Some People Believe Running an Electric Fan in a Closed Room Can Kill You…
**Secret Revealed**
In South Korea, it is a commonly held belief that an electric fan can cause death if it is blowing on you overnight in a closed room.
To prevent “fan death”, the Korean government’s Consumer Protection Board urges everyone to leave a door or window open and use the oscillate function or a timer that automatically shuts the fan off. They also list fan death as one of the top five fatal summer accidents.
The exact origin of this phenomenon is not known for sure, although it allegedly emerged in the 1970s. Some people believe the Korean government may have created this ideology in an effort to save energy during the energy crisis. Oh, and fan death is not limited to just fans, it also includes air conditioners.
South Korean media outlets credit fans and air conditioners for deaths too. In fact, between 2003 and 2005, some 20 deaths were reported to Korea’s Consumer Injury Surveillance System.
Many experts in South Korea firmly believe in fan death, including respected doctors and scientists. South Koreans don’t always agree on why fans can cause death but the following theories are often cited.
Hypothermia is a common one. It’s true that if your body temperature drops low enough, you can die. However, experts claim your body temperature needs to drop by about 16°F (10°C) for this to happen. Since fans don’t actually cool the air, it is not plausible that a fan could cause this temperature drop by convection cooling alone. Not to mention, people frequently asleep outside in much cooler temperatures and survive without question.
That leads to the asphyxiation theory — the belief that somehow these fans reduce the available oxygen in the room. There is no scientific proof to suggest this is true. In North America, the believe is almost the opposite since fans are often recommended to help babies sleep (as a source of white noise).
Another theory is that fan deaths are actually suicides, but reported as fan deaths in the media to spare the family from any cultural shame associated with suicide.
A fourth theory is that the fan combined with hot air creates a convection oven like effect, raising a person’s body temperature, causing them to sweat until they are dehydrated. This theory is interesting because it’s kind of the opposite of the first theory and it could theoretically work, but not likely in South Korea. You see, the highest average temperature in South Korea is about 84°F (29°C), which is still well below body temperature and well below the temperature where the body will start to shut down and die (around 107°F / 42°C). The highest officially recorded temperature in South Korea is 104°F (40°C), just slightly above core body temperature.
The same way a fan doesn’t cool air, it also doesn’t heat it, it just speeds up the transfer of heat between the air temperature and your body. That is why you can cook something in a convection oven at a lower temperature — the fan doesn’t make it hotter, it just improves the transfer of heat. In a traditional oven you need to use a higher temperature setting to make up for the fact that still air doesn’t transfer heat nearly as well.
During extremely hot weather, heat can cause fatalities. Because fans can increase the rate at which your body temperature increases, the EPA does caution against using a fan at temperatures above 90°F (32°C). Don’t mistake this as a suggestion that fans can kill you — you are at risk of dying in extreme heat whether you use a fan or not. In terms of Korean fan death, the 90°F warning is still 6° higher than the average high temperature in South Korea.
It is interesting that this theory is so prevalent in just one country. Most people outside of South Korea do not believe in fan death and there does not seem to be any scientific evidence that a fan will kill you while you sleep.
Do you believe it? Let us know in the comments.
Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.
Sources: wikipedia (Fan Death), snopes, ask a korean, FanDeath.net, cpb.or.kr, ggweather.com, weather.com
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Funny…I’ve been sleeping with a fan blowing directly on me for 6-10 hours in hot weather for the last 10 years or so…and I’m very much still alive…and in the really hot weather, I have the fan turned to it’s maximum setting, and about 1 metre away from me!
I used to live in a home with Central Air, and I can tell you that the LAST thing you want to do is leave a window open with the A/C on.
My grandfather is a master chinese herbalist. Mr. Wai Jin Jee (Chinese Doctor). Even in the 60′s he forbids the fan turned on when sleeping; especially to the head area. He said that the air current will affect and I agreed that it, gives you headaches when you wakeup. It will make you sick and you will run a temperature and have a cold. He never told me that it will kill you. Maybe it’s the South Korean way to tell their people to obey the rule.
