Does anyone know if there are high-heat-resistant PC fans (and at what temperatures normal PC fans will melt)? The only fans I can find that claim to be heat-resistant are the Noctua Industrial PPC series which, aside from not being cheap at $33/piece are "only" heat-resistant up to 140C and the airflow isn't crazy high - subjectively the ones I've got feel like they move substantially less air than a standard diesel heater blower fan.
Ideally I'd be interested in something that's >180C resistant but if there are any other options around say 140C max then I'd also be interested.
Unfortunately many plastics, and the most common types of solder, start softening before you get to 180C. You can get smoke extraction fans and chimney flue fans that will tolerate higher temperatures, but they're generally an all-metal affair costing more than $33.
Assuming the 180C is at your system's ventilation output, could you move your fan to the air inlet so it only has do deal with ambient temperature air? That's what's done for blacksmith's forges etc
Yes, chimney flue fans were next on my list but surprisingly enough the airflow for most of the shelf models is quite low. Unsurprisingly with all metal parts and less competition in the sector the performance is also far worse in terms of watts/CFM. Pushing ambient air sadly doesn’t work for my application. That said those would have all been great suggestions though so thanks!
Using furnace vernacular, you have forced draft fans which blow air into the furnace or induced draft fans that sucks out the hot flue gas. These fans are typically centrifugal as they develop higher pressure than an axial fan. You need the pressure to overcome the system flow impedance.
If $33 is "not cheap" then you're not going to find anything lower. Perhaps an oven fan, but that's a different form-factor. The problem is that fans with integrated motors are limited by the temperature of the motor, and motors designed for high temperatures are also not cheap since special materials need to be used.
...and what's the reason behind needing such a fan?
$33 is cheap enough for a handful for myself of course but as you may have guessed I’m thinking of releasing a product that would need them. Not a serious thing, more so a handful of bulk bought parts sold together to scratch a long standing itch in a very very specific field. Sadly $33/ea would really eat into the BOM, even on an expensive mass produced item like an iPhone that would be one of the most expensive parts.
If $33 is not cheap then maybe not. But I buy my delta fans at mouser or digikey, and they have a wider range of specs than typical consumer websites. They come without connectors though so there's some crimping/soldering required.
For our little rendering cluster I bought a bunch of 12.000 rpm fans to cool the rack mounted threadrippers. Worked fine, no watercooling in the rack needed and 4ghz on all cores under load.
For some reason I got all opinionated about fans and settled on delta as my preferred brand. I think because delta actually had data sheets. The cool thing is that digikey has the exact fans I want, the downside is that the fans digikey sells have no plugs.
I tried once to terminate it myself but I was too cheap to buy the correct tools, so that did not go well. and am now a bit bummed about the whole thing, I found a vendor I can trust to sell me real delta fans.. and they have no plugs. sigh will probably stick with nocturna as a good second best.
Ideally I'd be interested in something that's >180C resistant but if there are any other options around say 140C max then I'd also be interested.