Fan death?

That if the fan is put directly in front of the face of the sleeping person, it will suck all the air away, preventing one from breathing. This explanation ignores the fact that most people point a fan towards themselves when using one, which causes air to move past the face but does not change the amount of air present.

On September 01 2008 11:20 Ozarugold wrote:
Time to call the Mythbusters!

On September 01 2008 11:36 MidnightGladius wrote:
/shrug

I like timers simply because there's no point having a fan on for the 6-8 hours I'm asleep. Plus, you can detach them and use them in explosives!

On September 01 2008 12:07 LosingID8 wrote:
it's because if you sleep with your mouth open, the moving air can dry up the back your throat causing it to close thus leading to asphyxiation

The Korea Consumer Protection Board (KCPB), a South Korean government-funded public agency, issued a consumer safety alert in 2006 warning that "asphyxiation from electric fans and air conditioners" was among South Korea's five most common seasonal summer accidents or injuries, according to data they collected.

On September 01 2008 13:36 CapO wrote:
if you wanna test it, completely shut your windows and doors. tape the bottom of the door if it has a fair amount of room beneath it. now, turn the fan on and directly point it at your face. now go to sleep with the full blast on.

good luck!

btw, i also think this might be urban legend after reading, but anyone confident enough to do what i said above?

edit: the room you choose should be tiny.

On September 01 2008 13:36 CapO wrote:
if you wanna test it, completely shut your windows and doors. tape the bottom of the door if it has a fair amount of room beneath it. now, turn the fan on and directly point it at your face. now go to sleep with the full blast on.

good luck!

btw, i also think this might be urban legend after reading, but anyone confident enough to do what i said above?

edit: the room you choose should be tiny.

On September 01 2008 11:33 Pressure wrote:
yeah... when i sleep with a fan on i always keep the door open
i have no clue but my grandma pushed it on me

On September 01 2008 11:19 NoobsOfWrath wrote:
I've slept with my fan on at night for like 8 years, O_O

On September 01 2008 12:07 LosingID8 wrote:
it's because if you sleep with your mouth open, the moving air can dry up the back your throat causing it to close thus leading to asphyxiation

On September 01 2008 17:22 pewpew wrote:
"Beliefs:

That an electric fan chops up all the oxygen particles in the air leaving none to breathe."

I WISH I had a fan that powerful.

On September 01 2008 11:20 Ozarugold wrote:
Time to call the Mythbusters!

On September 01 2008 12:35 nortydog wrote:

I'm gonna do it guys

On September 01 2008 12:52 HumbleZealot wrote:
This is utter bullshit, for the past few years I've always slept with my fan on when its hot and I keep it on throughout the night.

On September 01 2008 17:46 1tym wrote:
Hm.. interesting.. Apparently this is not only in Korea. But my guess was almost correct, you will have to meet number of criteria to end up dying from the fan.

US climatology expert Dr. Laurence Kalkstein was in Seoul for a seminar on heat waves and explained the science of how fans kill:

“In a majority of fan death cases, the victim is an elderly person over 70 years old who died in their sleep in an enclosed room with a fan running. Differing from what we know up to now, it’s not suffocation or hypothermia.

He continued, “If a fan is run inside an enclosed room where the indoor temperature is high, the heat is concentrated on the person, so the body temperature actually rises,” further explaining that, “As fan air blows on exposed skin, the body becomes dehydrated, resulting in a heart attack or stroke and death from respiration difficulties.

The US Environmental Protection Agency advises that windows and doors remain open to circulate air and not to use a fan for long periods in an enclosed room."

You can read the whole content here. If you read the booklet, US EPA believes in it as well. Read P54.
http://www.epa.gov/hiri/about/pdf/EHEguide_final.pdf

Kalkstein is Research Professor at the University of Miami's Department of Geography and Regional Studies.

On September 01 2008 17:31 1tym wrote:
One of the million mythical beliefs in Asia. God I hate superstitions.
This can only happen when you meet number of criteria.

* You are severely intoxicated.
* Your face is close the the fan.
* You are an old man or have health issues such as asthma or heart related disease.
* You have low body temperature that can lead to hypothermia.
* The fan was on for at least 7 hours with maximum power.
* You are really unlucky.
* You submerge the powered-on fan into the bathtub with you.

On September 01 2008 21:43 dasanivan wrote:
It's probably as uncommon and inexplicable as spontaneous combustion.

On September 02 2008 02:16 Equinox_kr wrote:
No idea, my parents won't buy me a fan for my room no matter how fucking hot it is.

They say that the fan/AC will suck up the oxygen or something and I'll suffocate to death -_-

On September 01 2008 18:31 BlackStar wrote:
wtf lol?

One of the strangest things I have ever heard, haha.





I am amazed you think this proves it is bullshit.