In Korea the homes are heated with forced air that runs through clay tiles located in the floor. The air is heated with no regard for carbon monoxide. Some times the air is heated with wood fires. The tiles often crack and allow the CO to enter the dwelling. The gas is heavier then air so it finds its way to the lowest part of the house so it is not to often a hazard, at least a known hazard. When I was a soldier stationed in Korea, it was common knowledge that you did not sleep on the floor, that it would kill you. Official Army publications would also confirm this. I know of one soldier who died this way, a friends brother. Anyhow, when the fans are turned on the carbon monoxide is mixed with the air, which carries at to all levels of the house, suffocating the inhabitants.
Short answer: No
Well, as someone who has a fan blowing on her every night rain, snow or shine (without a window open) I can tell you it’s a load of tosh…
Short answer: No
Long answer: Noooo…
I lived in Korea for a year. The idiots who ran the building turned off the AC after 10pm. So I had to sleep with the fan on for the entire summer. During the 5 months of the summer sleeping with the fan on, I did not die.
That’s absurd. Oxygen itself is the number one cause of aging and death. Does that mean we should quit breathing?
That’s a smart way to get people to save energy.
I’ve slept with a fan blowing directly into my face on the highest setting from 5 inches away every night for the past 3 years and haven’t died once. And if I have, no one’s seemed to notice that I’m a ghost.
I believe in this 100%. My family is very cautious about fans.
Then I must be dead because I can’t sleep at night without the electric fan blowing, even during the coldest of winter nights. BTW, I have burned the electric motors up in several 18″ hurricane fans over the course of the past 10 years because I keep the fan blowing at all time. Without a fan blowing on me, I can’t sleep and I would wake up from a dead sleep every time the fan stop working for whatever reason.
Cause has been given to explain how people die when their fans are running in closed rooms, but these deaths are not caused by running fans. They are caused by obscene negligence for CO safety in home heating systems there!
They believe the same thing in Japan.Stayed at a friends house one summer went to bed with the fan on woke up hot and the fan was off turned it back on and again woke up with it off .someone besides me got no sleep that night..they were making sure I didn’t die.
No one said who the fan fairy was but they told me the fan would kill Me.
I don’t want to read all that right now.
So is it true or not.
in a closed room u will eventually die~
I slept with the fan on everynight during the summer, and unless everyone else is dead and we don’t know it, then I am completely sure we’re not dead
the fan itself CANNOT cause death, unless it is malfunctioning in some..and perhaps its plastic burning may produce carbon monoxide.
A FAN JUST USES ELECTRICITY TO TURN LEVERS WHICH BLOW THE AIR IN THE ROOM ONTO UR BODY SO THAT THE EVAPORATION OF MINUTE SWEAT PARTICLES ON UR SKIN SURFACE IS ACCELERATED, CREATING A COOLING EFFECT ON YOUR BODY. THATS ALL THE FAN DOES. ANY REPORTED DEATHS MAY DUE TO EXTERNAL FACTORS IN THE ROOM.
END OF STORY, MYTH BUSTED.
So how would a “fan-death” report come to be? To begin with somebody is found death in a room obviously. Then one starts to look for clues. Hmmmmm, no obvious clues. But hey, what’s that? a running fan! Wel it’s must be a fan-death then! When no fan present it would probably become a carpet-death.
It is not true, a fan can not kill you during your sleep.
I think that the media is just reporting these deaths as “fan deaths” to hide the fact that the victims actually committed suicide. If there is so much shame involved with suicide in South Korea then it makes sense. I once went to a school camp and i was sharing a dorm with a Korean girl. Considering that i am Scottish the heat in France was unbearable for me! So i decided to sleep with a fan about a metre away from me and she took a fit when she saw it! She scared every one in our dorm with her tales of “fan death” and i eventually got fed up and told her that i would sleep with the fan a metre away from me to prove her wrong. Turns out that she turned the fan off in the middle of the night because she didn’t want me to die! Pretty smart way to get people to save energy though.
