Update 12/15/2023: An Enermax representative reached out to Tom's Hardware to clarify that " the oil leak we mentioned will actually still stay in the fan itself with the anti-leak oil tank design and will not go inside the power supply," and will "definitely not cause any fire or public safety [concerns] for our customers." As such, we have removed a brief mention below about fire and safety concerns.
After noticing "higher than normal RMA rates," Taiwan-based Enermax has learned that the fans used in some of its Revolution D.F.2 and Revolution D.F.X. series power supplies have faulty fan bearings which eventually caused an oil leak during use and subsequent noise issues. Due to higher-than-normal RMA rates for these specific power supplies, Enermax has announced a voluntary product recall for purchases made in 2023.
Enermax also said that not all of the PSUs in this series are at fault. But still, the company is playing it safe. The company said the newer units are now fitted with industrial-grade dual ball bearing fans in the power supply to address this issue. To make this recall as hassle-free as reasonably possible, Enermax said it will be handling all the shipping logistics and has an advanced RMA process for these specific power supplies. The revised power supplies will have a red 'OC Passed' sticker on the product and an 'Equipped with Industrial Grade Dual-Bearing Fan sticker on the packaging. So if yours doesn't, contact Enermax to start the RMA process.
Potential Reason for Failure?
The Revolution D.F.2 and D.F.X. series was launched earlier this year with a 'self-clean' during boot-up, which Enermax call Dust-Free Rotation (DFR) technology.
The D.F.X. power supply uses the PFERS-12M fan with a dual-ball bearing-six-pole engine. The way this 'self-clean' works is by doing a power reverse spin when it is powered up. The rest of the supply is made by another OEM.
So the likely source of the problem appears to be fan related, and not the power supply design or its D.F.R. technology. Switching to an industrial-grade dual ball-bearing fan should remedy the issue. If you have the one without the red OC sticker, start the RMA process.
Enermax is not an unfamiliar name in the power supply business, but it is probably not the first to come to mind, largely due to the saturation brands and OEMs. Enermax previously made power supplies until 2014. It has been some time since it manufactured their own power supplies. It is not known if Enermax are designing its power supplies before handing over to OEMs for production.
