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How do you tell if your fan is sucking or blowing?
- Thread starter Timmay2k
- Start date
Most fans that I have seen have directional arrows on one of the sides of the casing. These arrows show the direction of the blade spin and the direction of the airflow.
Or you could just put a peice of paper up to the fans and see if it gets sucked in or blown away....
Or you could just put a peice of paper up to the fans and see if it gets sucked in or blown away....
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2003
- Location
- Middlesbrough
they normaly have a arrow on the side of the fan showing you which direction .....try wetting youre finger and putting it close to the fan as well
EDIT Piped at the post
EDIT Piped at the post
Smoke works very well to follow the direction of flow. Light a candle, wait until it's fully enflamed then extinguish it and quickly hold it in front of the fan and watch the flow. If you've got a window on the side of your case you can also see how the air acts once inside the case and see if there are any dead spots.
Another alternative is to get some dry ice and let the dry ice vapor flow thru your case. Watch the flow like the the smoke suggestion above. Be careful, though, not to let too much of the vapor go thru your computer or do it for very long because it is CO2 mixed with water vapor. The water vapor is what you can see.
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2004
- Location
- 5 Point West Side
You're kidding right? Just hook up the fan and point the damn thing to your face, or hand if you have any.
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2004
eobard said:
This is what i did and it works very well.
FuzzyBallz said:You're kidding right? Just hook up the fan and point the damn thing to your face, or hand if you have any.
Be nice to the newbie you dont want to scare him off, lol.
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2002
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
squads said:
Sometimes it's hard to tell if it's a low cfm fan. The best way is probably the paper method.
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2004
- Location
- Jericho Vermont
on ~90% of the fans ive seen that have ONE sticker on them the air blows tword the sticker
I've had a situation where I set a fan to exhaust but the combination factors of fan placement within the case, fan airflow direction (in or out) and the space within the case caused air to be sucked in. The negative pressure was stronger than the force the fan could exert. So even though the fan was set to exhaust the opening was intake. Sometimes letting a little smoke float around to see the movement of the air is good.
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2003
- Location
- Kansas City, KS USA
whenever i'm not sure i just stop the fan, examine the fins, then see which way it spins when i power it back on... never thought checking w/ paper (that DOES sound easier)...
the only way smoke is going to be handier is if you're already smoking... something...
the only way smoke is going to be handier is if you're already smoking... something...
Or you could just look at the blades and determine by the pitch which way it blows... no offense but this seems like way too of a common sense thing to even have to ask. Then again maybe I'm just a genius or something to have figured this stuff out on my own
Mighty Joe
Mighty Joe
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2004
- Location
- Denver, CO
this was mentioned already, but ill clarify
you see how the fan has the 4 small bars holding the motor assembly in place? the fan will push air over those. meaning the airflow would be TOWARD the camera. hope this helps