Every night I sleep with my fan on, sometimes on the highest setting. I’ll often put it on in the daytime too, and I never close a door or window. Yet, here I am, alive and well. I’m sure this is just a myth but I’d be really interested to find out for sure!♥
i never heard about it
No. fans don’t kill. It’s used as an pretense for murders in S. Korea. Basically, it’s a silly way of cover up.
http://www.fandeath.net/
Haha, If running a fan heater overnight could kill you my flatmate should have died months ago! He regularly goes hours on end sleeping with a fan heater (and a hair dryer) on in the room while he sleeps.
I lived in Turkey for a little while, and here are some things that I heard while I was there:
- Eating fish and yogurt at the same time will poison you (even doctors believe this!)
- Keeping ketchup in the refrigerator will give you cancer
- Keeping eggs in the refrigerator will give you cancer
- Newborn babies should be hung upside down by their ankles and swung to get the blood into their heads.
And don’t bother trying to argue with any of this or you’ll be called and ignorant nut job!!!! I’m so serious!
I forgot this one:
- Walking around in the house with no shoes on will make you infertile (I only heard this about women. Not sure about men)
Well If You start finding for reasons for something which is not true You definitely find one .. because no explanation is perfect each has some flaw … As far the matter is concerned “Some People Believe Running an Electric Fan in a Closed Room Can Kill You…” doesn’t seems to be true …
One of the stupidest things I’ve ever read.
I’ve slept with a fan blowing directly into my face on the highest setting from 5 inches away every night for the past 3 years and haven’t died once. And if I have, no one’s seemed to notice that I’m a ghost.
THAT IS THE FUNNYEST COMMENT EVER
thats bull! the fuck?! i sleep with a fan blowing on me! thats bull!
ooh, wow. i went to china on vacation and they have Central air. i had it on the whole night. and ur just wasting money if you have conditioning on and a window open. thats just weird. my aunt lives in china and a fan is directly blowing at her for the whole night even sometimes when i come into her room the fan is still on and shes not in the room. terrible way to waste money.
I sleep with a fan on facing my bed in the summer when it is hot. I have never had any health problems from that. I have been doing that for over 20 years.
I work nights and sleep days. Even in summer I keep the windows closed to help shut out noise so I can sleep. I have a fan on the entire time on warm/hot days and I’ve never become ill from it, let alone died.
Interesting read, However they havn’t thought of the electrical side of it. As strange as it seems it may have been something wrong with the electrics?
hi
Trust me i was living in very HOT place as my job is a programmer i always sat in my chair in front of my desk using computer for 4-6 hours in my house i sweat a lot in a day i have 2 ordinary electric fan i don’t use air-conditioner (it just cost me too much for my electric bill) were the two is for the morning and the other one is for night and i’m doing this for 9 years and i never encounter any signs of abnormalities from fan.
here’s my theory this is NOT the Fan
and my “death” theory is maybe its “SUNDS” or “Sudden unexpected death syndrome”
Sudden unexpected death syndrome, or Sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome (SUNDS), is sudden unexpected death of adolescents and adults during sleep. Sudden unexplained death syndrome was first noted in 1977 among Hmong refugees in the US.The disease was again noted in Singapore, when a retrospective survey of records showed that 230 otherwise healthy Thai men died suddenly of unexplained causes between 1982 and 1990: In the Philippines, where it is referred to in the vernacular as bangungot, SUDS affects 43 per 100,000 per year among young Filipinos. Most of the victims are young males.
my other answer is “Sleep Apnea”
People with sleep apnea-sleep apnea stop breathing for 10 seconds or longer during sleep. These episodes may occur from five to 50 times an hour. Blockage of the nose, mouth, or throat causes obstructive sleep apnea. It’s most common in obese people, when fatty tissues in the neck press down on the airway. As many as one in four Americans suffers from obstructive sleep apnea.
