# Where to put dust filters for fans?



## Chosen Juan (May 26, 2011)

Hey guys,

I just got 4 fans and fan filters in from newegg to put in my mesh panel for the Corsair 600T. My problem is that the screws aren't long enough to go through both the dust filter and the fan. Would it be alright if I put the fan on, and the dust filter on the opposite side (towards the inside of the case? So I guess that would let dust into the fan, but not inside the case?

I always thought that the dust filter should go on the part of the fan facing outward, so the dust is filtered before the air goes through the fan, but in this case I can't do that.

Would this work fine? Thanks!


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## Peter1986C (May 26, 2011)

If put behind the fan the purpose of the filter is lost. It will only help the cpu cooler a bit, maybe.
BTW, are you sure you have checked whether you installed them the right way? If something doesn't fit, it usually means you made a little mistake somewhere.
Now I think about it, what fan filters are they?


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## arterius2 (May 26, 2011)

yes, the dust filter should filter the air before it goes through the fan, I think you are placing the fans in the wrong direction, normally, dust filter is used for fans that create positive pressure, meaning "intake fans", with fans blows air into the case, and the dust filter should be secured on the outside of the case, or in front of the fan(intake side), if you are setting up your fan to exhaust air from the PC, then you do not need any dust filter on it.


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## Chosen Juan (May 26, 2011)

The 4 fans are on the mesh panel for my case and all of them are intaking air into the case. The fan filters are Silverstone. I've tried 3 different sets of screws (ones that came with Corsair, Xigmatek, and Silverstone) and none are long enough. I can't screw in the fan filter on the intake side of the fan.


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## Peter1986C (May 26, 2011)

The mesh at the front or in the side panel?


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## arterius2 (May 26, 2011)

I currently have a few silverstone filters on my case, the magnetic ones, its quite simple actually, I place the fans on the interior side of the panel, having it intake air through the panel vent, and blow it into the case, secure the fan with screw from the outside, and just stick the filter on the outer surface of the panel, since they are magnetic, they just "snap-on", no screws required. just brilliant.

now i'm not sure what type of silverstone filters you got, but looking at the silverstone website, they only sell the magnetic type (FF141 - 14cm) so I assume thats what you got, and if that is the case, you do not need any screws (even though there are screw holes on the filter)


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## Chosen Juan (May 26, 2011)

Hmm...well honestly, the screws "might" be long enough to go through the fan AND the dust filters, but there are rubber grommets on the mesh panel to prevent vibration and they are pretty thick. This prevents me from being able to screw through the dust filters through the fans. If I remove the rubber grommets, the holes are too big and the screws just slide through. I have no idea what to do except get longer screws?


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## arterius2 (May 26, 2011)

well if you got rubber grommets on the panel to prevent installation of the dust filter, then i guess you are outa luck bro, maybe u should take some photo of your rig so we know what we are dealing with.


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## Chosen Juan (May 26, 2011)

Chevalr1c said:


> The mesh at the front or in the side panel?



The mesh at the side panel. I have 4 xigmatek fans installed and the screws aren't long enough to have the fan filter as well, unless I install it on the interior part of the fan, not in between the mesh and the fan itself. I don't know if that defeats the purpose of the filters or not.

Are there longer screws that I could get?


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## Chosen Juan (May 26, 2011)

If you guys look at their little video, I have it installed the exact same way...Silverstone

So it goes mesh --> fan --> filter...I don't think I can install it any other way with the types of screws I have.

Any suggestions? Or should I just leave it as-is?


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## arterius2 (May 26, 2011)

Chosen Juan said:


> If you guys look at their little video, I have it installed the exact same way...Silverstone
> 
> So it goes mesh --> fan --> filter...I don't think I can install it any other way with the types of screws I have.
> 
> Any suggestions? Or should I just leave it as-is?



I think you got wrong type of filter for your setup, you should have gotten FF141, and install it filter-->mesh-->fan. if you install the filter after the fan, it would be very difficult for you to clean it, not to mention that your fan would still get dusty, but looking at the video on the silverstone website, it is true they installed the filter on the interior side of the intake fan, so i'm not sure what to make of this, because it would be next to impossible to properly clean it, because you have to open the case, unscrew the filter from the fan(sometimes unscrew the fan itself) to clean the underside, which in the end, you still have to clean the fan. if filter was the outer most layer, all you would need to do is to vacuum or wipe it clean. so basically, it would just be far easier to magnetically snap on a FF141 over the mesh, and be done with it.


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## EarthDog (May 26, 2011)

Maybe Im a brick here, but the filter will work regardless of what side of hte fan its on. Your filters should be on all you INTAKE fans.


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## lilhasselhoffer (May 26, 2011)

EarthDog said:


> Maybe Im a brick here, but the filter will work regardless of what side of hte fan its on. Your filters should be on all you INTAKE fans.