On September 01 2008 17:11 Fen wrote:
Heres what I thought of when I first saw this thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wiOl6pREAI

I think this is just an urban legend. The explanations on the Wiki page really dont make much sense.

On September 02 2008 04:16 Culture wrote:
You know... computers have between 3-5 fans each. Fridges have fans...

On September 02 2008 13:09 randombum wrote:
What? Never even heard of this before. Since when did fans chop up oxygen?

On September 02 2008 08:39 AcrossFiveJulys wrote:
At first I thought that koreans were afraid of the cover flying off and the spinning blade flying and decapitating you. That seems more plausible than their theories ;\

On September 02 2008 03:33 fusionsdf wrote:


well all I know is I've kept my fan on for like 3 months straight, and 90% of the time my window is closed

I have occasionally gone to bed drunk during this timeline

so if it was fatal, I think I would have felt something

On September 04 2008 02:09 BottleAbuser wrote:
And boil cats alive and drink the concoction "to help rheumatism."

That fans contribute to hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature.

That fans contribute to hyperthermia, commonly known as heatstroke

On September 02 2008 19:10 .Ix wrote:




When I was in high school, I was chilling out in front of the classroom fan when the front cover fell off. It hit the spinning blade, broke a small part of it, and launched the broken bit right into my left eyebrow. I didn't notice it until my classmate told me, but it was bleeding LOL, so I went to the infirmary to get it stitched. Less than an inch above my eye, holy shit.

On September 04 2008 02:09 BottleAbuser wrote:
I've heard that this "fan death" theory was perpetuated by finding some people dead in a room with a fan on.

Ignoring the fact that these "fan victims" had health problems, were elderly, or massively intoxicated, this would seem to indicate that fans do actually cause death. Somehow. Well, obviously the fans aren't doing anything but pushing air, so this must mean that they somehow create a "vortex" that, while not completely devoid of oxygen, somehow is fatal to humans. Or EM waves. Or uhm... yeah, they ionize the... air.... and that kills you.

Remember, folks, this is the country where people hang up plastic gloves filled with water "to keep flies away." And boil cats alive and drink the concoction "to help rheumatism."

On February 04 2009 01:57 garmule2 wrote:
This thread sickens me. My uncle died from fan death many years ago, I remember him when I was a child. Just so everyone knows fan death is not possible now with electric fans. It did used to be possible when S. Korea was less industrialized and often power and appliances were not safe. Main cause you leave the fan on too long something shorts, your house has a fire.

On February 04 2009 01:57 garmule2 wrote:
This thread sickens me. My uncle died from fan death many years ago, I remember him when I was a child. Just so everyone knows fan death is not possible now with electric fans. It did used to be possible when S. Korea was less industrialized and often power and appliances were not safe. Main cause you leave the fan on too long something shorts, your house has a fire.

On February 04 2009 01:57 garmule2 wrote:
This thread sickens me. My uncle died from fan death many years ago, I remember him when I was a child. Just so everyone knows fan death is not possible now with electric fans. It did used to be possible when S. Korea was less industrialized and often power and appliances were not safe. Main cause you leave the fan on too long something shorts, your house has a fire.

On February 05 2009 22:55 garmule2 wrote:
Yes obv. it is fire death. But what people hear is that 'the fan was left on, shorted out, leading to...' and what is the practical advice? Don't leave fan all night. People start to repeat without knowing why, then later come up with crazy explanations of the habit.

On February 06 2009 00:00 baal wrote:



fucking moron.

according to you, Freezers should kill 10000000 times more people than fans then.


PS: they probably infact do LOL.

On February 05 2009 22:55 garmule2 wrote:
Yes obv. it is fire death. But what people hear is that 'the fan was left on, shorted out, leading to...' and what is the practical advice? Don't leave fan all night. People start to repeat without knowing why, then later come up with crazy explanations of the habit.

On February 06 2009 01:13 baal wrote:
This thread sickens me. My uncle died from spontaneous combustion many years ago, I remember him when i was a child. Just so everyone knows spontaneous combustion is not possible nowadays. It did used to be possible when people had no games so they played with Kerosine instead.

fucking moron.

according to you, Freezers should kill 10000000 times more people than fans then.

On February 06 2009 07:47 garmule2 wrote:

feces eating retard... this is 30, 40 years ago when all wiring and industrial was terrible if it existed at all.

On February 07 2009 02:00 skunkySkunk wrote:
ok so I went to the mythbusters forums with the intention of letting them know of this curious little tidbit only to find their forums SPAMMED with fan death.

source: 'Fan Death' using find function at mythbusters forums

I think you might need an account to view the find page. Otherwise, read this one:

Some Fan Death Thread on mythbusters forums

On February 06 2009 23:17 Hawk wrote:
I could see some kinda dramatic movie made about this.