In approximately 5 percent of sudden cardiac deaths, no demonstrable anatomic abnormality is found. Some cases are caused by sudden arrhythmia death syndrome. A prolonged QT interval is a common thread among the various entities associated with sudden arrhythmia death syndrome. A number of drugs are known to cause QT prolongation (e.g., terfenadine), as are hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, myocarditis, and endocrine and nutritional disorders. Recently, attention has focused on a group of inherited gene mutations in cardiac ion channels that cause long QT syndrome and carry an increased risk for sudden death. Some of the highest rates of inherited long QT syndrome occur in Southeast Asian and Pacific Rim countries. The median age of persons who die of long QT syndrome is 32 years; men are predominately affected. In addition to a prolonged QT interval, which occurs in some but not all persons with long QT syndrome, another characteristic electrocardiograph abnormality is the so-called Brugada sign (an upward deflection of the terminal portion of the QRS complex). Most cardiac events are precipitated by vigorous exercise or emotional stress, but they also can occur during sleep. Torsades de pointes and ventricular fibrillation are the usual fatal arrhythmia. Long QT syndrome should be suspected in patients with recurrent syncope during exertion and those with family histories of sudden, unexpected death. Unfortunately, not all persons with long QT syndrome have premonitory symptoms or identifiable electrocardiograph abnormalities, and they may first present with sudden death. Beta blockers, potassium supplements, and implantable defibrillators have been used for treatment of long QT syndrome. Identifying the specific gene mutation in a given patient with long QT syndrome can help guide prophylactic therapy.
J. Rogers is exactly right, at least in cold weather. I was in the Navy in the early 80′s, and yes it was because they used floor heaters which either were forced air, or in small dwellings gravity driven. The older ones did not use sheet metal ducts, modern ones do. the old clay tiles were prone to cracking and would allow CO into the living space, and yes, as part of Liberty Call we were instructed, not to stay overnight, heh, tell a sailor not to sleep around is like tellin a drunk not to drink which is another subject. So fans would stir the air, the CO no longer stays at floor level and is mixed throughout. As for warm weather, don’t know where that came from. Props to J. Rogers
I don’t believe. My grand father sleeping last 70 years and other family member for a long time.
I love lamp
That’s Asians for you ridiculously superstitious about even the smallest things. It’s a fan I have had one on me when I sleep to help my sinuses for years. Silly Koreans.
Well if you put your head in the rotating blades….
My DeLonghi indoor portable evaporative cooler instructions lists “sleeping sickness” as a major danger when using fans while sleeping. A danger arises from chill factor where the skin is overcooled for many hours in one area. A sleep cycle of varying breeze strengths and directions is provided to prevent the body from developing a reliance on this form of cooling whilst sleeping. The danger arises after waking and moving away from the cooling breeze and the body suddenly loses the means of cooling it became accustomed to causing, of all things, a form of heat stroke.
me and my family sleep with a fan every night. we can’t sleep without the sound of it, and no one has been harmed once. we do this every night for as long as i can remember. it’s been i would say at least 12 years that have been doing this, so it really isn’t true, and for your information we are not ghosts so we haven’t died from it.
I lived in Korea for a year in the 80′s
Koreans heat their houses with charcoal. The charcoal heaters heat water pipes that run under the floor or…the hot charcoal gasses run under the floor in ducts and if the ducts leak the carbon monoxide fumes leak up through the floor. An open door would help with that, and the fumes give you headaches, if you wake up at all. The fan could be pulling in the air from the kitchen where the charcoal heaters usually are, or causing the air that would normally rise up higher to be circulated more in your face??? I don’t know, but i don’t think the fan (by itself) has anything to do with it unless its running so fast that its like sticking your head out a car window while you are driving down the highway. Just my opinion, but it sounds like carbon monoxide poisoning to me.
“It is interesting that this theory is so prevalent in just one country.” If you understand the government in South Korea this becomes far less than interesting and you realize it is in fact a very dull piece of old propaganda. If you understand the US occupation of these places, you realize how these places have been screwed in ways worse than being told not to run a fan for risk of death. A smart way says Christian – this isn’t smart, it’s a control issue. Maybe you want to go hug a tree and kiss Al Gore’s ring?
Yes of course it can kill you.
1. – Especially if you are living in Australia. Your electricity bill will be so high that when you go to the mail box in the morning and open your mail – instant death from shock!
2. – Its so hot that you are unaware that you have been dehydrating all night. You wake up – look in the mirror at your dehydrated self and whamo – instant death from shock!
3. – Poor electrics and overheated wires are a very likely cause of fire. No home left in the morning – instant death from shock!
See they were right.
