How To Revese Fan Flow?

[XyBeRWaReZ]

Does anyone out there know how to reverse the direction of air flow on a 120MM case fan?

I have the Evercool AL12025 120MM case fan and want to reverse it's direction of air flow.

If you take a look at the pictures included, you can see that this fan has a very nice all aluminum color side and the other side with the fan motor has a really ugly white bracket blocking the view. Unfortuantely the all aluminum side is the side that pulls the air through to the ugly white bracket motor mount side.

I have a radioactive fan grill that is all polished aluminum and if I put it on the white bracket side, it looks really ugly as the bracket can easily be seen through. So I want to put it on the all aluminum fan side.

Some may suggest that I just flip the fan over, but I've read that the most efficient way to cool water passing through a heater core is to have the air pulled through it.

Hence this is the reason why I was wondering if anyone had done such a mod and if it's possible.

I have a couple of solutions but not sure if it would work.

1. Find a 120mm fan that does exactly what I'm looking for and rip out the fan along with the mount and try to modify it so it will fit the aluminum bracket for the AL12025
2. Reverse the wires so that the air flow would be reversed. The only thing about this, if it's possible, is that the fan blades are designed to efficiently blow air in a certain direction. So if I were able to reverse it, wouldn't I lose some airflow and air pressure? If so then how much?
3. If it came down to it and the first two solutions don't work, mount the fans in a push-pull configuration. So in total I would have 4-120MM fans working. I understand that this would help in the cooling efficiency of the setup, so this wouldn't be a bad solution. But...that means I would have two additonal fans on the other side of the heater core, making it much higher. I plan to use a shroud for the highest efficiency possible, so that makes it even higher!

Also I have a question regarding the 3rd scenario. What happens if I don't use the exact same fan on the other side of the radiators? Will the difference in CFM, RPM, and Air Pressure affect the setup in any way? I'm pretty sure it will and I'm assuming that it wouldn't be good if it wasn't matched up as close as possible.

If anyone has any suggestions that could help me out, I would GREATLY appreciate it. I'm pretty sure that anyone who has purchased this fan would probably like to know the same thing, or just eventually settled with the fact and just stuck it out with the ugly side facing up.

[Brians256]

It's not easy to do, as you've noted. You'd need to do all sorts of surgery to make it happen. The motor is designed to turn one direction. The fans are designed to go one direction.

[XyBeRWaReZ]

Originally Posted by Brians256

It's not easy to do, as you've noted. You'd need to do all sorts of surgery to make it happen. The motor is designed to turn one direction. The fans are designed to go one direction.

Got any suggestions then?

Otherwise I guess maybe the only way is to use a fine tooth blade saw and hack off all the blades and turn them around?

[ricecrispi]

you can reverse the direction of rotating of the fan but requires soldering everything up and not worth the time.

Better idea. Buy testor silver paint and paint brush for less than $5 and paint the white bracket silver. If you don''t like the paintbrush idea spray paint it.

[jaydee]

You would think they would make the fan to were you could just spin it around like any normal fan. Odd.

[XyBeRWaReZ]

Originally Posted by jaydee

You would think they would make the fan to were you could just spin it around like any normal fan. Odd.

Exactly! Or at least designed it correctly when the first made it. If it wasn't designed for show, then I wouldn't care, but as you can see they made it all nice and purdy, then forgot to turn the b@astrd around!
I wonder where the common sense was when the designer was making it.

[XyBeRWaReZ]

Originally Posted by ricecrispi

you can reverse the direction of rotating of the fan but requires soldering everything up and not worth the time.

Better idea. Buy testor silver paint and paint brush for less than $5 and paint the white bracket silver. If you don''t like the paintbrush idea spray paint it.

Yeah, that's what I was hoping I could try to avoid. Even though it would be silver, because the bracket is staionary, it can be seen through the radioactive fan guard that I have and it totally looks ugly. If it were on the other side without the bracket, then it looks great! So I guess if this can't really be accomplished in any way, I'll have to go with that method you mentioned.

[ricecrispi]

this isn't asking how to reverse the spin of the fan.

You want to change the bracket to place it on the bottom.
It shouldn't be to hard with this fan. turn it upside down

[XyBeRWaReZ]

Originally Posted by ricecrispi

this isn't asking how to reverse the spin of the fan.

