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?

  • Phineaz@feddit.org
    251·
    22 days ago

    Blowing into an enclosed space is chaotic, the fan has to push against air currents being deflected. Blowing into an open space (aka sucking out of you dishwasher) is much more orderly, the fan can simply pull the air out and there are much fewer air currents running orthogonal.

    This is as far as my very basic knowledge goes here. You can try this effect by exhaling and inhaling air through a barely open mouth or a straw.

    EDIT: On a related note, never “blow” during fellatio.

  • Bigfish@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    11·
    22 days ago

    Isn’t this just a simple case of “get the moisture away”? Blowing into the dishwasher doesn’t move the moist air away, it just moves it around in the box. Blowing out pulls the moist air away from the dishes and out into the room.

    If your box fan was pushing dry hot air (like a hair dryer), hot enough to meaningfully speed up evaporation, then blowing in would probably be better.

  • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
    5·
    22 days ago

    So you’re saying that blowing sucks, and sucking blows?

    …okay, serious now. I think that it has to do with air pressure - sucking reduces it while blowing increases it. And water evaporation happens faster on regions with lower pressure.

  • Chozo@fedia.io
    5·
    22 days ago

    Blowing air into a confined space doesn’t really work well. It’s the same reason why pointing a fan into a hot room doesn’t cool it down any; the air needs somewhere to flow to, and it can’t go out the way it came in because there’s a fan pushing it back. So the air in the room might move around a bit, but it isn’t circulating hardly any of the air from the rest of your house, which is why that room stays warm even though you “feel” the wind from the fan. But if you open some windows in the house and do the same thing, you now have place for the air to move to, so it doesn’t just spin around the same container any longer.

  • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
    3·
    22 days ago

    How close is the fan to the dishes? Moving it away and pointing it towards them may work better than being close and blowing.

  • someguy3@lemmy.world
    2·
    22 days ago

    I would guess that it’s moving moisture away from the vicinity. Blowing it far away instead of inwards to the kitchen. Then normal evaporation can happen better.

    But I think you really don’t need to bother, why not just let them dry?

  • 0x4E4F@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    54·
    22 days ago

    Why is sucking better than blowing?

    Ummm… not a girl, but I suspect it’s easier to suck things out of it than blow into it…