Clean your fan!

[mastertech]

well i dont know how many folks have even looked at this but the other day i was changeing out a MH bulb from my coralife 492w and decided to take a look at the cooling fan. well i noticed it had a filter media sandwiched between two grills. i took it out to take a look and BAM! a clogged mess!!
i dont even see how it had any airflow at all. its been on the tank about 2 yrs and i bet its never been cleaned.
now this next part.... you will be sceptical about, and i dont blame you because i didnt believe it either. but instead of my daytime high temps reaching 82-84 degrees they only got to 78-80. thats coooool.

 

[meowzer]

WOW....that's a big difference....I believe it though....if the fan is clogged, and not doing its job...wellllllll....higher temps should be expected
OKAY EVERYONE!!!!!! GO HOME AND CLEAN YOUR FANS...LOL
(mine are clean...that's one of my weird habits)

 

[flower]

Are you are talking about fans inside a unit?
My fans (mounted on my canopy) are dust magnets, I need compressed air to clean them off, but because of the moisture...it doesn't do a real good job...any advice?.

 

[mastertech]

yes my singular fan is inside the center of the unit. i could easily removed the whole fan with 4 screws and clean the blades and housing but all i did is pop off the grills (sandwiching the filter media) and clean that.
"because of the moisture...it doesn't do a real good job...any advice?"
yea that saltwater film can feel very sticky

 

[scsinet]

Good advice on preventative maintenance that is often ignored.

 

[mie]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3174408

Are you are talking about fans inside a unit?
My fans (mounted on my canopy) are dust magnets, I need compressed air to clean them off, but because of the moisture...it doesn't do a real good job...any advice?.
Flower mine is on the canopy as well. I just remove it once every few months and blow it out with my compresor. They usually are mounted with four screws.

 

[posiden]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3174408
I need compressed air to clean them off, but because of the moisture...it doesn't do a real good job...any advice?.

Originally Posted by mie
http:///forum/post/3174952
Flower mine is on the canopy as well. I just remove it once every few months and blow it out with my compresor. They usually are mounted with four screws.
I wonder about this?? Does anyone see a problem with the compressed air? What I am getting at is the fact that the compressed air will spin the blade at a crazy rate. I wonder if this will case damage or shorten the life of the fan?
I understand some wont get it going as fast as it can go but, to some degree you will be moving it faster then it was intended. Plus the pressure of the blast of air, causing awkward pressure on the berings.

 

[mie]

Originally Posted by Posiden
http:///forum/post/3175158
I wonder about this?? Does anyone see a problem with the compressed air? What I am getting at is the fact that the compressed air will spin the blade at a crazy rate. I wonder if this will case damage or shorten the life of the fan?
I understand some wont get it going as fast as it can go but, to some degree you will be moving it faster then it was intended. Plus the pressure of the blast of air, causing awkward pressure on the berings.
Why would it?

 

[mastertech]

Originally Posted by Posiden
http:///forum/post/3175158
I wonder about this?? Does anyone see a problem with the compressed air? What I am getting at is the fact that the compressed air will spin the blade at a crazy rate. I wonder if this will case damage or shorten the life of the fan?
I understand some wont get it going as fast as it can go but, to some degree you will be moving it faster then it was intended. Plus the pressure of the blast of air, causing awkward pressure on the berings.
Just hold the blade and the rate of spin will not exeed the specs of the fan.
and these fans are normally very durable, i would not worry. (or just reduce the pressures on the regulator)

 

[posiden]

Originally Posted by mie
http:///forum/post/3175357
Why would it?
High pressure air is more powerfull then you might think. Just blowing yourself off with compressed air can cause air injection into your skin. That is why L&I (I say L&I cause I see your in the northwest) requires a dead head on the end of shop blowguns. You know the tip with holes in the sides of it. This is so when it is pressed up against somthing, the pressure is released out the sides and injected into whatever it is against.
Maybe you were talking about something else, care to elaborate a little.
Originally Posted by mastertech
http:///forum/post/3175369
Just hold the blade and the rate of spin will not exeed the specs of the fan.
and these fans are normally very durable, i would not worry. (or just reduce the pressures on the regulator)
Yea, I can understand that. I guess what I was getting at was folks should be carfull when doing this so they don't ruin thier fans on accedent. Not to pick on mie, but thier post would indicate that they didn't think about the posibilities of somthing going wrong with this procedure. If I am wrong mie, sorry. Like I said I am not trying to pick on you. I am just putting a word of caution out there on this procedure.