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Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

If you have ever blown into an infants face and watched the gasping reaction, surly you would never leave a fan trained on them.

Bozo Yoroshiku · Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 12:10 am Post subject:

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

Indeed. Years ago, when I was still in college, I had a summer job with the federal government assisting a plant researcher with analyzing the effects of certain microorganisms on the growth of winter wheat. A large part of MY job was developing a chamber with a cooling system that would re-create WINTER soil conditions (and in part, air condtions as well).

I probably learned more about "cooling systems" and how many BTUs are actually required to bring down the temperature of a room by a certain number of degrees than many people ever would... By no means am I an expert on the subject, but I CAN explain a few things about cooling a room.

A BTU is the amount of heat required to cool (or heat) 1 pound of water by 1 Fahrenheit. In the world of air conditioners (and air conditioning repairmen) the "key word" is: BTU/hr. In other words, your cooling device (whether it be a fan or an air conditioner) MUST (not "should" -- MUST) be powerful enough to put out a BTU figure that is greater to the number of BTUs which are needed to cool the room.

For example,

Let's say you have a room which is 10 ft by 15 ft (with an 8ft ceiling). I am assuming "average" insulation (in order to calculate efficiency and loss) and a slightly colder climate (such as what we may have in Canada). In order to cool this room, we must have a cooling device that puts out MIN. 2400 BTUs (and a maximum of 4800 BTUs in order to avoid over-cooling or to avoid being wasteful.... Mottainai, right?)

Anyway, for such a room, you would need an aircon that puts out at least 2400 BTUs. No problem. Even a small, apartment-sized unit should put out 5400 or so. (Checking on the web, the Haier HWF05XC3 5000 BTU Air Conditioner would be just about perfect)...

Anyway, I digress. Let's see how much "electric fan power" would be required to cool said room.... Umm Wait a sec... Electric fans don't actually cool a room! If they did, we wouldn't have had to invent air conditioners that cost so much money. You want a good demonstration? Ride a motorcycle on the highway when it's 30+ degrees outside. You won't get cooler -- you'll just get hot air blasted at you at full speed. Believe me, I did just that only last week -- I wished I had taken my A/C-equipped car instead.

With an electric fan, there is no "heat exchange" in the room. The "heat exchange" works at the level of the skin -- not the air. The way electric fans work is they cause the heat from our bodies to be transfered to the air as the air passes over the skin. The process is facilitated when your skin is wet or sweaty because you create an evaporation-cooling effect (kinda like a primitve swamp cooler) by transferring body heat to the air as the moisture evaporates. However, our bodies, once cool enough, stop perspiring and in the absence of an ambient temperature that is STILL just as warm as ever, you hardly risk hypothermia, whether we are talking about a baby or an adult.

But I realize that many people will never get swayed by reason or common sense. Scientists are still seen by the masses as witch doctors who perform voodoo and black magic. This is why the phenomenon of "fan death" is pretty much limited to Korea and only the opinions of Korean doctors (who help propagate the myth) are trusted.

Anyway, FWIW, I wouldn't leave a fan directly trained on a child, (frankly, I don't know of many people who would, thus making it rather moot) not because they may risk "fan death" but out of consideration for the child in that going to sleep with wind in his face may be uncomfortable. However, just having an oscillating electric fan in the same room as a sleeping baby? No problem. Besides, barring cot death (or crib death, which is NOT caused by electric fans), babies tend to cry to let you know if something's amiss. I'd imagine if a fan were pi$$ing the baby off, he'd be pretty quick in letting you know about it.

Bozo Yoroshiku · Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:31 am Post subject:

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

My Japanese wife is worried about getting sick and also about fires! I told her I had the same fan blowing on me for about 15 summers while I was growing up, and I neither stopped growing nor died (not yet).

So basically I am left with two ideas;

1 Women and Asians worry too much Smile

.

2 What were talking about anyway Laughing

?

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

Fires, huh? As in electrical fires? Laughing

Well, I guess following that line of reasoning, you'd have to shut off EVERYTHING in the house that runs on electricity overnight... Or you may wake up DEAD! Better unplug that fridge! And the VCR.... And the warmlet toilet seat.... And the telephone/fax machine... And... Oh *beep* it! Just flip the main breaker switch. Better safe than sorry!

Anyway, I think this picture explains it really, really well:

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

Heh, heh, perfectly Laughing

!

AndyH · Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 417

What about if you throw excrement at the fan? Even worse, what if the fecal matter hits it?

AndyH · Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 417

Sorry, everybody. I couldn't resist making that stupid comment. I guess I'm immature. Embarassed

Bozo Yoroshiku · Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 2:00 pm Post subject:

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

Actually, I thought what might be amusing would be to take video footage of me sleeping in a room just FULL of fans, all aimed at me, in the middle...

Problem with that is, I don't want to spend that kinda cash just to buy three dozen fans... Then it's not cheap entertainment anymore... Smile

Eva Pilot · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:19 am Post subject:

luckbox · Joined: 18 Mar 2006 Posts: 180

This is a bit of an offshoot, but maybe relevant to this thread, and I want to know if anyone here has heard this one.

Recently my Japanese gf and I have been at odds over keeping the Air-Con fan on during sleep time. Her complaint isn't one of feared "fan death" (or is it a variation??) but something her doctor warned her about. She said doctor refered to it as "women's disease" and I had no idea what she was talking about, then she came up with this medical word in her dictionary: retroversion - which apparently has something to do with the womb. She claims (or her doctor claims) that by keeping the room too cool at night, she can risk serious harm to her health. My obvious reply was: what about winter in Japan, where heat is usually confined to a tiny kotatsu, and most rooms and houses are frigid beyond comfort? Or what about women in colder climates of the world. I've never heard of retroversion in this context. I wonder if this is yet another wives tale still being espoused by the ocassional old school inaka physician.

Anyone??

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

That's even worse than the fan story. How on earth could a cool room cause the uterus to be slightly tipped in the opposite direction from normal? Retroversion is occasionally caused by pelvic infections, in which case there is an underlying problem, but in most cases it doesn't cause any problems at all- not even in pregnancy. Maybe she's just trying to scare you into turning the aircon off!

I have sometimes been told not to sit on a cold floor in Japan too because that will somehow affect my innards- to think of all these things I have done all my life that were bad for my womanhood and I never even knew... Rolling Eyes

SheZook · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 187