I once was visiting my cousin, and it was so hot that night, and I fell asleep with the air conditioning on, and it was on the fan setting, and the next morning it felt like there was a hole in my ear. The pain was unbearable. Also in my head. I’m pretty sure it’s not good for you, but I’m obviously still alive so I don’t think it can kill you.
Oh you are going to freeze to death in a room with a fan/AC…
That’s about just as likely as walking outside and falling down on your head causing fatal trauma to the brain.
And even then I have my money on falling.
I’ve slept with a fan blowing on me for a couple of years now, regardless of temperature or weather. I’m still alive.
this is really an important and strange information for me although i don’t like to sleep in a closed room with running electric fan because I want always some fresh air is coming in the room.
but thanks for a new information.
It won’t kill you. The Koreans thought that a fan circulates the oxygen in a room around TOO much and will thin it out, but it doesn’t. It does what it’s supposed to, so no worries, you’ll stay alive.
this is funny,….i live in a tropical country and i tell you, there is nothing gonna happen if you are to sleep with the fan on for like 8 hours at night in a closed room!,…i think the south koreans have had an obsession of Final Destination movie tactics! LOL
What a load of utter tripe bull
I agree with J.Rogers
I agree with all the comments so far. Some people will believe anything despite common sense. I truly feel sorry for those uninformed believers.
The CLOSED room is more likely to cause death than the fan. In a closed room, it is possible to exhaust the oxygen supply or accumulate excess carbon monoxide, as a prior comment suggested. NEITHER has anything to do with the fan, and BOTH can be remedied by opening a door or window, as recommended.
no
LOL,so funny!
I constantly have a fan blowing on me in hot or cold weather. It’s always warm in this apartment because the air circulation sucks. I’ve never gotten sick from it, not so much as a headache.
I’m 100% more likely to get a headache from the atmospheric pressure when it’s going to rain.
I think that J. Rodgers answer seemed relevant. If thats the reason then korea just never knew about the CO. I think this is very educational and unless something bad is in your house a fan shouldn’t kill you.
Very interesting I never heard of this before.
Of course we are all assuming it’s a typical electric fan without any outside influences.
The comment about the homes being heated with forced air (Fan) through clay tiles seems to be the most plausible answer for what almost comes across as urban legend. If duct work was made of clay tile and your source of heat was carbon monoxide producing like fire it’s like an accident waiting to happen.
I was thinking at first perhaps if your body was to cool and acclimatize for a long period of time when using a fan then be exposed to a huge temp and climate change perhaps a health hazard but you’d think one would have heard of this before.
I will probably be thinking of this when looking at my ceiling fan in bed tonight. lol
One smart way to know the truth is to do it.
Yes , setting a fan right next to you that is blowing towards your head can kill you . It can cause your brain to freeze over night , my cousin died because he was up late studying and it was in the summer and he fell asleep with his fan on right next to his head. The next day his parents checked in on him and he was dead.
im probly going to think about this during the sumer
wow i never herd of such a thing its crazy some of the things you hear from all over the world and ccertiant beliefs, i can tell you thought that this will not kill you. i have had a fan blown on me many of night with the room all closed up and for hours on end, so i can promise this isnt the reason those people are dying and mabye it should be looked into i know if i was told someone that i cared for died of fan death i was have it investigated just an idea but again this is false a fan blowing on you in a closed room will not kill you yes sometimes its not comfortable cause its blow warm air around but you will not die or even maybe the peple are dying of heat strokes and they see the fan running cause they were trying to get cool but it didnt work i can see that but not actually dieing from the fan itself
wow i just wanted to say the comment about the Korea the homes are heated with forced air that runs through clay tiles located in the floor. The air is heated with no regard for carbon monoxide. is nteresting see i was thinking it was just some crazy idea but theni read this and it makes sense i guess when you dont have to live in that type of housing you dont know all the problems thanks for the info i learned something interesting
i believe it because my grandmother died because she did that exact thing and i am korean form the south. 이거일거바바! 바버들.
absolutely not.
I’m living in sri Lanka & 35years out of 60years of my life I’ve spent under the electric fan & like the air from the fan.Once I was in Madras(Chennai) & one night I thought I was going to burst & die even with a fan. It was 43 centigrade temperature.
