Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fans

adding floor fans to a ac

brent_h — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:35:15 -0800

Can a 3ton ac intake be incresed by adding floor fans to the intake? We have a 3ton ac for one of our server rooms that really needs more cooling/ more heat taken out of the room. One of my coworkers believes that by strapping two 6500 BTU floor fans to the hot air return of the ac the 3 ton unit will in essence be supercharged and will pull even more hot air out of the room. This does not make sense to me, and if anything I believe it will slow the return down, as the fans will cover the entire opening of the plenum. I will fully admit that I don't know much about thermodynamics. But I do know that even if it does work, strapping two 6500 BTU fans to a 3 ton unit won't be doing much.

What to do with the Facebook Sushi page?

cdemay — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:51:52 -0800

I am the creator of the largest Facebook Sushi page (with 900,000+ fans); If you were me, what would you do with this power and responsibility? :) Facebook is the largest and fastest-growing social networking site in the world. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

I am the creator of the largest and fastest-growing Facebook Sushi page

Since creating the page in August 2008, more than 900,000 Facebook users have become "fans" of my Sushi page, making it one of the top 50 most popular and fastest growing products on Facebook. (More than 10,000 fans add themselves each day.)

As the page owner, I can reach all these Sushi fans directly through the application. I can also manage targeted ads, develop integrated content, and engage a global fan base at a scale unavailable through any other medium.

* Here are the demographics:

Female/Male/Total
65% 35%
13-17 16% 8% 24%
18-24 26% 13% 40%
25-34 17% 10% 27%
35-44 5% 3% 7%
45+ 1% 1% 2%

Mar. 30 Mar. 29
Page Views 2,918 2,869

* Those page views are representative of visitation when I have no ads, no posts, and no solicitation emails to the group. Basically, ~3,000 people a day are ACTIVELY SEEKING the page, unprompted... unadvertised.

* As a test of membership response to posts, I posted a news link (about sushi being the "fast food of the future", from an Adelaide newspaper)... Within an hour, 1,000 people have taken the time to mark the article with "I Like This"... and over 150 took the time to comment on the article, again, within the first hour.

So, if you were me, what would you do with this power and responsibility? :)

Pats

chickaboo — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:10:51 -0800

Where do Patriots fans go to watch the games on Sundays in DC? Don't say Virginia!

Sysadmin Seeks Officemate, Must Speak Fast Ethernet, Take Orders.

Skorgu — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:26:01 -0800

Are there any managed Fast Ethernet switches that are quiet enough to share an office with? One of our two tiny, silent, solid-state Netgear workgroup switches has given up the ghost and I'd really like to be able to VLAN and port mirror, QoS/port priorities would be nice too. We'd rather not pay for Gigabit that we don't need and port count is pretty flexible, the dead switch has 16 ports but we were using about half that.

Why does my C2D Macbook Pro fan run constantly?

crazyray — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:19:15 -0800

I have a 2.33 Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro 15 inch laptop. Recently, I have noticed that both fans on it constantly run at the maximum 6000 rpm's. The noise is driving me nuts, and the battery seems to run out much sooner. My question is in two parts: (1) would anything in the system logs help explain why this is happening? and (2) how can I make it stop? Here are the steps that I have taken to try to diagnose the root cause:

(1) reset PMMU per these instuctions
(2) setup new blank user account to see if it was software related (it wasn't- the fans actually kick in at full blast even on the login screen)

Please help me understand what is causing this. The bootup temp is 106 degrees F, so I really do not think it is temperature related.

Repairing the A/C on my laptop?

kraigory — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:46:31 -0800

How difficult is it to replace a laptop's cooling fans? I have a Dell Inspiron E1505, and I have been having some problems with the onboard cooling fans. I would like to replace them, but I am not sure how hard it would be to do myself. I would really prefer to not send it somewhere, such as Dell's support center. Besides, it's a year old, and has dual-booth with ubuntu linux (via grub), so they probably wouldn't be too eager to replace them anyway.

I have seen various online repair stores that claim they can replace the fans, so I'm hoping that means its possible to somehow acquire the fans. If i can get my hands on them, does anyone know how hard it would be to dig into my laptop and actually replace the fans?

I've never dug into my laptop before, but it looks rather accessible. I'm not really worried about voiding warranty or anything, but I don't want to mess anything up very badly.

Or, does anyone have experience with local computer repair shops, or even the geek squad at bestbuy, replacing cooling fans in a laptop? I'm not sure if they would be able to do it, or what the cost would be.

Thanks for any advice/insight!

