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We need an "idle questions" forum because I know no one's gonna give me a satisfactory answer to this.
But why when you turn a fan on, is the first click for "High" and then next "Medium" and last "low"? Is there some plausible reason for them being in the reverse of the logical order? What the fuck is up with that?
The cynical part of me says it's to entice you to always use it on the high setting so it burns out faster.
You can switch it off without switching it to a higher setting first. That can be useful if you notice that the fan is blowing all your papers through the room in a rather slapsticky way.
Actually I wouldn't be surprised if it was because in the stone age of electric appliances it was slightly easier to build the switch that way and it became customary. I am pretty sure I have seen lamps that work the same way.
Largely a guess here, but I think it's blindly following a convention that at one time was a convenient (or necessary) design feature. A simple motor control just reduces the available power to that motor. You'd want to start the fan at full power to ensure that the motor doesn't work too hard to overcome the inertia of the motionless fan blades. So there'd be a device that would just cut the power as you turned it up. Built into the switch, it'd start at zero cut (high speed) up to maximum cut (low speed).
Why this persisted into other designs, like discretely switched ones, when it didn't need to, I don't rightly know. I did just notice that the fan in front of me, which has lever switches at the base (like an old cassette tape player), orders them 'OFF - LO - MED - HI', so it's not everyone who does it that way.
Is "Low, medium, high" really the "logical" order? I think I usually start out with the fan on high to get the place cooled down, then move down to low to maintain the temperature once I'm comfortable.
There is an electrical reason for this to do with motors. For startup it is best to start a motor on high and then lower it. I do not remember the details anymore but basically is has to do with overcoming torque.
Today's remote ceiling fans allow you to easily go directly to the speed you want and some table top fans use push buttons but as far as I know it is still be for the fan motor to start high and let it get up to speed or at least near speed before lowering it.
Hah, thanks, Jim. So there really is a good reason, interesting.
I thought this thread would be about this kind of fan.
http://zelda-fans.com/blog/wp-conten...splay_Link.jpg
I was thinking this kind of fan:
http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_as...nm_7ef53f1.jpg
That is one of the best-looking cosplayers I have ever seen.Quote:
Originally posted by Myrnalene
Not this type of fan?
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...O1H__LFH1TD8s=
The fan starts on high so that it is operating most efficiently in situations like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZdp46Jen_w