It’s an “old wives tale”…
here, they said a fan blowing directly to my body could make me sick, they were right, i tried it once, and i got sick in the morning, but i don’t think the fan could kill
Untrue but I still wouldn’t do it. You need circulation and fresh air too. Liam, what you are doing is not wise either. My father developed Walking Pneumonia from having a/c blowing on him at night and then it turned into Spinal Meningitis and he actually died from it! Be sensible.
They probably have lead in them.
Pure baloney. The suicide cover-up theory sounds most plausible to me. My entire life I’ve been sleeping with a fan next to me all night during the winter, and an air conditioner next to me all night in summer. and here I am, no fan death!
it could also be old fans, or fans used improperly, where the cords are frayed, or the fans are not properly maintained.(you wouldn’t believe how much a fan can collect in it s motor case)
If this was so everybody in Jamaica would be dead.In some areas we have to close the doors and windows at nights because of mosquitos and we sleep with the fan on in closed rooms allllllll night.
no………. ive been sleepin like tht since i came out the womb..
Well yeah I always have my fan right on my face all night long on maximum speed to keeps me cool. But I live in Australia does that make a difference? :/ Haha
Hmmm well every night this summer and last summer i had a fan on me all night every night since my body cant cope with the heat. hey guess what! IM ALIVE!
Friends don’t let friends die of “fan death.”
This is true. I once slept with the fan on, and I died.
But seriously, I can’t sleep with a fan on, only because of the noise. (light sleeper)
No. No. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False. False.
I did this in summer (close the windows, turn on the fan and left it overnight) an did not die. I live in the equatorial zone and survived.
No it wont. I run my fan every night and I’m not dead.
I really hope that people around this planet are using the common sense they were born with. The Government of South Korea is totally void of this. Although, there is a slight risk of an air-born virus transfixing it’s way on to one of your mucus membranes and subsequently multiplying itself throughout your body causing, for lack of a better word, a cold.
You see, you, yourself, will never catch a cold, a cold will always catch you. So wash your hands often and use, here we go again, common sense…
Running an electric fan at night in a closed room, well lets just say I have never read a final diagnosis of this being the cause of death in any of the autopsy reports I have read.
PROFESSOR JIM
i sLeeped w/ith a fanne on in the rome for 16 howrs daylie &082q3ur I’m =very much dead.
I live in southern Mississippi and we don’t have air-conditioning because the house was built in the 1950s.
We have fans in every room, and they are on all summer. At night, during the day, ALL THE TIME.
None of us have died.
Each person has a fan by their bed.
No one has died in their sleep.
I say this is false.
Well, I Know What They Mean. Those so called ‘Fan Deaths’ are actually caused by something else. You See, Those People Were Afraid To Die, So They Opened A Window. A Murderer Climbed in the window and when he finished the job he shut the window. CASE CLOSED. THERE IS YOUR FREAKING ANSWER. Think OUTSIDE The Freaking Box People.
To J Rogers:
CO is NOT heavier than air. In fact its density is about half that of air . CO2 is heavier.
I’ve had a fan pointed directly at me for 8 hours a day 18 years and only 2 feet away and i’m still alive
Ridiculous! I sleep with two fans all year around. I have allergy and lung problems, and fans don’t harm me, they help me.
Of course, they must be kept clean so they do not spread dust and allergens around the room.
Well, you can discount the hypothermia theory. I sleep with a wide open window and a fan blowing full force directly at me. I get extremely claustrophobic without moving air (I start to feel like there’s no air in the room). Sometimes at night, in winter, it gets so cold in my room that I actually wake up from shivering. Then I pull up the blanket or pull on some socks and go right back to sleep. I haven’t died yet. One time my dad came in my room very early in the morning, took one look at the thermometer, and called me a suicidal moron. But I still haven’t died from it.
I don’t believe a fan kills someone. My husband and I been sleeping in a room every night with one of these type of fans on all night long for 4 years. I like the noise it makes. It helps me sleep. I have not suffered any illnesses from it.