Installed Vista and my system fans are at constant aircraft volume. Speedfan isn't offering any answers. Please help.

bradn — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:49:48 -0800

Installed Vista and my system fans are at constant aircraft volume. Speedfan isn't offering any answers. Please help. My board is an Abit AN8-SLI, and it uses uGURU for fan speed and overclocking, but apparently Abit has decided to not support this board for Vista, and I can't find a compatible version of uGURU on the Abit site (although the site is a nightmare so i could be missing something). I have spent way too much time trying to configure Speedfan to do the job, but although it detects the board, and there are several configs for the board that are downloadable, I cannot get it to control the speed of my fans. The percentage boxes that allow you to adjust the speed (as seen in every tutorial i have found) simply aren't there when I install Speedfan. I guess it's not supported for fan speed adjustment(?).

Is my only option a hardware fan speed controller? I don't want to be that much of a geek.

Advice re: fans and a/c to cool this large open space?

dobbs — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 07:35:35 -0800

Cooling a large space. Specifics inside. General info on Air Conditioners/Fans also appreciated. Recomended air conditioner brands/size/btu? Recommended fans/placement?

Here's the situation:

So I have a large open space, 900sf + 200sf loft. A rectangle.

On one wall (brick and south-facing) there is a large window, 3ft off the ground and 6ft high and 3ft wide.

On the opposite end of the unit is a 200sf sleeping loft that sits above the kitchen. The loft is about 8ft off the ground. Floors of it are plywood; all other floors in space are hardwood.

The one window, though large, has a weird opening. The top is fixed glass; the bottom is sliding and removable glass OR fixed (ie, non sliding) screen.

How the hell do I cool this space best so me and my dog don't pass out?

Thanks.

Best way to make a desktop PC quieter?

mikeand1 — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 10:49:54 -0800

Best way to make a desktop PC quieter? I recently took delivery of a Dell XPS 710 h2c desktop PC, supposedly a very high-end machine. Part of the reason I got this expensive machine was its reputation as being quiet (b/c of the liquid cooling system).

But it's still fairly noisy, IMO. Despite the liquid cooling system, there is still a fan, and perhaps other components generating noise. I'd really, really like to cut down on the noise level. What's the best way to do this?

I've researched quieter fans, but it isn't obvious to me how to go about installing them, whether they would work well enough on this particular machine, and so on.

Also, what other options are there -- perhaps something I can put around the outside of the case?

This particular machine uses a Intel Extreme quad-core chip, which I understand tends to run quiet hot. Obviously, I'd prefer not to fry it.

How can I get more exposure for my music?

SampleSize — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:12:27 -0800

Help me expose myself! How can I get my music heard? About 6 months ago, I released my second album, which has received some excellent feedback from press and listeners (including Sean O'Hagan of Stereolab and High Llamas). I have it available on CD Baby, iTunes, Amie Street, last.fm and whole bunch of other music download services. Some of my tracks are on Podsafe Music Network and have been used in 10 or so podcasts. I have had several tracks do pretty well on Garageband (one track has been in the top 20 of the indie-rock genre for 5 months and is currently in round 3 out of, I think, 4 rounds). I have sent it to terrestrial and Internet radio stations. The result so far has been, well, minimal. I get no comments on my website and, if I have any fans, I don't know about them. I have made less than $20 on digital downloads and have sold 10 copies of the album through CD Baby -- 6 of which were to my mom.

Thanks, Mom.

Despite this, I still feel very good about the music and think it is deserving of fans. It's not for everyone, but I believe that a certain (small?) percentage of people will really love the stuff. The challenge has been getting it in enough ears that that small percentage becomes meaningful. I'm not looking to sell a zillion copies of this, my second album; If I sold 100 and made some fans out there, I would feel pretty thrilled that I had taken a significant step forward in my music career. Actually, at this stage, the fans are more important than the sales. Between selling 100 copies to people who disappear and selling zero but getting some kind of buzz going, I'll take the latter for sure.

So, the question is, where are my resources best spent? I know I could do more cold mailings, but the effort to return ratio on that has been pretty abysmal. What if I was going to spend a little money on -- I don't know -- a radio promoter? A publicist? A something else?

What's "a little money," you ask? Well, I'm really not sure. Depends a lot on the potential for return, the risk, etc. $1,000? $5,000? Honestly, I don't even know what's a reasonable ballpark.

Please share things that have worked for you, guerilla marketing techniques, crazy ideas that pop into your head, etc. I won't self-link here, but my website is in my profile if you want to hear what the music.

