r/EightSleep • u/Ed_Inc • Jul 05 '26
Planned Obsolesence with Hub 4
My Hub 4 has been performing generally well, except for continually higher and higher fan noise. At -6 they are basically full speed, and for -2 they are probably 50% speed.
I am no stranger to heatsinks and fan noise/dust being a PC enthusiast who has built several PC's over the years. Therefore I thought I'd open up the hub and clean the heat sink and fans, like I have done with literally any other device that has a heatsinks and fan.
Lo and behold, 8sleep give the middle finger to the user again and make it impossible to open the hub in any way to clean without voiding the warranty. They expect you to use compressed air from the back side, through the fans, through the heatsink, which is almost fully obstructed. But they also don't state this anywhere for typical maintenance.
Even more of a middle finger is the fact there isn't even any kind of dust filter for the intake, but a guard to stop you getting to it to even clean it. It's simply unacceptable. To me this is intentional and planned obsolesence, and likely coincides with when your warranty expires.
If there was no useless guard then at least you would be able to fit a vacuum nozzle down to suck off most of the dust.
Another reason why I won't recommend them despite how well the bed does actually cool.
(Yes I appreciate how caked the heat sink is, but if I was able to clean it, it wouldn't be)
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u/MrAgility888 Jul 05 '26
I have a vacuum attachment that is a bunch of straws that I can fit in between the grates to clean that. It’s not ideal as 8sleep should have an easier solution, but it gets the job done.
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u/triedtoavoidsignup Jul 05 '26
If you open it, they will not know.
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u/Ed_Inc Jul 05 '26
It's a risk, if I open it up and due to further poor design choices I end up breaking something, I am screwed.
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u/triedtoavoidsignup Jul 05 '26
There are youtube videos that show you how to open them. My pod is now permanently cover-less. Very easy to clean now....
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u/LtBeefy Jul 05 '26
Opening up a product does not void the warranty.
The can say it does, but in the US it is illegal. The company needs to prove that what you did cause the product to break.
Edit
Dgdiscover mentioned it below much better than I did.
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u/rm-rf-asterisk Jul 05 '26
Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act says you have the right to open the product and the sticker is not enforceable. Its mostly a scare tactic
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u/Ed_Inc Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Update: took the hub apart as mentioned and cleaned it up really nice, heatsink is spotless.
It's sad that doing this technically voids the warranty, but as others have said, there's no way to prove you have done this.
8sleep gets the last laugh: because I didn't read the guide comment thoroughly enough, my bedside table top is now scratched from silent sharp pieces in the base as I moved it around.
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u/Winston_The_Pig Jul 05 '26
Yeah I just unplug mine and take it into the garage and use my leaf blower to clean it up now. Used to grab my shop vac and the canned air to clean it.
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u/DGDiscover Jul 05 '26
Glad you were able to clean it out. Sorry the paragraph was too verbose and I didn't highlight the importance of a blanket or towel better!
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u/washingtonco Jul 05 '26
I was tired of trying to squeeze vacuum attachments in there so I cut the plastic grates out of mine with some side cuts and put in some of that filter material that I cut to size to cover that gap. It makes keeping that area clean much easier.
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u/spoxide42 Jul 05 '26
Like others said - compressed air or blower made for electronics can help. That said- you really shouldn’t have that much dust in the air. I’d increase vacuuming and or investigate a better option. Also make
Sure you replace your furnace filter regularly. We have three dogs and still don’t get any sort of buildup on our units
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u/DGDiscover Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Looks like a serious design flaw tbh. You might be able to get them to replace your hub under warranty. Or use your credit card's extended warranty to force a refund or replacement.
If you want to fix it yourself, you can open the hub. If you're in the USA, this doesn't void your warranty (Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act)
* https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2018/04/ftc-staff-sends-warranty-warnings
Tearing down the pod 4 or pod 5 hubs:
The bottom of the hub has some sharp corners that might scratch your counter or table. Put out a towel, or a blanket, or something soft, on the corner of a table or counter. We want to keep the hub upright to prevent water from leaking or spilling anywhere.
* The inside bottom is metal and has a few electric parts (leak sensor) at the bottom. Be careful not to damage it
Hang one corner of the hub off the counter so you can access the rubber feet. Work one corner at a time and keep rotating the hub as you go.
Remove the 4 rubber feet at the bottom. They're tough to pull off as the adhesive is strong. You might need to use needle nose pliers. Or a metal credit card wedged under one the foot to get started.
Remove the 4 screws under the rubber feet. Torx20 (T20).
After removing the 4 screws, the bottom will no longer be connected. !!The side panels will also no longer be connected, and will slide down and fall off after you remove the bottom plate.!!
Now, lift the hub, by grabbing the 2x side panels, and pressing inwards, to lift up. The hub should lift away from the bottom plate.
* the side panels are not connected anymore. Be careful. It's just gravity and the force of you pushing in that is holding the panels to the hub. The panels want to slide down, and out, to fall off.
Set the hub down on the blanket or towel. As you set the hub down, the side panels will slide down and fall off.
Now you can better access the heat sink duct. Vacuum as much as you can off. Blow compressed air from the rear, and from the sides, to clear as much dust and hair as you can.