This is so untrue and ballistic.I have almost always sleeped with fans on in cold and hot weather.The only side effects I ever had were dry mouth,thirst,stuffy head and colds.The only reason I would have a stuffy head/ a cold was because it would be already cold In my house and the fan didn’t help. I would get a sore throat but that’s only because the fan I would use needed to be clean.As of now I have my fan on with my bedroom door closed.it has always been this way,when I sleep I like my door closed.I use the fans for both white noise and for when I get over heated.I’m twice as likely to get over heated in winter and summer.when the heat is on in my house and when it’s hot in the summer time.closing my door only makes it hoter in my room.
I lived in Korea for three years. They think a lot of odd things. There’s no such thing as fan death, and dogs don’t make a mong mong sound when they bark.
Interesting blog, and answers. 1. The guy in the military who said the fan probably stirs up the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide is correct., and 2. The person who said “fan death” is a polite way to cover up a suicide is probably correct, and 3. It is also a convenient “out” if there is no other obvious cause of death, and 4. Yes, the air pushed by the fan moves the warmer air away from the body and the body IS actually cooled, and 5. Unless the humidity is 100%, the fan DOES cool the air because, when the sweat is evaporated a net cooling takes place, and 6. If no one is in the room and the fan is on, there is a net HEATING of the room since the fan is an electric motor and the energy used to run the fan turns into heat (feel the back of the fan). A fan going in an empty room is actually a small heater.
Richard Hovis, Oklahoma City
I believe that leaving the fan while asleep can kill you — if the fan is rotating fan overhead, then the screws mysteriously come loose, and the whole fan falls on you while sleep, and you die from being hit by the fan. So it’s true that fans can kill you while you sleep. ROFL.
IT IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am the ghost of a person who died while sleeping with the fan on. Now I am dead — YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. These fans are REAL KILLERS.
That’s the stupidest thing i’ve ever heard. That’s why i sold my KIA last week. Crazy Koreans!!
I always sleep with the door closed and the fan on high and nothing bad has happened to me.
probly because if u arent careful then u could get hurt
Hi!
i actually believe this to be true for some people and have always thought this whenever i used my fan and sometimes would just wake up to turn it off, i do not feel comfortable having an air conditioniong running without stop in a closed room either – i think it might be oxygen related in terms of layering the present gasses that are made from exhale and in existence – it might also be linked to the rhythem and in sleep our bio-rhythm changes yet the machines do not change and remain the same throughout the night that may trigger an arythmia that is way off – so yes – i believe in the theories as well as the ideology.
that iss funny i think cuz when i was kid i would sleep with a fan on all night every night still do come to think off it when im home i never turn it off
well.. i had the fan on overnight during the summer last year, and i woke up feeling nauseous and strange…
NONONO…I used a fan all the time…When I sleep…I think its the noise puts me to sleep…Or open the window a little tiny bit.If your scare do that.And I have allergy really bad. It helps me to breathe better.I had a fan on for about more than 30 years..And Im still hear.Like they say anything is possbile.
I can’t live without a fan blowing on me on summer nights, and have to wean myself off of it during winter because I get used to the sound. Oh, and I’m not dead.
I wonder if this myth could be attributed in part to superstition – since fans generate white noise, at certain frequencies you can begin to hallucinate and think that you are hearing or seeing ghosts. Maybe people reported such phenomena to family before they just died in their sleep of natural causes.
That’s a load of crap. I have slept with a fan on every single night, for the past 20 years! I’m still alive.
they are talking about how the people who manufacture fans know all the ways a fan can kill a person and that there are more complicated ways than the ORDINARY public can understand when they put their mind to something they are not re@lly interested in!
Read this a while back.
askakorean.blogspot.com/2009/01/fan-death-is-real.html
Lol you cannot die from having the fan on and whoever told you this, whoever your grandfather is dont know what he is talking about its a BIG load of BULL CRAP. I am 31 and I have slept with the fan on for as long as I can remember, as do my Mother. So do my kids.. Hot, Cold, Rain, or Shine. We have like 5 feet of snow here right now and its 10 and 15 below 0 degrees Celsius and I still use it. Door aint always shut but growing up living at my mothers house it was shut EVERY night of the week for years and years. THIS IS THE BIGGEST LOAD OF CRAP I EVER HEARD LMFAO
And it doesnt give you headaches either… maybe its the bad air in your house … if anything it sooths a headache. And I sleep with this just a foot from my head..blowing directly in my face night after night. haha I can’t get over how someone can come up with such a stupid theory lol.
