monitors and fans

[Eric]

Why do PC monitors not like fans? I've discovered this recently and it can
be a pain in summer. I put a fan beside my monitor at home and thought my
monitor was going bad. Then we turned off the fan and the monitor looked
fine. Someone at my work just tried to do the same thing and didn't realize
the fan was the problem. Are some monitors shielded from fans? (are the new
flat monitors safe?) Is there an easy way to fix the problem aside from
moving or turning off the fan?

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

It's electronic interference from the fan motor whirring round and round.

My monitors don't get that hot, and I'm in Las Vegas. We've got 1 x 17"CRT,
3 x 19" CRTs, 1 x 21" CRT, 1 x 19"
LCD and two that are on notebooks. The 17" CRT is approaching it's 12th
birthday next month.

I have to presume you are the one getting hot and not the monitor..... put
the fan as far away from the monitor as possible.

 

[Eric]

Indeed, the fan is there to cool the user, not the monitor. I was just
wondering if there is a way to prevent that "interferance", like how you
have to buy special "PC shielded" speakers to be able to put speakers beside
a monitor. Do fans have shielding? Do monitors have shielding? Is there
something you can stick between them to clear it up? Sometimes the user
just prefers to have air blowing directly at them, sometimes the space
beside the monitor is just the only available space in the office for a fan.
Is there a magnet or something in a fan, or what causes such "interferance"?
It doesn't bother my monitor if I put other electrical devices beside it,
like a clock or a cell phone.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Any motor has a magnet in it... it's how it 'spins' round and round.

Clocks don't have magnets.... and my cellphone certainly interferes with my
PC, evertime it calls 'home' to check its position my speakers whine in
disgust.

I'm not sure there is much you could do with the fan..... building yourself
a Faraday cage around the monitor isn't really practical. The only real
suggestion I can make is a fan that has it's own stand, set behind the user,
rather than a small desktop unit. Or a cooler separate office which has air
conditioning.

Sorry.

 

[Ghostrider]

Indeed, the fan is there to cool the user, not the monitor. I was just
wondering if there is a way to prevent that "interferance", like how you
have to buy special "PC shielded" speakers to be able to put speakers beside
a monitor. Do fans have shielding? Do monitors have shielding? Is there
something you can stick between them to clear it up? Sometimes the user
just prefers to have air blowing directly at them, sometimes the space
beside the monitor is just the only available space in the office for a fan.
Is there a magnet or something in a fan, or what causes such "interferance"?
It doesn't bother my monitor if I put other electrical devices beside it,
like a clock or a cell phone.

Fan motors, like all motors, are electro-magneto devices and
this is what causes the interference. And fan makers hardly
think of EM shielding. To minimize the interference, move the
fan further away from the monitor. All that is important is to
get an airflow going; normal physiology takes care of the rest.
If necessary, get a fan with its own floor stand. Sure it costs
more but that's the price of luxury, just as some will bear the
added cost of the electricity bill for running air conditioners.

 

[Jerry]

My fan is overhead and part of the room lights. When running it does not
intefere with anything - because of the distance between the ceiling fan and
the monitor.

Shielding a fan so it does not induce electrical interference is not cost
effective unless you are the government.

 

[Malke]

Indeed, the fan is there to cool the user, not the monitor. I was just
wondering if there is a way to prevent that "interferance", like how you
have to buy special "PC shielded" speakers to be able to put speakers
beside
a monitor. Do fans have shielding? Do monitors have shielding? Is there
something you can stick between them to clear it up? Sometimes the user
just prefers to have air blowing directly at them, sometimes the space
beside the monitor is just the only available space in the office for a
fan. Is there a magnet or something in a fan, or what causes such
"interferance"? It doesn't bother my monitor if I put other electrical
devices beside it, like a clock or a cell phone.

Just buy a different fan. Of course I don't know where you live and what's
available to you, but the ones we have in all the rooms - including the
computer room which gets very hot indeed here in Fresno in the summer - are
Holmes tower fans. I got them a couple of years ago and they were only
about $30USD ea. Here's a picture of something similar:

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4077355&JRSource=nsa&nsa=1

Get something like that and put it on the floor where it will cool you and
not upset your monitor. ;-)

Malke

 

[Richard Urban]

Electro-magnetic fields cause distortion on CRT monitors. These fields are
generated by all AC motors. Before the advent of built-in degaussing (during
the 60's and 70's) people would constantly screw up their floor standing
console TV's by vacuuming too close to the TV set.

These fields "may" also adversely affect LCD monitors if you are using them
in the analog mode instead of the digital mode.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Richard Urban]

The monitor needs a tin foil hat! (-:

To the OP. Don't really try this. You will fry your monitor.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Bob I]

True, last summer there was a monitor issue that resulted from placing
the PC along the exterior wall with the Central Air A/C compressor just
outside. Every time the A/C cycled on the monitor screen would "shake".

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Why do PC monitors not like fans? I've discovered this recently and it can
be a pain in summer. I put a fan beside my monitor at home and thought my
monitor was going bad. Then we turned off the fan and the monitor looked
fine. Someone at my work just tried to do the same thing and didn't realize
the fan was the problem. Are some monitors shielded from fans? (are the new
flat monitors safe?) Is there an easy way to fix the problem aside from
moving or turning off the fan?

Fans contain electric motors.

Electric motors make varying magnetic fields.

Magnetic fields deflect the electron beam inside CRT's.

 

[Eric]

"different fan"
"move the fan"
Could be acceptable solutions at least for the home user
Not always practical for the person stuck in an office in a corner cubicle
about 4' x 6' with a plant in the corner behind them
I don't know how complicated shielding is, but I would think if they make
shielded speakers, they should make shielded fans and/or monitors.
You say the other solution is a digital monitor? Are all "flat" monitors
digital?

 

[Bob I]

LCD/TFT monitors don't use electomagnetic coils and an electron beam to
render an image on the screen.