You want to change the bracket to place it on the bottom.
It shouldn't be to hard with this fan. turn it upside down

Actually I was asking on how to reverse the spin, but if it really can't be done with a simple wire switch then I guess doing it the hard way will have to suffice.

If I turn it upside down, it doesn't do anything except that I flipped it around. The air will still be pulled from the all aluminum side and not from the fan bracket/motor side. If that is what you meant.

The only way I can see to do this is proabably 2 ways.

1. Cut off all the blades, turn them around, and expoxy them back onto to fan base. The fan will still spin the same direction, but with the fan blades turned the opposite direction, air direction should be now pushing air through the all aluminum side. Please let me know if this won't work, it seems like it would.
2. a. Take the sticker off the back of the motor.
b. Remove the circle washer that's mounted on the fan blade shaft allowing the blade to release.
c. Maybe cut the front circle of the blade off revealing the magnets and shaft being careful to be clean so that I may reattach the circle to the opposide side the shaft comes out of.
d. Pry the magnet/shaft out of the fan assembly and put in in the side I cut out and maybe having to epoxy it back on.
e. With the circle part I cut off in step 2c, expoxy it on the former back side of the fan assembly.
f. Put the fan blade with the magnet/shaft assembly back into the motor and try to reattach the circle washer.

This seems like a lot to go through, but hopefully in the end it will work the way I want it to. It's a lot of effort and time spent, but I guess when we do something that we enjoy, it's not wasted right?

If anyone has any better suggestions than the one above, PLEASE feel free to shoot me a line.

[pauldenton]

Originally Posted by XyBeRWaReZ

Actually I was asking on how to reverse the spin, but if it really can't be done with a simple wire switch then I guess doing it the hard way will have to suffice.

If I turn it upside down, it doesn't do anything except that I flipped it around. The air will still be pulled from the all aluminum side and not from the fan bracket/motor side. If that is what you meant.

The only way I can see to do this is proabably 2 ways.

1. Cut off all the blades, turn them around, and expoxy them back onto to fan base. The fan will still spin the same direction, but with the fan blades turned the opposite direction, air direction should be now pushing air through the all aluminum side. Please let me know if this won't work, it seems like it would.
2. a. Take the sticker off the back of the motor.
b. Remove the circle washer that's mounted on the fan blade shaft allowing the blade to release.
c. Maybe cut the front circle of the blade off revealing the magnets and shaft being careful to be clean so that I may reattach the circle to the opposide side the shaft comes out of.
d. Pry the magnet/shaft out of the fan assembly and put in in the side I cut out and maybe having to epoxy it back on.
e. With the circle part I cut off in step 2c, expoxy it on the former back side of the fan assembly.
f. Put the fan blade with the magnet/shaft assembly back into the motor and try to reattach the circle washer.

This seems like a lot to go through, but hopefully in the end it will work the way I want it to. It's a lot of effort and time spent, but I guess when we do something that we enjoy, it's not wasted right?

If anyone has any better suggestions than the one above, PLEASE feel free to shoot me a line.

hmm - what about modding the motor assembly's fixing to the ally fan body so as to hide it behind the grill??

just what does your radioactive fan grill look like? - the only ones i can remember ottomh are seriously restrictive..... maybe forget the grill and operate the fans in "push" mode with the silver side visible??

[XyBeRWaReZ]

Originally Posted by pauldenton

hmm - what about modding the motor assembly's fixing to the ally fan body so as to hide it behind the grill??

just what does your radioactive fan grill look like? - the only ones i can remember ottomh are seriously restrictive..... maybe forget the grill and operate the fans in "push" mode with the silver side visible??

Sorry I mean biohazard grill. I've attached and image. It's not really that restrictive at all.
Also if I mod the motor's assembly, it will still be turning the same direction regardless. I think it all has to do with the blades. The fact that they're curved a certain direction and that the motor only turns in one direction makes it pretty hard.
If it were really that easy, I guess a ton of more people would have done it. But see I'm pretty stubborn and I have to figure out some way.
I'm thinking that I will either have to seriously mod this fan to the way I want in order for it to pull air through and have the nice side face up, or I'll just have to settle and just turn the fan over and have it blow air through the heater core so I can have the nice side showing.
The only thing I'm wondering is how much cooling efficiency I will lose because air will be pushed through the heater core and no longer pulled through. Maybe if it were only a degree or two, then I think it's worth it. But if it were to make a difference of anything over 5 degrees, then may I really have to consider modding my fan to the max.

