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the "fan death" mystery answered

 
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mgafunnell



Joined: 11 Apr 2007

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:15 am    Post subject: the "fan death" mystery answered Reply with quote

we have all heard of the famous, "fan death" thing in korea.

here's what's up:

a spinning fan in an unventilated room can create a convection current within a room. prolonged exposure to such a current can cause death if a person is severely dehydrated.

imagine yourself going on a soju binge, then staying in a hot and humid place for a day or two with minimal or no water. you dead!
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fugitive chicken



Joined: 20 Apr 2010
Location: Bucheon

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

pretty sure if you're dehydrated for a few days and have no water you're dead with or without the fan...
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Steelrails



Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

or because your drank soju and decided to end it all because of the hangover....
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pangaea



Joined: 20 Dec 2007

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If someone goes on such a drinking binge that he or she is unconscious for 2 days or is in such a state that he can't provide for his own basic needs, that person would probably be dead anyway, especially if such drinking is a habit. In that case, a fan would not cause the death. It would just be a contributing factor in the entire sad state of affairs.

Anyway, I believe the myth of fan death is that a circulating fan in a room with closed windows and doors causes someone to smother to death from lack of oxygen. Never mind that if homes were that well sealed off from the outside, anyone inside would smother to death, fan or not.
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NohopeSeriously



Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to live in South Korea as a kid until the year 2001.

News broadcasters often talk about how inefficient the air conditioners were at that time around the 1990s. Minor news about the Fan Death myth first started around 1999-ish.

To me, the fan death myth is the ultimate product of commericialism for selling air conditioners, which was at that time extremely profitable, over fans.
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West Coast Tatterdemalion



Joined: 31 Aug 2010

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is no such think as fan death. There is such a thing as dying from hypothermia. There is such a thing as dying from dehydration. There is such a thing as dying from a heart attack. But there is no such thing as fan death.
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Steelrails



Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

West Coast Tatterdemalion wrote:
There is no such think as fan death. There is such a thing as dying from hypothermia. There is such a thing as dying from dehydration. There is such a thing as dying from a heart attack. But there is no such thing as fan death.


Correction-

There is folding, metal edged oriental fan death (that fan design was adapted to a weapon)

And there is turbofan death- see Die Hard 2

And there is propeller death- see Indiana Jones

But there is no cooling fan death.
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pkang0202



Joined: 09 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember hearing that Fan Death was used as the cause of death instead of saying it was a suicide. Not sure if its true, but with the high suicide rate here, plus the emphasis on face saving, it wouldn't surprise me.
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Louis VI



Joined: 05 Jul 2010
Location: In my Kingdom

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only mystery is how so many Koreans believe it to be fact. A nation of farmers, yeah, understandable, but a country producing a lot of international science student award winners, puzzling. It could be a generational thing that'll die out eventually. It sure makes them look silly.
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NohopeSeriously



Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Louis VI wrote:
The only mystery is how so many Koreans believe it to be fact. A nation of farmers, yeah, understandable, but a country producing a lot of international science student award winners, puzzling. It could be a generational thing that'll die out eventually. It sure makes them look silly.


Don't forget. South Korea is also a country with a very serious case of media-induced frenzy/sensation/fad.
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j.k.emernakker



Joined: 11 Feb 2011

PostPosted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

the first time I read about fan death I figured it was related to K-Pop and overenthusiasm...
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pkang0202



Joined: 09 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NohopeSeriously wrote:
Louis VI wrote:
The only mystery is how so many Koreans believe it to be fact. A nation of farmers, yeah, understandable, but a country producing a lot of international science student award winners, puzzling. It could be a generational thing that'll die out eventually. It sure makes them look silly.


Don't forget. South Korea is also a country with a very serious case of media-induced frenzy/sensation/fad.


Koreans trust their news too much.
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loubird



Joined: 27 May 2010

PostPosted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I heard that fan death is a way of explaining the death of elderly people to an increasingly aging country, as usually only the elderly are linked to fan death. Blaming a fan might be a way of making the inevitable seem a little further off. Not sure how accurate this is.
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