Help me cool a computer cabinet.

filmgeek — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 06:39:45 -0800

There's a computer stashed inside a desk cabinet. It's too hot inside the cabinet. What to do? My brother's computer is running too hot.
The computers fans are moving air...but since this is inside of a closed cabinet, the cabinet area is gets very hot (which means the computer's fans are only moving hot air).

Obviously, I want to try to cool down the cabinet.

The project I've started is adding some fans to the non visible side of the cabinet and some holes at the bottom of the opposite side.

The problem: how to power them. The fans are the standard computer fans with the 4 prong plastic power connectors meant to go to a power supply. As I plugged in an extra power supply (standard to a computer)...I realized that I need an on/off switch that would normally connect via the motherboard.

And at this point, I'm lost.

I know basic wiring/stripping/soldering. I don't know enough about capacitors and the like. Radio shack and a comp usa are nearby.

Hope me hive mind.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

LadyBonita — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:47:10 -0800

Our bedroom fan with light bulbs makes a quick snapping or popping noise when it's off. Normal? Bad? When it snaps I swear I can feel 'it' (something! similar to a shock without the shock) in my body, but maybe I'm just feeling startled. Should we replace or repair the fixture? Fire hazard?

Maybe it does this during the day too, when the lights are on - but I only notice it while I'm lying in bed, reading, and the fan & lights are off.

Thanks for ideas and suggestions!

you find yourself in a stuffy room

bingo — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 04:29:06 -0800

I'm in a rectangular room with no windows. The one door is near the end of one of the long sides of the rectangle. Other than just putting a fan by the door, blowing in, is there anything I can do to optimize ventilation? Another fan pointing out, perhaps (and sitting lower or higher)? The ceiling is high. This is my bedroom.

Are there places with giant indoor fans that blow you into the air?

shivohum — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:56:55 -0800

Are there recreational places with giant indoor fans that blow you up into the air and give you a simulated indoor experience of flying -- or did I just dream this idea? I can't remember...

Help me figure out this BIOS Error

SteveFlamingo — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:49:16 -0800

I'm experiencing the following BIOS error: "CPU Fan Error!" Please help me figure out how to solve the problem. I'm building my friend a computer and after turning it on the first time I recieved an error: "CPU Fan Error!" It's an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 proccessor. The fan I have attached is a Thermaltake Silent 939 K8 fan. There is no operating system installed yet, I just turned the thing on and I'd like to not destroy a fairly expensive processor.

I've built a few computers before this one and it looks like the fan is on right to me, it's running smoothly and quietly and the temperture of the processor is hanging around 40' C. It feels secure and I put on thermal paste as well. So I'm kinda baffled as to why it's presenting me with this error. I'm hesitant to proceed because it's not for me specifically and I don't like risking other peoples money on things. Don't bother telling me to RTFM, I've been through it three times now and there is nothing even resembling a help section in it, nor does the section on the BIOS offer anything usefull. Even at the BIOS's web site's (www.ami.com) their documentation has no mention of this specific error, or even anything close. Will this error go away when I install XP? Am I being over cautious? Thanks in advance.

How to put fans in the seats.

TunnelArmr — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:47:27 -0800

How can I generate fan interest in a minor college sports team? I'm trying to figure out ways to help an NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse team get fans at their games. Things like pre-game barbecues, halftime contests, etc.

Keeping in mind that their budget is limited, what kinds of things could they do that would get students/fans to come to the games for a sport they probably aren't very familiar with? What are the cleverest promotions and gimmicks that you've seen other sports teams do? Any suggestions appreciated, no matter how zany. In fact, the zanier the better. Bill Veeck kind of stuff.

Powerful AC-Powered, Easily Packed Travel Fan?

WCityMike — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:17:23 -0800

I need recommendations for a (travel?) fan that is small enough to not take up much space when packed in a bag, but that nevertheless kicks out a very decent breeze. AC power (not batteries) very much preferred, since it will be used near-constantly and I'd eat through zillions of batteries otherwise. Reasoning explained after the break. My job assignment has me at different desks within the same company week to week, and sometimes even day to day. I usually need to bring any personal effects with me from day to day.

During the summer, even if the building has adequate air conditioning (and I've yet to work in this particular company during summer, so I don't know), when I usually arrive, my body temperature is high enough from walking through the heat that I really need a fan's assistance to cool down. And, frankly, the air keeps me alert and going throughout most of the day.

