. Generally lasts about 5 years before beginning to degrade.
The backflow current from fans is extremely minuscule and extremely unlikely to damage anything from that. There are even tests using a damn leaf blower on the fans and it barely generated any current. Even if it did generate a backflow, diodes on the mobo should prevent it from becoming an issue unless it’s a power so great that it just fries everything, but that’s basically impossible with a fan.
Here’s one such experiment.
https://youtu.be/k9KA-xLLQXo
Yeah. You’re more likely to physically damage it by hitting the little plastic blades with too much force at the wrong angle.