Speaking as someone in a very related filtering industry (we make the expanded metal mesh) the point of the mesh is to stop bigger contaminants (that might rip through the finer element).  The filter is designed to pick up particulate masses (particle size varrying greatly).  There is a reason it usually goes from outside->mesh->filter->fan.  This sucks air through the filter by creating an area of low pressure at the filter to fan interface.  If you run the opposite way you bombard the filter with high velocity particulate mass, which may penetrate the media.

In short, you can run both ways.  It dramatically decreases the efficiency of a filter to run it backwards, and may even decrease the fans intake air volume.  

As far as which fans need filters, only those blowing into the case.  Dead spots within the case may have some dust build-up (which may vent from the outlets), but you want the outlets to pump hot air at the greatest possible velocity.


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## Chosen Juan (May 26, 2011)

arterius2 said:


> I think you got wrong type of filter for your setup, you should have gotten FF141, and install it filter-->mesh-->fan. if you install the filter after the fan, it would be very difficult for you to clean it, not to mention that your fan would still get dusty, but looking at the video on the silverstone website, it is true they installed the filter on the interior side of the intake fan, so i'm not sure what to make of this, because it would be next to impossible to properly clean it, because you have to open the case, unscrew the filter from the fan(sometimes unscrew the fan itself) to clean the underside, which in the end, you still have to clean the fan. if filter was the outer most layer, all you would need to do is to vacuum or wipe it clean. so basically, it would just be far easier to magnetically snap on a FF141 over the mesh, and be done with it.



Well, honestly I never thought about having the filter on the outside of the case. The mesh panel is just the right size for four 120mm fans, and since the FF141 is 140mm, I don't know how having 4 of them would have worked out. 

I originally thought it was supposed to be Mesh --> Filter --> Fan, but I have it Mesh --> Fan --> Filter, either way would require me to remove the fan so the hassle doesn't bother me. I was just wondering if it would affect the effectiveness of the filter? If the fan gets dusty that's fine, I just don't want that dust going inside the case you know?



EarthDog said:


> Maybe Im a brick here, but the filter will work regardless of what side of hte fan its on. Your filters should be on all you INTAKE fans.



Well they are. The front 200mm intake has dust filters, and the PSU has an intake filter on the bottom. The top 200mm exhaust and rear 120mm exhaust don't have filters (obviously). The four 120mm fans that I just added on the mesh panel I guess now have filters haha. But if they work on either side that would be great!


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## arterius2 (May 26, 2011)

lilhasselhoffer said:


> Speaking as someone in a very related filtering industry (we make the expanded metal mesh) the point of the mesh is to stop bigger contaminants (that might rip through the finer element).  The filter is designed to pick up particulate masses (particle size varrying greatly).  There is a reason it usually goes from outside->mesh->filter->fan.  This sucks air through the filter by creating an area of low pressure at the filter to fan interface.  If you run the opposite way you bombard the filter with high velocity particulate mass, which may penetrate the media.
> 
> In short, you can run both ways.  It dramatically decreases the efficiency of a filter to run it backwards, and may even decrease the fans intake air volume.
> 
> As far as which fans need filters, only those blowing into the case.  Dead spots within the case may have some dust build-up (which may vent from the outlets), but you want the outlets to pump hot air at the greatest possible velocity.



I agree with what lilhasselhoffer said, having filter after the fan would bombard the filter with positive pressure that would decrease the effectiveness of the filter significantly, (air pushing through something is creates a lot more pressure than air being sucked through something), so a lot of dust would bypass the filter and enter your system anyways, but I mean.. if this is the only way to mount the filter into your rig, by all means do it, because it beats having no filter at all. however, I own both the Silverstone Raven 02 and Raven 03 case, both cases have filters on the outside of the case, which means cleaning a breeze, and i've been running the Raven02 for about a year, not a speck of dust inside.


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## Chosen Juan (May 27, 2011)

arterius2 said:


> I agree with what lilhasselhoffer said, having filter after the fan would bombard the filter with positive pressure that would decrease the effectiveness of the filter significantly, (air pushing through something is creates a lot more pressure than air being sucked through something), so a lot of dust would bypass the filter and enter your system anyways, but I mean.. if this is the only way to mount the filter into your rig, by all means do it, because it beats having no filter at all. however, I own both the Silverstone Raven 02 and Raven 03 case, both cases have filters on the outside of the case, which means cleaning a breeze, and i've been running the Raven02 for about a year, not a speck of dust inside.



Thanks, I guess I'll just leave it as-is since I can't do anything about it. The 600T is a great case, the front 200mm fan and the bottom opening for the PSU both have filters outside which are great and easy to clean. The mesh was an option instead of the window and didn't come with filters so yeah. Hopefully the positive air pressure keeps dust out (four 120mm and one 200mm intake, one 200mm and one 120mm exhaust)


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## micropage7 (May 27, 2011)

in front of fan, so it works effective and it would protect your fan and your intake air cleaner than putting the filter behind the fan


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