What??? I’ve been sleeping in a closed room overnight with a fan on for years, and nothing has ever happened.
= = How is that possible… Korean government must have a screw loose in their head. I mean, in Taiwan and many other Asian countries it’s always either the fan or the AC that’s left overnight. Barely anyone has the guts to sleep with nothing on during the summer, simply too hot. I know I get waked up at midnight if I don’t turn something on. And really, the fan’s a popular choice as not all families have ACs in every room. I haven’t heard of anyone die of it, it’s simply not possible unless you stick you neck in the fan.
Now, you tell me, are those millions of people mad or those very few Korean idiots mad? You might as well tell me that you’d die falling off your bed.
If a fan while your sleeping gives you a headache, it is because you expect it to. Did you know you can convince yourself anything you want to believe. I saw a documentary about parents whos children went to two parties and were fed vegetable sticks at one and then hyped up with a clown and then the next day at the next party they were given loads of sweats and then clamed down with music and told to lay on their back and do relaxing stuff. they didn’t know!
I think Korean governement is very smart .
I wachted TV news said they didn’t use radiator for heating in cold winter althought Korean is located in a reletive high lattitude. Every people rely on A/C and electricity carpets ,they must face electricity cricis in severely cold winter ,especially in recent years.
I think this is the policy for summer .
I live in North Louisiana and sometimes I have my fan on in my room and I’m fine. I’m not criticizing, but that’s bologne! Sometimes I sneeze a lot and get nosebleeds. But, I’ll pray for those who lost their loved ones because of that.
Whenever I sleep with a fan on I wake up with a really dry mouth/throat, even if I drink a lot of water the day before so I’m not dehydrated when I go to sleep. Other than that I haven’t noticed anything bad about leaving them on at night.
this is relevantly true in south korea because we have a tradition to sleep on floors. that being said, as a fan is turned on throughout the night this circulates CO2 to sink to the bottom because it is denser than O2. now we all know that enough CO2 can kill a human. THIS is why there has been reports of ‘fan death’
it is okay in North America because we sleep on beds, which is elevated from the floor, hence you are ‘safe’ from the pool of CO2 that collects overnight
I don’t believe it. I sleep with my bedroom door open, and my house is not airtight, so I couldn’t tell by me (I usually sleep with a fan on), but it sounds scientifically preposterous. J. Rogers has the only possible method.
i can’t believe this :/
If that were the case, I would have been dead many, many, many years ago. Confucius say: They are just Superstitious
It could be that when you’re fast asleep with the fans on, an angry spirit possesses the fan and kills you by chopping the head off or sucking out all the oxygen to suffocate you.
Being someone who has slept with a fan on my entire life (18years) and my parents slept with one their entire life id say its not true lol…
Iv also slept on the floor before at friends houses and still brought a fan with me with it blowing directly on me all night.
No, this isn’t true. I’ve slept with a fan on and the door closed in my room for 10 years, and nothing bad ever happened to me.
The idea predated the 1970s. I heard it when I was stationed in South Korea in 1969.
At the time lots of Koreans lived in one-room concrete block houses. They had no plumbing, electricity was supplied by a single cord hanging down from a paper ceiling, and heating was supplied by burning large charcoal briquettes under the floor. There was no air conditioning, so cooling in the summer was supplied by an electric fan. Nearly every house had a fan, and it was often the only significant electric appliance they had.
Naturally, burning charcoal under the floor tends to create a carbon monoxide problem. There were regular reports of people dying from it. So the neighbors notice that nobody got up in the Kim household. They go over and open the door and find everybody dead with nothing but an electric fan in the room.
It isn’t hard to see how the idea developed. There were regular warnings against the CO hazard when I was there.
Man this topic is quite fun i almost read all of the comments!
But its just a common sense if a blowing air can kill you then all the birds would have died ^^