So I need recommendations for a fan that can pack away easily to store in my bag (thus desk fans or room fans are entirely out of the question — I'm most likely asking for a good travel fan here), but that nevertheless can kick out a good breeze to keep me cooled down. And, as I said, AC power is preferred, because since I'll be using this rather constantly, I could go bankrupt trying to keep this thing powered with batteries.

Somewhat of a tall and contradictory order, but anyone got any advice? Online ordering preferred but not essential, since as an urban Chicagoan, I don't have a K-Mart or a Wal-Mart nearby me, unfortunately.

dusty fans!

BSummers — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 07:15:55 -0800

how do fans get so dusty? so fans are always very dusty how does a moving object collect so much dust? i know they come in contact with more air because thats what they do but the only thing i could think of is a static electricity type of attraction

Desk fan related hearing loss?

leapingsheep — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 06:51:48 -0800

Can my desk fan damage my hearing? I just got a new super-powerful fan for my desk. I love it, but I'm a little concerned because, while it isn't actually loud, the sound from it seems to fill my ears and drown out the other noises around me. I can hear what's coming out of my computer speakers (which are closer to me than the fan). But I don't hear the traffic outside my window, I don't hear the normal house noises, etc. It's sitting about 4-5 feet from me. When I step out of "the line of fire" I feel like I've come up from underwater, and my usual sense of hearing is restored immediately. I'd actually be glad that its blocking out distractions, just as long as I could be sure that it's not damaging my hearing. Thanks!

Fan placement in room

mr.marx — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 10:31:14 -0800

Hot outside, hot inside. One open window, one fan (like this one). Where do I place it to cool my room down most efficiently. By the window, or on the other side of the room? Or somewhere else? The room is 15-20 square meters, and the open window is positioned here.

Keeping Cool

drezdn — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 16:51:12 -0800

Do you have any clever tricks for keeping your apartment cool during the summer? I live on the third floor of an apartment building, due to the way the windows are, I can't mount my air conditioner, and the one in the unit is on the opposite side of the apartment from me (and mostly useless). Aside from putting fans in front of windows, are there any good tricks to keeping a room cool?

Desk Mounted Computer Fans

y0mbo — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 17:27:12 -0800

I am purchasing a new computer. With the amount of heat generated by today's PCs, I am concerned about the heat inside our enclosed desk cabinet. Can anyone suggest a cooling method which would allow heat to escape from the desk? I am willing to modify the furniture to mount a fan, but I'm not sure what to do or what options are available.

Is there a place on the internet where movies are remixed?

mecran01 — Sat, 04 Dec 2004 23:14:57 -0800

Is there a place on the internet where movies are remixed, like the JarJarBeGone remix of _A Phantom Menace_, ostensibly to improve them (as opposed to simply shortening them)?

I can think of a number of films that would have been better with a little editing, a few flat spots taken out, etc. and I was just wondering if this has started to happen in an online community. I guess one example would be the 30-minute version of Planet of the Apes.

Of course, I wish someone had done the same thing with Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. Not a reader's digest condensed version, but perhaps an e-book that would warn me when a particularly long passage had no immediated relevance to the plot progression so I could come back to it later, perhaps. After almost 3,000 pages I'm exhausted!

I just like the idea of these sorts of remixes floating about but haven't found too many.

Thanks.

Dehumidifying without electrical power?

nathan_teske — Fri, 15 Oct 2004 16:40:18 -0800

I have an extremely humid bathroom with no exhaust fan and no electrical outlets. Are there any dehumidification solutions which don't require electricity? The building I live in was built in the late '20s and no thought was given to bathroom ventillation. There's a small window but its right next to the shower, somewhere I'm not comfortable mounting a fan even if I had the electricity to do it.

Help with noise and thermal problems with a new PC

ac — Sun, 22 Feb 2004 13:33:09 -0800

I just built a new PC. Having noise/thermal problems, need advice thanks! {more inside} of course This PC is crammed with stuff, 3 hard drives, 2 CD drives, etc in a large case. When it was fully built, it had a total of 7 fans - 2 built-in to the power supply, one on the CPU, one built-in to the video card, one blowing over the three hard drives (critical), and two extra ones, in the front and back of the case. It worked great, system and CPU temps were around 40 C, but it was one noisy mother. It had a continous, loud hum that drove me nuts. So I disconnected the two extra case fans today. Temps have gone up a few degrees but all I've been doing so far is reading websites. Does anyone know or have any experience with this? How many fans do I really need? Are the case fans necessary? Are there any fans that are actually very quiet (not just the advertising hype)? I just got the standard Antec 80mm ones, they are quite noisy it seems.
Thanks!