I *Hate* Fans.

[guandi]

I was just getting ready for bed, listening to VNV Nation - Frika, chewing my vitiman suppliment and enjoying the strawberry flavour i was reasonably happy. i was gonna get to bed and be asleep before 12 for the first time in a few days. then i heard a noise... a dull rattleing. i automatically thought it was a fan, but i took my headphones off and i couldnt hear it over the normal fan noise... have way through VNV Nation - Further and my glass of Soda water, *Clack clack clack*. definatly fan failing. so i got down in the customary position. undser desk, looking into side of comp... nothing. i touched the middle of my GPU fan and NB fan to check for bearings, nothing, did the same to the Thermaltake Smartfan on the CPU... nothing... i then check its stick mounted securely and give the fan a slight wiggle.. nothing. so i go to pull my hand out to shut down the comp just in case, and go to bed...

the noise was like someone trying to cut sheet of 1/8" steel with a soft wood blade in a circular saw.

then there was the pain.

i am now missing about 1/8th of an inch from my left hand middle finger, and the finger nail has been completely removed

about half an hour of obsceneties, kitchen towel and 2 plasters later, i examined the fan. the spring cir-clip that holds the shaft in the back of the fan had snapped. and it was only about 4 weeks old. the finger nail and one of the fan blades have formed some kind of grotesque origami display as they have cut into each other and stuck. there is a fine blood spray around the inside of the comp, but i cant find the end of my finger. the cat wil probably eat it.

i am NEVER going to buy a thermaltake fan again. i am going to stick to sheilded industrial 240v's and watercooling. much fscking safer

[killernoodle]

Fan guard?

Can you not test fans any other way :shrug:

Usually you can hear if a smart-fan is going out... They are fairly loud.

[iroc409]

that sounds like it might be a justifiable reason for lawsuit, IMHO. a product should not fail, and come flying apart.

i'm not one for frivilous lawsuits by any means, but if the product failed such that it came apart - and not because you weren't paying attention and stuck you finger in the fan (which it sounds was not the case), then get yourself a lawyer. however you were rather obfuscated with the description, so hard to tell :shrug:

:2cents:

[guandi]

yeah, after a day at work and a few painkillers i am a bit more aware of what i am typing. i usually do use fan guards, and a smart fan going wrong sounds like someone feeding rocks into a jet turbine engine (thats alot of fun actually, RAF testing++ ). however it didnt sound like normal, it had a more intermitant sound, just a clack-clack once every 20-30 seconds or so. i am *very* carefull of where i put my fingers in my computers, about 6 years ago i did stupid things like that, testing to see if the fan is okay by touching the blades or middle, and got a few blackened fingernails becouse of it, but i darent do it with these new high power fans, or my 240vac's. anyway, i grabbed hold of the outer case of the fan, and gave it a slight wiggle just to make sure it was not screws that had fallen out, one had about 4 hours previouse, but it wasnt the problem. then as i went to get up and shut down the computer, and just as my hand drew level with the edge of the case, the hub and blades of the fan jumped out of the fan casing bounced off the inside top of the case and back down onto my finger that was just resting on the metal lip that the case slides into.

i found the missing bit, well... bits. where about 4 bades had spun and hit my finger it had sliced it first and then taken the big lump before it hit the nail and bounced away.

from now on, watercooling with dual redundant fans, with box guards around them.

[KnightElite]

Holy shit.... I've never heard of a fan doing that, except for the guy on xtremesystems who replaced the motor on his fan with a dremel... which caused the fan blades to fly accross the room and impale themselves in a wall when 30k RPM was attempted.

[Boli]

I actually test all of my fans but touching the blades (generally the hub).... most effective way you stop each fan in turn and continue listening... of course this is only with the fans running at 5v and putting a small amount of preasure on the fan actually stops it... so I'm not that worried.

Any fan that runs at 12v I can't even get my finger near them due to guards on both sides. Yes I have been stung before and don't plan to. (mangled two fans ripping the blades of them both... finger small cut + bruise - got off lucky).

Its like the old fire trick - you keep putting your hand back in the fire untill it gets burnt THEN you'll never play with fire again. - managed to drill through my hand once (thankfully it was only between the thumb and the fore finger and a 1MM drill bit but DAMN that hurt). when I use a drill now ony place my hands/feet are is on the other side of the bit.

You'll never be so careless again!

~ Boli

[guandi]

Boli : true, i will never be so careless as to buy thermaltake ever again, thats for sure.

[iroc409]

damn, that's is messed up. never heard of a fan flying apart like that. they can't be making products that are downright dangerous like that

i've rubbed my fingers a couple times here and there, but never against a larger or high-speed fans, mostly generic (all but 1 fan in my case right now is all properly guarded up).

the dumbest one tho i ever did, i just about had a fanblade permanently embedded in my face. i was a few years ago, i was using a panaflo 120mm to cool hdd's, it was hanging out the front of my case (taking up 3 drive bays). well, it was temporary, i was just seeing if i'd even like it. i had it held in with tape, and i was sitting there and the tape let go. the fan fell out and down, hit the desk, and one of the fan blades broke off, and i caught it good.

ah, to be young & dumb...

man, when i had my nidec 120 in the case tho, i didn't even put my fingers in there when it was running, screw that. it's the kind with 3 extra-sturdy blades, and has an unbelievable rotation speed. i would have lost a hand :/

[KnightElite]

Heh... the Comair Rotron MajorDC fans I have are that kind of fan... 172mm 235CFM, really thick plastic blades. They could do some good damage.

[bigben2k]

I usually first check the direction of rotation with a coffee stirrer stick, before sticking my finger in a fan... Never lost any bits, nor blood, yet, even on a 1/4 HP fans w/ metal blades.

finger guards are good...