It creates an effect where surrounding air is pulled with the stream due to the Bernoulli effect. It’s the same thing that pulls shower curtains in when you shower. If the fan is a bit inside the window, surrounding indoor air gets pulled into the stream, moving more air out in total.
Why so far from the window?
pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 5 months ago
NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 5 months ago
A fan creates kinda long “channel” in front of it and behind it, where the air is moving rather fast (at the speed that the fan creates). Imagine the narrow beam of light from a flashlight. You want that channel to go right through the window to have a good amount of air flowing.
I don’t know that you need to keep a distance from the window. I think 1-2m is just more practical than having the fan right inside the window frame.
subignition@fedia.io 5 months ago
do you happen to know whether this is significantly different for a blower-style fan that has its air intake on one side? for example
NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I don’t know the type, so I am judging it from that picture.
It shows a rather small area where the air comes out. I imagine that it creates high speed, but the “channel” would have the exact same size and shape as that small area where the air comes out. So I’d consider it as less effective.
A fan with a large diameter could probably move more air.
bitwaba@lemmy.world 5 months ago
No, it should be roughly the same.
The thing you’re trying to take advantage of when placing a fan a meter or two from a window is that when you have a moving mass of air and it passes by static air, it “drags” the static air with it. As a result you move more air mass that what was blown by the fan directly out of the fan blades.
A blower fan still blows air in a direction, and can likely take an even bigger advantage than a traditional box fan since a blower fan’s output direction will be more orderly aka closer to a laminar flow than a box fan. But the real advantage of the blower style fan is that its enclosure allows you to direct both the intake and exhaust portions of the air being moved.
Hacksaw@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Most of the replies are correct overall. But Mattias Wandel had identified another important factor. Fans don’t just “stuck from the back” and blow out the front. They sort of suck from everywhere including the edges. This means that if you’re putting a fan right up against the window blowing in you’re sucking some room air as well. If you’re putting the fan right up against the window blowing out, some of the air you’re blowing out comes from outside in the first place.
The ideal is then to blow out from 2-5ft away. This way all the air that’s blown is room air, and it’s all blown out. The venturi effect plays a small part. The Bernoulli effect? Equations? Explains why the air stays in a “tube” for a few feet away from the fan. Technically also explains the venturi effect… Everything is Bernoulli…
sneekee_snek_17@lemmy.world 5 months ago
This was a wonderful comment to read and video to watch, thank you
traches@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
Same reason why blowing on your hand close to your mouth is warm, but farther away is cool.
SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I think you get the benefit of the airflow pulling in air along its edge to push out with it.
Like pushing a bunch of water with a broom removes not only the water in front of the broom but also more water due to surface tension and inertia
ShepherdPie@midwest.social 5 months ago
It’s called the venturi effect.
kakes@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
It’s called the linguini effect.
sneekee_snek_17@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Ohhhhhh the bernoulli effect?
667@lemmy.radio 5 months ago
no no, it’s the Magnum effect.
tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 months ago
Good ole vermicelli effect
franglais@lemm.ee 5 months ago
In this case it’s called the brunelli effect
altima_neo@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
Ah yeah, the Dom Mazetti effect
Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Its called the Chimichurri effect
Hupf@feddit.de 5 months ago
The Bozzetto effect?
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
It’s called the kimchi effect
KillerTofu@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It’s the butterfly effect.
Feathercrown@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Oh yeah the bruscietta effect