That's why I love the Sapphire dual ball bearing X-Fans. One screw to take off the fan for maintenance and cleaning and no wires to run or deal with. Replacements are $12.50 each including shipping from Sapphire and they are super easy to replace.
Yeah I stayed away from Sapphire ever since the 6950/7950 days. I changed every single fan on over 30 6950 because every one failed in 2 years and some of the ones on my 7950s I changed more than 3 times. I guess Sapphire got sick of RMAs for fans and improved their fan quality and modular design.
I have yet to have a single Twin Frozr fan fail - they must protect from dust intrusion really well.