Fan Blowing at An iMac - What do you think?

[Buick]

Where I live , its now getting very hot and my iMac is also getting very hot , Ive installed smcFancontrol and iStat Pro
and now Ive put a small desk fan to blow air at the rear of my iMac . Just watching the temperatures fluctuate as I position the small desk fan to blow in different positions over the rear of the iMac I am now wondering if putting a small fan and blowing air at the rear is in fact a good idea, my thinking being that on the rear of the iMac at the top is a long strip vent type opening , which I am assuming is to exhaust warm air , then under the stand at the back is a small round vent , which I don't know what its for, so If my small fan is blowing air directly on to the area of the rear vent thats exhausting warm air, would this slow down or reduce the exhausted air from venting out of the iMac and may be causing a problem


What's you thoughts about having a fan blowing air at the rear of an iMac - Good or Bad

 

[MacManiac777]

I usually put a large pedestal fan to the left of my computer (about 2 meters away) it helps blow cooler air onto the computer and move the warmer air away. I have noticed that doing this drops the temperatures rather efficiently (while keeping me at a nice temperature also ).

 

[craig1410]

Where I live , its now getting very hot and my iMac is also getting very hot , Ive installed smcFancontrol and iStat Pro
and now Ive put a small desk fan to blow air at the rear of my iMac . Just watching the temperatures fluctuate as I position the small desk fan to blow in different positions over the rear of the iMac I am now wondering if putting a small fan and blowing air at the rear is in fact a good idea, my thinking being that on the rear of the iMac at the top is a long strip vent type opening , which I am assuming is to exhaust warm air , then under the stand at the back is a small round vent , which I don't know what its for, so If my small fan is blowing air directly on to the area of the rear vent thats exhausting warm air, would this slow down or reduce the exhausted air from venting out of the iMac and may be causing a problem


What's you thoughts about having a fan blowing air at the rear of an iMac - Good or Bad

Bear in mind that fans usually only cool people because they dry the moisture produced by sweating quicker than stagnant air - obviously this mechanism won't help your computer (I hope...). For what you are trying to do you need to make sure that you are blowing cooler air into the area beneath your iMac (inlet) or blowing/sucking hot air away from the area above your iMac (exhaust) to have any effect. A fan in an enclosed room will simply heat it up!

Having said that, in most cases simply circulating air randomly will have some effect but if you put a bit of thought into it you will get better results. I'd suggest having a fan blowing across the back of the exhaust (left to right or right to left) would be best as this will displace the hottest air and prevent it from re-entering the inlet port. Recirculation is really important to avoid and you may get some benefit from rigging up a cardboard vane across the back of your machine to separate the inlet from outlet. If you have a source of cooler air (eg window or door) then by all means use the fan to blow cool air towards the inlet but I think displacing the exhaust air will be better.

Hope this helps,
Craig.

 

[Buick]

Bear in mind that fans usually only cool people because they dry the moisture produced by sweating quicker than stagnant air - obviously this mechanism won't help your computer (I hope...). For what you are trying to do you need to make sure that you are blowing cooler air into the area beneath your iMac (inlet) or blowing/sucking hot air away from the area above your iMac (exhaust) to have any effect. A fan in an enclosed room will simply heat it up!

Having said that, in most cases simply circulating air randomly will have some effect but if you put a bit of thought into it you will get better results. I'd suggest having a fan blowing across the back of the exhaust (left to right or right to left) would be best as this will displace the hottest air and prevent it from re-entering the inlet port. Recirculation is really important to avoid and you may get some benefit from rigging up a cardboard vane across the back of your machine to separate the inlet from outlet. If you have a source of cooler air (eg window or door) then by all means use the fan to blow cool air towards the inlet but I think displacing the exhaust air will be better.

Hope this helps,
Craig.

Ive been wondering about the cooloing on the new iMac , have I got this correct..

A= Exhausted air
B = ?
C= Air intakes
D = Power cable access

Any Idea what '' B '' is ..?

 

[Radio Monk33]

Unfortunately, if there's heat coming out, it means the stuff inside is already heating up a lot more! As posted earlier, probably best to blow away the hot air rather than trying to push the cool air in through the exhaust.

On that subject, any thoughts for external fan placement on a MBP? The whole stupid thing seems to be like an aluminum heatsink..

 

[Buick]

Have I got this right then , if I raise my desk fan to the same height as the Exhaust air vent ( A ) and angle the fan to blow across the vent , this will help pull out the vented hot air and hopefully in some way help my iMac to cool down more

Does any one know what the small round hole in the back case ( B ) is for ?

 

[eXan]

Ive been wondering about the cooloing on the new iMac , have I got this correct..

A= Exhausted air
B = ?
C= Air intakes
D = Power cable access

Any Idea what '' B '' is ..?

You could easily answer your question just by putting your hand near B. If hot, its the exhaust, if cool, its the intake. But I'll save you the trouble of this hard work and say that its for additional air intake...

I'm not sure why you so paranoid? Unless you're in 50+ degree C environment I don't see how your iMac overheats...

 

[Buick]

You could easily answer your question just by putting your hand near B. If hot, its the exhaust, if cool, its the intake. But I'll save you the trouble of this hard work and say that its for additional air intake...

I'm not sure why you so paranoid? Unless you're in 50+ degree C environment I don't see how your iMac overheats...

As I sit here the morning ambient room Temperature is 42 oC with all my windows open , Ive just leaned over the iMac to put my hand over the small round hole on the back, as you suggested and now have a red burn mark on my arm from touching the top of the iMac , and I cannot feel any hot air coming out of the small round hole. sorry to seem some what paranoid , but I must go and have a closer look at my arm.

 

[Wikinerd]

Unfortunately, if there's heat coming out, it means the stuff inside is already heating up a lot more! As posted earlier, probably best to blow away the hot air rather than trying to push the cool air in through the exhaust.

On that subject, any thoughts for external fan placement on a MBP? The whole stupid thing seems to be like an aluminum heatsink..

You can always buy something like a notebook cooler for home/office use. ( doesn't work if you have a soft case... )

They're pretty effective... And also, remove keyboard protectors, as they "suffocate" the fans inside.


As for the iMacs, cool the exhaust ports, but they're usually less of a problem than MacBOoks...

 

[iChrisG]

I think that could be a little nifty expieriment. Maybe it could help a little bit, but I don't know.

Good luck!

-Chris

 

[Wikinerd]

I think that could be a little nifty expieriment. Maybe it could help a little bit, but I don't know.

Good luck!

-Chris

But seriously, it doesn't matter. as long as your computer works, you shouldn't care. If it did melt then it's apple's fault.