I use a box fan to help dry the dishes in the dishwasher. Recently I mistakenly pointed the fan away from the dishes instead of toward them. This appears to be faster and more effective than my normal method. Why?
I use a box fan to help dry the dishes in the dishwasher. Recently I mistakenly pointed the fan away from the dishes instead of toward them. This appears to be faster and more effective than my normal method. Why?
While blowing, some of the fan’s energy is spent on increasing the pressure inside your dishwasher, which increases the density of the air the fan blades move through, increasing drag on the fan blades causing them to move slower and create less airflow.
While blowing, you’re also pushing moist air to the back of the dishwasher, and after that air reaches 100% relative humidity, it can’t hold any more water and will not help dry your plates. Some of it will eventually escape around the sides, but some of the airflow your fan creates just circulates humid air around the inside of the dishwasher.
Turning your fan around solved both problems. It increased the volume of air flow, and decreased the relative humidity of the air flow.