[ProHandyman]

I have uploaded a picture of your fan's internals. I have mine apart for much the same reason as you, and to wire the LEDs seperate... this fan is not made for any type of mods!

You'll never get the blade arrangement balanced properly, or glued safely to remove and replace... so give up on that idea (unless you want to be around when the fan blade turns into shrapnel!

I'm trying to get to the opposit side of the PCB, but looks like I will damage the internal before release, so I may just unsolder the LEDs, and go from there.

I was going to paint the plastics too... but I agree... they should offer both air direction flows for this great fan!

[XyBeRWaReZ]

Originally Posted by ProHandyman

I have uploaded a picture of your fan's internals. I have mine apart for much the same reason as you, and to wire the LEDs seperate... this fan is not made for any type of mods!

You'll never get the blade arrangement balanced properly, or glued safely to remove and replace... so give up on that idea (unless you want to be around when the fan blade turns into shrapnel!

I'm trying to get to the opposit side of the PCB, but looks like I will damage the internal before release, so I may just unsolder the LEDs, and go from there.

I was going to paint the plastics too... but I agree... they should offer both air direction flows for this great fan!

Wow, thanks for the pic Pro. It saves me time of ripping it apart to find out for myself. I love the fact that we can all share experiences like this with each other to help save others the grief that we went through finding out.
Since it's be incredibly hard to do, I'll just save the effort and turn the fan around to show the nice side. I don't mind losing a couple of extra degrees, I'd rather have it look good. I'll test it out though, if it's a big drop I'll have to face the music and paint the plastic silver.
Thanks once again for sharing.

I can think of 1 more thing to do that will proably work and will be somewhere inbetween the extreme and simple.
1. Remove the fan along with the motor
2. Cut off those plastic legs
3. Paint the motor silver
4. Epoxy the motor to the back of the biohazard fan grill
4. Run the wires along the design of the grill while hiding the wire and running it out the stock location

The back of the motor is the exact same circle size as the front of the fan so it won't be showing through the biohazard grill anymore. Actually, maybe I could cut some of the white plastic off as to minimize the amount showing through the grill. Do you think it's a possiblity looking at it?
It's an inbetween solution that seems would work pretty well as to mostly satisfy my stuborness. At least that way the fan can still continue to operate the way it supposed to and I won't lose the effectivness of the fan.

[pauldenton]

Originally Posted by ProHandyman

I have uploaded a picture of your fan's internals. I have mine apart for much the same reason as you, and to wire the LEDs seperate... this fan is not made for any type of mods!

no LEDs in the aluminium fans afaik (but i guess the rest of it is pretty much the same...)

Originally Posted by XyBeRWaReZ

Sorry I mean biohazard grill. I've attached and image. It's not really that restrictive at all.
.
.

The only thing I'm wondering is how much cooling efficiency I will lose because air will be pushed through the heater core and no longer pulled through. Maybe if it were only a degree or two, then I think it's worth it. But if it were to make a difference of anything over 5 degrees, then may I really have to consider modding my fan to the max.

yes that's considerably less restictive than the "radioactive" grills i think....

hmm - if operating in "push" mode means cooling it with outside air rather than case air it may even give you lower temps

[XyBeRWaReZ]

Originally Posted by pauldenton

no LEDs in the aluminium fans afaik (but i guess the rest of it is pretty much the same...)

yes that's considerably less restictive than the "radioactive" grills i think....

hmm - if operating in "push" mode means cooling it with outside air rather than case air it may even give you lower temps

Yeah, I'll be cooling with the outside air and won't be sticking it in the case. It will be hard to put it inside anyway because I'm using a dual 120mm heater core.

[ricecrispi]

Better of getting a different grill and ditching the atomic one.

[XyBeRWaReZ]

I might not be mounting it directly on the fan so it should really affect the air flow too much. I'm just still debating on whether I should mount the motor to it or not. Decisions, decisions...